Tek-Tips is the largest IT community on the Internet today!
Members share and learn making Tek-Tips Forums the best source of peer-reviewed technical information on the Internet!
-
Congratulations strongm on being selected by the Tek-Tips community for having the most helpful posts in the forums last week. Way to Go!
certification study guides
- Thread starter Pinan
- Start date
It all depends on the time, money, and effort you want to invest.
Teradata documentation has been improving geometrically in the last few years. You will invest the most time but least money in reviewing topics and documents in TUF 7.0 documentation available from the Teradata V2R5 demo CD.
Tom Coffing at sells study guides that run about $200 for each test you want to study for. I believe these are limited to the V2R4 versions that are being phased out by 7/2004. Since most of these are "cliff notes" for the exams, they should be supported by the Teradata reference material and experience.
NCR has CD's and web and instructor lead classes for training for their various exams. Go to teradataeducationnetwork.com and look at the various alternatives and prices.
Remember there is a transition between V2R4 and V2R5 certification currently being implemented. If NCR does the same thing they did in the past, you may have an opportunity to take the beta test free of charge.
Teradata documentation has been improving geometrically in the last few years. You will invest the most time but least money in reviewing topics and documents in TUF 7.0 documentation available from the Teradata V2R5 demo CD.
Tom Coffing at sells study guides that run about $200 for each test you want to study for. I believe these are limited to the V2R4 versions that are being phased out by 7/2004. Since most of these are "cliff notes" for the exams, they should be supported by the Teradata reference material and experience.
NCR has CD's and web and instructor lead classes for training for their various exams. Go to teradataeducationnetwork.com and look at the various alternatives and prices.
Remember there is a transition between V2R4 and V2R5 certification currently being implemented. If NCR does the same thing they did in the past, you may have an opportunity to take the beta test free of charge.
- Thread starter
- #3
BillDHS, I appreciate the answer. The problem that I have is money. The instructor lead courses are very expensive, and there are only two web based courses (basics and SQL). I woudl prefer to get my certification based on V2R4 mainly because that is what I have the most course books on (borrowed ones from other people at work), then, when the time comes, take the single test to gain certification on V2R5. the other point is that NCR is giving us a grace period to finsh a set curriculum that we are on. So, if I start right now, I will have roughly 1 year to complete my certifications.
I am trying to look into possibly taking the beta testing, but I have just started my research. We have a fairly extensive NCR site team, so Im sure that someone could point me in the right direction.
Since you seem fairly well versed on this, I will get your opinion. What is the benefit (besides the obvious) of getting the full Master certification (all 6 tests) over just the Advanced (first 3 tests)?
I am trying to look into possibly taking the beta testing, but I have just started my research. We have a fairly extensive NCR site team, so Im sure that someone could point me in the right direction.
Since you seem fairly well versed on this, I will get your opinion. What is the benefit (besides the obvious) of getting the full Master certification (all 6 tests) over just the Advanced (first 3 tests)?
" What is the benefit (besides the obvious) of getting the full Master certification (all 6 tests) over just the Advanced (first 3 tests)?"
One nice logo in black/gold instead of several logos in different colors ;-)
Like BillDHS,i'd also suggest the manuals, but try to get a printed copy, as it's hard to read PDFs on a screen. The admins usually lock the books away ;-)
I wouldn't recommend the Coffing books, they're expensive and you'll probably find the same info reading the manuals.
Regarding the beta tests, this is probably the best, because usually they're for free and maybe you pass the exam. And if you don't pass, you've already seen lots of questions ;-)
The first test is quite easy, but the last three are rather complex. So hopefully you'll pass all six test before they expire, because there'll be only an upgrade exam for Masters.
Dieter
(Teradata Certified Master & Teradata Certified Instructor)
One nice logo in black/gold instead of several logos in different colors ;-)
Like BillDHS,i'd also suggest the manuals, but try to get a printed copy, as it's hard to read PDFs on a screen. The admins usually lock the books away ;-)
I wouldn't recommend the Coffing books, they're expensive and you'll probably find the same info reading the manuals.
Regarding the beta tests, this is probably the best, because usually they're for free and maybe you pass the exam. And if you don't pass, you've already seen lots of questions ;-)
The first test is quite easy, but the last three are rather complex. So hopefully you'll pass all six test before they expire, because there'll be only an upgrade exam for Masters.
