MySQL Certification Study Guide

By Stefan Neufeind

The MySQL Certification Study Guide, in my opinion, gives a good and (almost) complete overview of the knowledge needed to pass the certification process. It starts with general introductory information which outlines the various components / tools of MySQL and highlights the topics you need to get started. The introduction, in my eyes, is well done since it doesn't require too much previous knowledge - though general database-knowledge is surely needed. The guide clearly points out that it's not meant as a replacement for the documentation but as a valueable addition that helps you prepare the needed aspects for certification in more detail. I think that this "separation" was well done, and that the introduction leads you the way to get started quite easy.

The book can be separated into 5 major sections:

• introduction (chapters 1 to 4)
• working with MySQL (chapters 5 to 9)
• architecture, installation and security (chapters 10 to 12)
• advanced knowledge and technical details (security and optimization, in-depth knowledge of table-formats, advanced features; chapters 13 and 16)
• about the certification (Appendix B)

The short introduction helps you getting started as gives as much details as needed but as less as possible (architecture and installation comes later!). Since often you'll have a pre-installed system the chapters on working with MySQL allow you to gain practical experience as soon as possible. This is definitely something most people are looking for after the introduction, when they want to start "doing something" as soon as possible.

For those cases where your distribution does not provide the latest MySQL version you are looking for or if you want to get in touch a bit deeper with architecture and installation the following chapters give you some more "theoretical" knowledge.

Next is a chapter about priviledges, user rights etc. which is needed as soon as you want to start actually working with such a system "in the wild", and no longer as root on your local experimental environment. At this point you have the basic knowledge to install and work with a MySQL-system.

Since up to here most people will only have got a rough impact of how to build "good" queries and about the differences of MyISAM / InnoDB the next chapters help you to work efficiently with MySQL and use advanced features (of the DB in general as well of the two table-types). When you've worked your way through this study guide, which will surely take some time, you have explored the various fields of knowledge needed to take the exams. And that's what the Appendix helps you with.

Maybe there should have been a harder split between the knowledge needed for the core-certification and the professional-certification. This information is given in the Appendix - maybe it would have been useful to get a rough overview in the introduction or maybe even by clearly splitting the book into two parts in the index.

It's not an easy decision in which order to provide the wide field of knowledge in this book. There may be people willing to do more "practical work" at the beginning, which helps them getting started quickly, while others prefer a detailed introduction. I think the authors did a good job at deciding which information are essential, then provide practical chapters (working with MySQL) and giving further details afterward.

In my eyes the combination of information on the one hand and exercises (Q/A) on the other are well chosen. The extensive exercises allow you to find out how well you've memorized the information of a chapter and to isolate the parts which you'll need to have a closer look upon. That's what I expect from a study guide.

Since I've taken the Core certification myself I think I can mostly judge about the first half of the book. I think the information covered in the first part give a compact introduction of the things you'll need to know and provide you with interesting details. If you work through those chapters carefully I'm sure you'll be well-prepared for taking the certification. Paired with some work-experience with MySQL you have a very good chance of passing :-)

Having a closer look at the fields of knowledge needed for the professional certification (optimization and advanced features of the DBMS) I'm really looking forward to taking that exam as well.

Editor's note: As is correctly pointed out by Mr. Neufeind, the printed version of the MySQL Certification Study Guide does not make a clear distinction between the material for the Core and the Professional exams. As noted on the book's Errata page, it is the intent that chapters 1-9 should be studied for the Core exam, and the remainder of the chapters should be studied for the Professional exam.

About the Author

Stefan Neufeind has been active in the Open Source/Linux/PHP-field for several years now. Besides his computer-science studies he's working as a freelancer for the internet company SpeedPartner and as a free author for various magazines. Furthermore he's a speaker at various PHP- and Linux-conferences.

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