How to become an Oracle Certified Master (OCM)

Posted in: Technical Track

A turning point in a DBA’s career is when he/she is recognized by Oracle as an elite Oracle professional. I was happily surprised to find out I became an Oracle Certified Master (OCM). I got another surprise right away, “You are the 2nd OCM at the Pythian Group”. Well, I am very happy that I have been working among brilliant people here.

Believe it or not, after I became an Oracle 10g OCM, everybody else wanted to know how to become one. Let me show you the way to become an Oracle Certified Master (OCM).

The practical way to become OCM

1) Be Oracle OCP first. If you don’t know what that is, stop here.

2) Take 2 advance trainings from Oracle University. I highly recommend RAC and SQL tuning. Taking the training, I can play with RAC at my will without any concerns. RAC in the Oracle lab doesn’t belong to any production instance, so no worries at all. Furthermore, refreshing your knowledge of tuning is always good. Your experience from work only can’t substitute as the full toolkit of Oracle — which is what you are tested on.

3) Register for the OCM test (in many cases, the test will be in another city)
It is true for all Canadians. I had to go to New York to take the test. I was told by Oracle that there is no plan to provide an OCM test site in Canada. And I met another Canadian DBA in the test, from Toronto.

4) Book plane and hotel then take 2 days to become OCM
Get a hotel close to Oracle building though it is probably expensive, let’s say CAD $200 a day without tips. Don’t get lost in train/substation during rush hour — get a hotel close enough to walk to the exam.

5) Get results in 1 month.
I got my ‘congratulations letter’ from Oracle in a month, then a T-shirt some weeks later with the OCM logo. In this step, just wait in your warm home and enjoy it.

Drop me email if you still have questions. Welcome, my DBA friend.

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About the Author

Oracle 10G OCM

40 Comments. Leave new

Congratulations !!!

Reply
Laurent Schneider
February 26, 2009 3:45 am

Excellent post… I have received tons of emails from friends and foreigners who wants to be an OCM and ask me for details,

> get a hotel close enough to walk to the exam
Well said, very helpful!

Congrats for you success! Did you pass it on first try?

Reply

what
Oracle Developer Master Certified
exam number ??

Many thanks in advance for your time & appreciate your interest to contact me.
—————————–
Thanks & best regards,

Mahmoud Mohamed Doudah
Oracle Developer
Mobile +966-0545495598
Home +966-02-5582137
Saudi Arabia – MAKKAH -Al Azizia abdullah Khayat ST
Mailbox : 57484
postal or Zip code : 21955
[email protected]

Reply

Contgrats Pang
Quick question
Which one was the hardest step ? :)

Reply

I passed in the first shot, like a superman.

Reply

the hardest step is that 2 days on-site exam, of course. IMO, I performed well when I was drinking coffee, I did bad when coke used.

Reply

Congratulations Pang !!!

and thanks for sharing your experience.

How long have you been preparing for the exam?

Reply
Log Buffer #137
February 27, 2009 12:48 pm

[…] How to become an Oracle Certified Master (OCM) […]

Reply

Thanks for the tip….Will focus on ocm..Makes you a true expert..!!

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Pang,

its not very clear on the certification explanation maybe you can give an answer if we can use Master Index or Master Glossary (which I always use to navigate in Oracle’s documentation) of Online Documentation during the exam ?

Without masters index I dont think that I can go for the exam.

Reply

Coskan,
Oracle provide online document without search function. Index/master index are there.

Reply

Mihajlo,
I prepared 2 weeks coz I already got intensive real world experience. It totally depends how good you hands-on is.

Reply

Hi,
Firstly congratualtions.

Please tell if the OCM comprise any objective type exam as well. Or it just involves dealing with scenarios and recovering from it.

Thanks

Santosh

Reply

Need your email id, i am having a problem regarding OCM Exam.

Reply

I got my OCM Results, thanks neways. I am now oracle certified master

Reply

I want to know ur email id Sir, Is OCM Exam avaible in India

Reply
olaegbe adebayo aderoju
October 25, 2009 11:14 pm

congrats on your OCM certification.pls put me through on how to contact oracle university concerning the advanced courses and the cost implication.

thanks

Reply

i am holding 10g ocp and 10g rac certified expert credential, Whether i am eligible for ocm exam with out taking 2 advance handon course? i can’t find this info in oracle website also. Appreciate your advise.