Dieter
(Teradata Certified Master & Teradata Certified Instructor)
- Thread starter
- #5
dnoeth, thanks for the input. I can get my hands on MOST of the student books for the classes. Ill try the suggetestions for the others.
I wouldnt think the first 3 tests would be that difficult. And I have the class books on all of them. Its the last three that kind of worry me. I would hate to complete 5 tests, and just miss the sixth. Of course, 5 cool little logos are better than what I have now....
When do the beta tests start? And what is a good way of gettiong set up to take them.
I wouldnt think the first 3 tests would be that difficult. And I have the class books on all of them. Its the last three that kind of worry me. I would hate to complete 5 tests, and just miss the sixth. Of course, 5 cool little logos are better than what I have now....
When do the beta tests start? And what is a good way of gettiong set up to take them.
I have my Advanced Cert and the Database Design Cert from the upper three. I got my SQL and database design certs from beta tests. They were free, but had about three times more questions than the regular exams.
I would like to get my last two and complete the Master before the end of the V2R4. If I were starting now, I would probably be in your predicament. No V2R5 experience, and limited V2R4 longevity. If your employer is going to V2R5, then studying the new features and beta tests in that version may be the way to go.
For gaining Teradata knowledge, I think the first three are manditory. These have training in specific Teradata structure. Last I heard there were only about 200 Masters worldwide, and I would guess the at least 1/2 of them are NCR staff or instructors. In either case, someone with LOTS of practical experience.
Unlike Oracle, or some other applications, TD certification is relatively new. When looking at Teradata job listings 5 years experience is still the primary need. Master is desired, but not required.
I would like to get my last two and complete the Master before the end of the V2R4. If I were starting now, I would probably be in your predicament. No V2R5 experience, and limited V2R4 longevity. If your employer is going to V2R5, then studying the new features and beta tests in that version may be the way to go.
For gaining Teradata knowledge, I think the first three are manditory. These have training in specific Teradata structure. Last I heard there were only about 200 Masters worldwide, and I would guess the at least 1/2 of them are NCR staff or instructors. In either case, someone with LOTS of practical experience.
Unlike Oracle, or some other applications, TD certification is relatively new. When looking at Teradata job listings 5 years experience is still the primary need. Master is desired, but not required.
I almost forgot, there where some benefits:
There's an email list (similar to the Teradata forum) provided by NCR just for masters.
And there is/was a free 3 months membership to the Teradata Education Network.
The beta exams will be announced, so you'll have to watch the website. I think they'll start soon, because the new exams are probably supposed to be available until the next partners conference in Spetember. And betas have to start at least 8-10 weeks before ;-)
BillDHS, you're right: there are about 200 masters now
Dieter
Master since 05/2000 and no NCR employee ;-)
There's an email list (similar to the Teradata forum) provided by NCR just for masters.
And there is/was a free 3 months membership to the Teradata Education Network.
The beta exams will be announced, so you'll have to watch the website. I think they'll start soon, because the new exams are probably supposed to be available until the next partners conference in Spetember. And betas have to start at least 8-10 weeks before ;-)
BillDHS, you're right: there are about 200 masters now
Dieter
Master since 05/2000 and no NCR employee ;-)
- Thread starter
- #8
I really appreciate the input on this, guys. you are the first two people to actually have useful information for me.
But I do have another question. Other than the cost issue (test being free) is there any other reason that I should look at the beta tests? I ask because I may be able to get my company to pay for the tests. If its free for me ether way, I'll go with the one with fewer questions (of course).
But I do have another question. Other than the cost issue (test being free) is there any other reason that I should look at the beta tests? I ask because I may be able to get my company to pay for the tests. If its free for me ether way, I'll go with the one with fewer questions (of course).
If your don't pass a test, is your company willing to pay a second try?
A beta test was 4 hours incudling ~120 questions.
So even if you don't pass it, you've a good starting point for the real test, because you already know a lot of those questions ;-)
Dieter
A beta test was 4 hours incudling ~120 questions.
So even if you don't pass it, you've a good starting point for the real test, because you already know a lot of those questions ;-)
Dieter
I don't know your experience/skill level, but I would say it would be very difficult to pass all six test on the first try within the next 12 months.
Is your employer requiring certification? If not, would you be better off getting the R5 certs?
