Friday, January 11, 2008

MySQL Cluster Study Guide getting good comments

One of the major projects I worked on last year was the MySQL 5.1 Cluster DBA certification. I did the background research to come up with a sensible scope and outline of the exam, wrote most of the questions and actively looked for feedback from our cluster engineering and development team as well as consultants that are deploying MySQL Cluster in real-world situation.

For example, I got great feedback on the exam from MySQL Cluster Senior Software Engineer Stewart Smith
...Response from the exam is overwhelmingly positive and as it’s new, afterwards I discussed a few questions with Roland (in fact, all the ones I got wrong). The (good!?) news is that I legitimately brain-farted on some.

... this isn’t some trivial know-a-tiny-bit-and-score-really-high certification...this is a serious one).

I may have heard at some point one of our people saying they thought it was the best certification exam we have...


I guess that could've turned out worse, heh? ;-)


I was also involved in the preparation and coordination of the creation of the accompanying study guide, did a fair share of reviewing the content and eventually I authored almost 3 chapters.

All in all it was a big project, and I learned a great deal in the process. Unfortunately, due to a number of reasons it took a while before we could actually publish the book, but now that we did, we are getting a number of pretty good comments. Take for example, Alan Snelson ordered the book at lulu.com en judging from his blog he enjoyed it a lot:
I booked the exam a couple of weeks ago thinking I might need some incentive to fully digest MySQL Cluster details. I need not have worried, the book provides a great introduction to MySQL Cluster in easy-to-read chapters bringing you up to speed in no time, much more entertaining than the reference manual!


Thanks Alan for your kind words! I'm glad you passed the exam.

Are you curious about the MySQL Cluster Certification? You can read more about it in the candidate guide, and if you feel lucky, you can even take a free evaluation test before you sign up for the real thing.

Enjoy, and good luck with your Exams ;-)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

While I haven't read yet the MySQL Cluster Study Guide, I have to say that I was impresed by the printing quality of the book. I mean, it looks like a real book despite the fact it's printed on demand.

"you can even take a free evaluation test before you sign up for the real thing."

Cool ! I didn't knew the sample test was updated. I scored 6/10. Not bas for someone who haven't touch a cluster for 2 years.

Note : there is a string to fix at the end of the test : "This is the end of the MySQL Core Certification Evaluation test".

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