Oracle 1Z0-147 exam is retired – what does that mean for me?

Oracle Certification announced the retirement of several exams on March 13, including 1Z0-147: Program with PL/SQL. This exam satisfies the PL/SQL component to becoming a Certified Oracle PL/SQL Developer Associate. Originally developed while Oracle 9i was the current version of the database, it was speculated for some time that this exam would be retired. As of the announcement, the exam will no longer be available after July 31, 2013. Oracle professionals following the path of PL/SQL development have been asking what effect this retirement will have on their PL certification process. /SQL OCA. The impact of the announcement and the actions you need to take depend on where you are in the PL/SQL certification process.

• If 1Z0-147 has passed — For people who have already passed the exam, withdrawing from the exam means nothing at all. Oracle certifications and exam results do not change when an exam is retired. The only people affected by retirement are those who have not yet enjoyed it. After the cut-off date, it will no longer be possible to schedule the exam.
• If you are currently preparing for 1Z0-147 — If you are currently in the process of studying for this exam and are almost ready to take it, then you should complete your preparation and schedule the exam. Don’t wait until the last minute. You want to leave enough time to retake it if you don’t pass on the first try. After the deadline has passed, you will not be able to schedule the exam for any reason. If you are preparing for the exam, but have just started, you may want to consider the following option.
• If you haven’t started preparing yet — If you plan to take the 1Z0-147 exam, but have not started preparing for it at this time, I would recommend that you take the replacement exam. 1Z0-144: Oracle Database 11g: Programming with PL/SQL. The two exams serve the same purpose and passing either exam along with an SQL exam will earn you the PL/SQL OCA. The 1Z0-144 exam won’t be retiring for many years, so you’ll have plenty of time to prepare.

1Z0-147 and 1Z0-144 have a significant percentage of common themes. However, 1Z0-144 has been rewritten considerably. The exam contains new features that were added to the PL/SQL engine in Oracle 10G and 11G. However, the exam has also added a significant number of topics for basic PL/SQL skills. Arguably most of these should have been included as part of 1Z0-147. I have researched both tests extensively and firmly believe that 1Z0-144 is the better of the two by far. The 1Z0-147 recall is long overdue.