Price of oracle db exams went up to $245 without warning

Question

Hi,
I have many oracle certs.
I am very disappointed that we got no warning that oracle database exam prices were going to jump from $195 to $245 on June 1st.
I was thinking about buying several exam vouchers.
Now they are $50 more.
Some of the other database vendors frequently offer 10 to 20% off or 2nd shot gimicks.
I hope Oracle would consider offering some type of discount.
Others please add to this post if you would like discount codes provided.
Thanks
PS: A little over 3 years ago it was only $125, and now it is $245.

Answer 1

>The dollar value of the certifications is 0.  For some people with a
>dim view of the marketing of certs, less than that.
>I've only seen value in my cert for jobs that require a cert.
One of the messages that I try to get out about certifications is that there are two types of value to them, and only one of the two do you have any control over.
Type I: If you spend your test preparation time trying to learn each of the test topics as thoroughly as possible, then almost any Oracle professional -- even the most experienced -- is liable to learn something new. For people just starting out with Oracle, this strategy will teach them a huge amount about the database. It doesn't really match actual experience working with the database, but it's a huge amount better than having no knowledge at all. It will also give them a running start once they do get a job working with Oracle.
Type II: There are employers who give weight to Oracle certifications. This is not in question -- you even note that some require it. Not all do and not all of those that do give the same amount of weight.  I have never met any that consider certification to be a negative, so I don't understand your less-than-zero comment.  The only time I would consider it a negative is if someone with a certification were to interview with me and the interview questions led me to believe that they did not know enough to have passed the test and likely used a brain dump.
My certifications have come up in several interviews and I know that they have impacted my interviewers in a positive fashion.  Part of that is that I don't overplay them.  I would never claim to be an expert because I hold a certification for a given area. Instead I present my certifications (quite truthfully) in the fashion that I use them.  Namely I tell prospective employers that I use certifications as a means of continually improving my knowledge of Oracle. Strangely I have never found an interviewer who thinks this reflects poorly on me.
I also continue to get certifications while I work for a company.  I try to get a couple each year and always present them on my annual 'self-evaluations' as part of my job-skill improvement process. I'm confident that over the years this has led to at least some upward variance in my merit-pay increases. However, I obviously cannot prove it without access to the 'me' in a parallel universe who does not believe in certifications.