The updated Certification Study Guide for MySQL 5.0 exams is coming to a bookstore near you!

In fact, it may already be there. Officially, it should have been released about a week ago, but it seems that e.g. Amazon have yet to get it in stock.

The book is published by MySQL Press, a joint venture between MySQL AB and Pearson Publishing (a.k.a. Sams). A sample chapter (on the MySQL Query Browswer) is available on-line. Personally, I find this particular sample to be one of the “weaker” chapters in the book and thus not very representative of the great writings of Paul and Stefan. (Yes, I had a part in the writing, too. But it’s not just because of alphabetical ordering that my name appears last in the list of authors ).

I think it’s a great book, but of course I would. If you …

Did you know that MySQL Certification was voted one of the hottest new certifications for 2005?

We’ll admit it: When we saw how well this certification did on our reader survey, we double-checked the numbers. Then we double-checked them again. And again. (O.K., maybe not that many times, but we definitely did a few retakes).

It’s not that we didn’t think the kudos weren’t deserved — by all accounts this is a solid credential that employers are using to determine whether candidates have the knowledge needed to set up and maintain their open-source MySQL databases.

Seeing how our certification numbers are picking up, I can’t say I was quite as surprised. But it’s awfully nice of them to take notice.

Dunno why they assume that the end-users …

Mike Chapple, owner of many certification titles (CISSP, TICSA, CCSA, MCSE, MCDBA, and CCNA) has written a very nice review on Cramsession.com (registration required). Among other things, he tells us:

Where does that leave database professionals? If you haven’t already started down the road of learning MySQL, it’s time to hit the books to avoid getting left behind in this new technology wave.

and

No matter which certification path you choose, earning a MySQL credential is a valuable feather in the cap of any database professional.

You tell’em, Mike!

Ian Gilfillan, author of the book Mastering MySQL 4 (us; uk), has some very good observations on the value of MySQL certification:

From the employer’s point of view, it was not the piece of paper I was after. Rather, the improved productivity that properly-trained MySQL users could provide. The benefits have been noticeable. The number of badly written queries has …

Ooops.

We receive a lot of complaints about missing certificates here at the office — and in almost all cases it turns out to be because we got an incomplete address from the candidate when (s)he signed up with Pearson VUE, a missing company name (the postal services in most countries are surprisingly anal about deliveries to a company if the company name is not on the envelope) or some such.

But recently we received quite a number of complaints in a short time. Either because people emailed us (on certification at mysql dot com) or by posting on the MySQL Certification forum.

We finally realized that due to a glitch in our fulfillment system, some 60 certificates pertaining to exams taken in April and forward have not been mailed out.

We are currently working as fast as we can in getting these …

We had the first round of MySQL exam labs today, when OSSO delivered exams at Linux Forum Asia. Everything apparently went well; there were quite a few taking LPI exams and 6 taking MySQL exams. That’s not a whole lot, but not bad given the amount of time the OSSO - people had available to announce it.

Before the exams, there were several keynotes. Among the most interesting speakers was (as always when he is present) John “maddog” Hall. Maddog gave some interesting insight into how closed-source companies in his experience handle the subject of software piracy.

I met with a lot of completely different types of people while the exams were going on next door. We obiously still have a …

I’ll be traveling to Hong Kong on Monday to help set up our new exam delivery partner. While there, I’ll also be giving a talk on Certification in the Open Source World at Linux Forum Asia 2005 on Wednesday.

Thursday, I’ll be delivering two talks on MySQL at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

Apparently, I’m also set up for a couple of interviews with some HK-based IT magazines. All in all, it should prove to be a busy couple of days.

The week after, I’m off to deliver a week’s worth of training in Beijing.

This is my first trip to Asia, so obviously I’m pretty excited …

Next week, our new partner in Hong Kong will be delivering their first exams. This is a unique opportunity for potential candidates in Hong Kong to sit their MySQL certification exams at a reduced price.

The deadline for signing up for next weeks exam lab, which will be held during Linux Forum Asia 2005, is June 10. That’s tomorrow, so hurry!

We have settled on a completely new structure of the MySQL certification program starting with the 5.0 exams. Rather than having the Core and Professional titles, with the Core exam as a prerequisite for the Professional, we will have two sepearate tracks: The MySQL Developer Certification and the MySQL Database Administrator (DBA) certification.

Roughly speaking, Developer will be equivalent to the Core certification and DBA certification will correspond to the Professional certification. Of course, with all the spanking new features of 5.0, about a ton of subjects will be added on to each certification exam.

Best of all, there will now no longer be a prerequisite requirement: You can get DBA certified without having to get the Developer certification first.

Paul and Stefan are finishing up the MySQL Certification Study Guide for the 5.0 exams. This is going to be another really great book, and I can’t wait to see it hit the bookstores. It should be out some time in August. Unfortunately, I’ve been much too busy to provide any real input for this edition.