While checking out the new features due for MySQL 6.0 (Falcon) the other day, I happened to browse my way past the Certification pages to see if anything had changed - am I glad I did!

It was during my browsing that I noticed the Important Information that detailed a typsetting error with the voucher expiry date found in the MySQL 5.0 Certification Study Guide……..the same guide that had been sat on my lounge floor for the last few months…..

Quickly flipping through the pages I found the voucher that offered 25% off your exam and then went straight to the site to check the actual expiration date - 30 June 2007. Well that gave me about 5 days to take advantage of the voucher and seeing as I was making the most of the few days holiday I had left from last year I decided to cash in.

I went for the DBA certification rather than upgrade my Core to a Developer, mainly as I tend to look after MySQL installations more than develop against them at the moment, but also as I wanted to start afresh and go back to basics before upgrading.

The exam definately tests your knowledge of MySQL and if it was not for having several installations to manage, and such a great book (MySQL 5.0 Certification Study Guide), I don’t think I would have passed. I was amazed at how much I remembered from the Core exam, I took that one over a year ago!.

So after 3 days of having my head in a book I passed the DBA part 1 exam (just), that leaves part 2 (maybe in a few weeks)….