October 2023 Certification List Update

Hey everybody! I am back with my monthly certification progress report.

Look I do not have any new certifications this month. Not like I have not tried. I have retaken the Oracle Cloud Observability Professional certification — and get this — gone backwards, scoring 33/55 instead of 36/55. 36/55 is the number that I’ve needed to hit. Immediately I am like, I will leave this one alone and recalibrate.

However, I do have some great news

I have received my 2 Oracle Race to Certification exam vouchers! That has more than made up for failing the observability professional exam twice. Well, I must admit that this is an expert-level exam and that I am learning observability and site reliability engineering. Furthermore, I am grateful to Oracle’s Race to Certification for the free exam vouchers else the price would have been $245.

Finally, I would say that I may have to examine my stamina because the observability professional exam is 55 questions. The Oracle Multicloud Architect is 30 questions and the AI Foundations Associate is 35 questions. I think that studying and passing the free Oracle Cloud Data Management Foundations Associate would help because it is 55 questions.

Now everything this month is not about Oracle Cloud.

I am also back to studying and passing my CompTIA security+ exam. I have cleared all of my other Ohio IMAP (individual microcredential assistance program) certifications so now I am focusing on CompTIA. The hardest thing for me is to focus on the materials that the training provider has given me. Having studied other CompTIA security materials, I know are better; but, I am being graded on these subpar materials. Still not paying the $359 for a voucher is a great thing.

I have also participated in an AI-102 Azure AI Engineer Zoom study group because after the first week, I through it was unorganized so I just studied on my own. My voucher is still in Microsoft CLX so I am okay.

Jobs…

I have been making a serious dent in the jobs search with my DevOps Leader and Oracle Cloud AI Foundation Associate certifications. I have applied for 4 AI positions with a Fortune 50 tech company. I have applied to numerous federal IT specialist (2210 series) jobs. I’ve learned on a Twitter Space that the federal government has the new 1560 Data Science series. Of course, I have applied for these jobs since I love data and have completed 10 DataCamp AI and data science certificates. I’ve merged all of them into one PDF and submitted them with my resumes. Right now I have 3 referrals to the hiring manager.

Also I am getting a lot of traction from DevOps positions resulting in interviews. Therefore, even though I have no new certifications in October, this month is extremely productive for me.

What’s Next?

I see myself finishing up CompTIA security and continuing my job search. I will also keep applying for all of the remote federal jobs which I qualify. I am happy to learn that the salary discrepancy is based on the rest of the US; and, that the agency will adjust my salary based on my location. Before learning this in October, I refused to apply to some jobs because I believe that the remote pay is too low. Not any more so I am going for it.

As always, I will keep you posted.