Thanks
Abdul

Reply

2 advance course are necessary. Can’t be exempted by Certitication.

Reply

Hi Pang,

Congratulations on first anniversary of achieving your OCM!

Paresh

Reply

Hi Allen,

I have a question about OCM exam. I understand that it is not advisable to ‘discover’ things during the exam. At the same time I don’t think it is possible to remember all the syntax (diagrams) no matter even if one has years of experience. Is the search function (*not* google search ;-)) available in reference documentation provided during the exam?

Thanks,
Paresh

Reply
Michael Omar
March 10, 2010 7:21 am

Pls ive been trying to find out about the OCM Track where to take the classes how much it will cost me . i had written my PLSQL, OCA, OCP, MANAGING ORACLE 10g ON LINUX, RAC.
what is the next step for me please

Reply

Please send me your eamil as it does not state this in the mails

Reply

Hi,

First of all congratulation to you !!!

I already completed 10g OCP & 10g RAC Expert Certificate.

Pls let me know can I go with 10g OCM or you want to upgrade 11g OCP & and then 11g OCM

Thanks
Babu
[email protected]

Reply
Tola Adenuga
June 12, 2010 11:15 pm

Hi,
I love your write up, it’s an encouragement for we younger dba’s. Pls I have written oca and ocp and I will like to take ocm but what are the other certificate that I need to acquire first? I will also like to interact with you if you don’t mind. My mail is [email protected] Thanks

Reply

Hi Everyone.

Congratulations guys to crack OCM in very first attempt, I am also looking to go for this exam. Its really very nice that you shared the experience.

Could you please give some more tips about the usage of oracle’s online documentation during exam.

Regards,
Amit S.

Reply
Shubhangi Anant
September 5, 2010 11:46 pm

Hi,

I am planning for OCM certification. So seen your blog. First of all Hearty Congratulation for being OCM.

Can you pleae guide me which all sites we need to refer to prepare for OCM exam.

Thanks,
Shubhangio

Reply

Hello Pang,

Congratulations on being OCM.

I just had a few questions for you and I was wandering if I could ask you those via email. Any sort of reply would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Maz

Reply

Hi.

Little more information that may be useful:
https://odenysenko.wordpress.com/2010/12/30/i-have-passed-ocm-10g-exam/

odenysenko

Reply
mutassem musmar
February 20, 2011 4:45 am

Mr. Allen,
It is a very impressive and inspirational achievement that you have acquired such an exclusive certification in the field of Oracle Database Administration.
I’m beginning my career in Database administration and my question is a bit general: Could you please tell me in your opinion what benefits has the OCM certificate had on your career, and under which circumstances would you recommend it?
Also would you consider OCM a certificate that pushes you deeper into the technical aspects of oracle, or is it also possible for it to lead to a managerial or consultancy path?
Thank you for your precious time.
Best Regards

Reply
IKENNA IHIE AKA VIRUS
March 15, 2011 5:15 am

congratulations on your OCM Certification….Am an oracle9i, 10G & 11g OCP. i look forward to becoming 11g OCM. please let b friends…..

Reply

First Congratulation for getting OCM, I got OCP 11g in 30/12/2011 and I plan to take OCM.
Please ur email ID I need more advice.
and if you have any pdf’s

Reply
Shabbir Ahmed
May 22, 2012 9:09 am

congratulations on your OCM certification and you provided good knowledge it will very helpful in future,

Reply

how much cost it is to write this test….??

Reply

And also a great Congratulations …..

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thsnk you for the information.please i am ocp 10g certified and i need to know what to do to be ocm certified and how it is been appreciate in the outside community.thank you.

Reply

Hi Uche,

If you have no answer then you can go to the below web page:

https://education.oracle.com/pls/web_prod-plq-dad/db_pages.getpage?page_id=458&get_params=p_track_id:Datab11g

Good luck.

Reply

I am an OCA certified 10g and now planning to give OCP in couple of weeks. I want to give OCM , please provide me the list of topics that I should be aware of , so that I can study accordingly .

Thanks

Reply

hi.

congrats bro for your success, well could any one have the right solution for this problem ,,

the java run time environment was not found at bin\javaw.exe.hence,
the oracle universal installer cannot be run.
please visit https://www.javasoft.com and install jre version 1.3.1 or
higher and try again,

even installed the JRE 1.3.1 version but still stuck ,, any solution please ??? mail me [email protected]

Reply

What version of Oracle are you OCM certified?

Reply

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