Go back to the NCR education site and take the practice tests. Is you score reflective of passing on the first attempt? Look at the class/test/cert paths descriptions, do you have experience in those tasks? Do you have a couple years with Teradata under your belt? Can you interpret Explains and describe the actions being taken at each step? Do you work with Teradata Manager utility as an administrator? Do you know the content and functions of the system tables? Do you know the tasks different administrative tools perform?
Unless you have worked as an administrator, I would be surprised if you could pass the last three tests in the next 12 months without NCR training.
Is your employer requiring certification? If not, would you be better off getting the R5 certs?
Go back to the NCR education site and take the practice tests. Is you score reflective of passing on the first attempt? Look at the class/test/cert paths descriptions, do you have experience in those tasks? Do you have a couple years with Teradata under your belt? Can you interpret Explains and describe the actions being taken at each step? Do you work with Teradata Manager utility as an administrator? Do you know the content and functions of the system tables? Do you know the tasks different administrative tools perform?
Unless you have worked as an administrator, I would be surprised if you could pass the last three tests in the next 12 months without NCR training.
- Thread starter
- #11
dnoeth, good suggestion about the beta tests. And I'm not sure they will even pay for the first try yet....Im just trying to get them to. I may also try to get NCR to allow me to use credits for it (and we did just buy another 36 nodes. Maybe I can talk them into it). Worst case scenario, I have to pay for it, which isnt that big of a deal (considering it an investment).
BillDHS, no my employer does not require any certs. I am simply doing this to make myself more marketable (inside and outside of the company. Specifically, I would like to get into technical architecture). I only have about 18 months of teradata, and our environment is pretty large, so we all have very specific jobs. Im an administrator from the UNIX side. I use TD manager very rarely. I know how to, but that is more the responsiblity of the DBA's. I know my job pretty well, but not a lot of what the others do. I was just hoping that I would be able to 'study' my way through the tests.
It looks like I am just going to go for the first three certs. UNless I can beta test for R5, in which case I'll have a lot longer to fully prepare for the full masters.
BillDHS, no my employer does not require any certs. I am simply doing this to make myself more marketable (inside and outside of the company. Specifically, I would like to get into technical architecture). I only have about 18 months of teradata, and our environment is pretty large, so we all have very specific jobs. Im an administrator from the UNIX side. I use TD manager very rarely. I know how to, but that is more the responsiblity of the DBA's. I know my job pretty well, but not a lot of what the others do. I was just hoping that I would be able to 'study' my way through the tests.
It looks like I am just going to go for the first three certs. UNless I can beta test for R5, in which case I'll have a lot longer to fully prepare for the full masters.
- Thread starter
- #12
Dieter,
I am scheduled to take the application design test tomorrow morning. If I pass it, I will have my masters certification (thanks to EVERYONE that gave me some input on this!). But what did you do to become a certified instructor? Assuming that you dont work for NCR, of course.
I am scheduled to take the application design test tomorrow morning. If I pass it, I will have my masters certification (thanks to EVERYONE that gave me some input on this!). But what did you do to become a certified instructor? Assuming that you dont work for NCR, of course.
Hi Pinan,
i'm not an employee of NCR, but i do trainings solely for NCR.
And i have to confess, i don't know how i became a Certified Instructor. I'm a master since may 2000 and one day i got a letter and a T-Shirt with a logo telling me i'm a Certified Instructor now. They told something about passing exams with a higher percentage and being master.
Maybe you should ask NCR education how to became a Certified Instructor to get an official note about it.
Dieter
i'm not an employee of NCR, but i do trainings solely for NCR.
And i have to confess, i don't know how i became a Certified Instructor. I'm a master since may 2000 and one day i got a letter and a T-Shirt with a logo telling me i'm a Certified Instructor now. They told something about passing exams with a higher percentage and being master.
Maybe you should ask NCR education how to became a Certified Instructor to get an official note about it.
Dieter
- Thread starter
- #15
Dieter,
As always, thanks for the input! I have passed the first 5 test with an average score of about 620, so Im sure that isnt high enough for instructor. Oh well.
But now I have a tough one for you. I have NO documentation for the Application Develeopment test, nor do I have access to any (of the class books). Training is out of the question. So I used one of coffings tera crams on it. I did very well in 4 of the catagories (88% or higher), but horrible in two of them. 37% in coding syntax, and 38% in application development environment. I ended up failing it by 2%, so I have 14 days to prep to retake it.
