Retirement of 1z0-007 1z0-147 1z0-031 1z0-032 1z0-033 exams .....

Question

The retirement of 1z0-007 1z0-147 1z0-031 1z0-032 1z0-033 must surely be imminent .
I think WDP should have stopped teaching them a while ago.
For 1z0-007 and 1z0-147 suitable and IMHO better alternatives exist in 1z0-051 and 1z0-144. People are not exposed to best practice studying for those older exams.
IMHO There is no real reason why 1z0-007 and 1z0-147 could not be set for retirement immediately ... (ie in 3 months time) and any candidates studying should find litle gap in studying for the alternatives.
1z0-031 for 9i DBA OCA and then 1z0-032 + 1z0-033 for 9i DBA OCP it is a different matter .... essentially because of the number of exams in the track and the fact mandatory training is required to complete the track. And from once all those exams are withdrawn any undertaken will not be valid for a later Oracle Database version, 10g or 11g or 12c ( and it would set an (IMHO bad) precedent for earlier version training to be allowed for a later version).
In some ways those trained on these should already have had sufficient time to certify ... and in many ways a majority (but perhaps not all) of those caught out perhaps deserve little sympathy .... But anyone caught out after having passed 1z0-007 + 1z0-031 + 1z0-032 but not 1z0-033 would feel aggrieved by having to do more training plus take 1z0-0[45]2 and 1z0-0[45]3 to get DBA OCP.
And retiring 1z0-031; 1z0-032; and 1z0-033 simultaneously with 3 months notice could leave people stuck on track and this could be branded as 'unfair'. (And I assume these exams will need to be retired when Database 12c finally goes production).
Can I therefore suggest the following may allow people avoid people getting stuck on track:
0) Retirement of 1z0-007 and 1z0-147 immediately (well 3 months notice) .... this gives the word out to candidates of this era that the exams of this era are being removed.
1) An effective 6 month notice of retirement of 1z0-032 and 1z0-033:
This could be achieved by:
1a) A 6 month (or even end of year) simulaneous announcement of retirement of 1z0-031/2/3.
1b) A three month notification of retirement of 1z0-031 ... this would stop people entering the 9i DBA OCP exam track ... but not retiring 1z0-032 and 1z0-033 for at least a further 3 months after that date.
Thinking as I write this an annoucement to retire:
1z0-007, 1z0-147, 1z0-031 on 31st may 2013 then 1z0-032,1z0-033 at the end of october/november/december 2013 would be perhaps helpful.
This is prompted by {thread:id=2492717} indicating there are still people midway through the 9i DBA OCP track who may be caught by its retirement. One may argue they if they wish to be OCP
Readers should note I am nore authorative on these matters, and the certification team are unlikely to announce a retirement before it happens, so I would not expect them to be able to comment on this until an annoucement for retirement is actually made (apart from we review exams for retirement regularly), but I do feel they listen to such comments and take them into account.

Answer 1

As {thread:id=2511529} a retirement announcement has been made at https://blogs.oracle.com/certification/entry/0864_01
Some people have already commnets on how 1z0-147 and 1z0-141 are affected, though as 1z0-144 and 1z0-151 are available with a high topic correlation there really isn't too big a deal on these.
The retirement of the 10g OAS exams probably essentially now has little impact as this is an end of life production replacing with weblogic.
The big impact could be a number of people on the 9i DBA OCP certification who will find their existing training invalidated unless they complete 9i DBA OCP before requirement; and if they fail to do that they will need to pay more to retrain to complete DBA OCP. I am expecting some squeals in this area from people who have dallied ... though arguably in most (but not all cases) there may be little reason to be overly sympathetic with their dalliance. This thread post, and others I have made previously, was a warning.