I'm sure that the info that I need to research is somewhere is the pdf's they have available at inf.ncr.com, but I cant seemt to find them. Do you have any ideas on where I can locate the information that I need? If need be, I can discuss this with you via email.
Farhy, it depends on which certification you are gunning for. The best way to study, for me, is to get a hold of the actual class books. But if you dont have access to them, you can buy cram books at for each test. But they dont cover the whole test, and they can get expensive.
As always, thanks for the input! I have passed the first 5 test with an average score of about 620, so Im sure that isnt high enough for instructor. Oh well.
But now I have a tough one for you. I have NO documentation for the Application Develeopment test, nor do I have access to any (of the class books). Training is out of the question. So I used one of coffings tera crams on it. I did very well in 4 of the catagories (88% or higher), but horrible in two of them. 37% in coding syntax, and 38% in application development environment. I ended up failing it by 2%, so I have 14 days to prep to retake it.
I'm sure that the info that I need to research is somewhere is the pdf's they have available at inf.ncr.com, but I cant seemt to find them. Do you have any ideas on where I can locate the information that I need? If need be, I can discuss this with you via email.
Farhy, it depends on which certification you are gunning for. The best way to study, for me, is to get a hold of the actual class books. But if you dont have access to them, you can buy cram books at for each test. But they dont cover the whole test, and they can get expensive.
- Thread starter
- #17
dieter,
I found someone with the class book to study. and I was pretty close to passing it last time, but I want to be sure. Other than the 100 or so sample questions on coffings site, and the 50 thats at NCR, is there any other places that you know of to get sample questions?
Also, and you may or may not know this, how does the test differ when you take it a second time? This was the first time that I failed one. Specifically, do I get a totally different bank of questions, or is it a random sampling out of the bank, so I get some old ones, and some new ones? Or is it possible that I get the exact same test?
Farhy, I sent to an email, but in a nutshell, the design test is tough, and Im not sure that you'll make it through without the class book or the cram. And that class book is about 700 pages that you will need to know cold.
Good luck!
I found someone with the class book to study. and I was pretty close to passing it last time, but I want to be sure. Other than the 100 or so sample questions on coffings site, and the 50 thats at NCR, is there any other places that you know of to get sample questions?
Also, and you may or may not know this, how does the test differ when you take it a second time? This was the first time that I failed one. Specifically, do I get a totally different bank of questions, or is it a random sampling out of the bank, so I get some old ones, and some new ones? Or is it possible that I get the exact same test?
Farhy, I sent to an email, but in a nutshell, the design test is tough, and Im not sure that you'll make it through without the class book or the cram. And that class book is about 700 pages that you will need to know cold.
Good luck!
Hi Pinan,
i don't think there are any other sites with questions, it's no MS test with hundreds of braindumps.
I don't know exactly about redoing a test, i passed all the first time ;-) Being an instructor you need to know the training material very well and the tests are mainly based on that ;-)
IMHO there's a pool of questions and several sets of of randomly ordered questions from that pool. So if you retry a test a second time you'll probably get a different set (as Sylvan Prometric knows which one you had the first time).
I wish you good luck for the next try...
Dieter
i don't think there are any other sites with questions, it's no MS test with hundreds of braindumps.
I don't know exactly about redoing a test, i passed all the first time ;-) Being an instructor you need to know the training material very well and the tests are mainly based on that ;-)
IMHO there's a pool of questions and several sets of of randomly ordered questions from that pool. So if you retry a test a second time you'll probably get a different set (as Sylvan Prometric knows which one you had the first time).
I wish you good luck for the next try...
Dieter
- Thread starter
- #19
dnoeth,
I retook the App Dev test this morning. Passed with a 91%. A pretty good number of the questions were VERY similiar to the questions that I saw the first time.
That completes my Masters Certification. I appreciate all the advice you gave me along the line. It helped.
Any idea how can I find out exactly how many Masters there are right now, both in NCR and otherwise?
Thanks, Ryan
I retook the App Dev test this morning. Passed with a 91%. A pretty good number of the questions were VERY similiar to the questions that I saw the first time.
That completes my Masters Certification. I appreciate all the advice you gave me along the line. It helped.
Any idea how can I find out exactly how many Masters there are right now, both in NCR and otherwise?
Thanks, Ryan
- Status