Certain Oracle Cloud Certs Now Part of LinkedIn Learning

Thanks to the latest edition of Certification Watch (Vol. 25, No. 35), I just learned that Oracle University is making a handful of certs available through the LinkedIn Learning program. This is a big deal, and an incredible value. Please allow me to explain what's on offer, and why it’s perhaps more eye-opening than it might first appear to be.

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The Incredible Handful

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The following five certs are now included in the LinkedIn Learning library of courses (hence the term "handful"):

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Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Certified 2022 Foundations Associate
Oracle Cloud Infrastructure 2022 Certified Architect Associate
Oracle Cloud Infrastructure 2022 Certified Architect Professional
Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Operations Associate (2022 version not yet available; here's a link to the 2021 version and the LinkedIn Course)
Oracle Autonomous Database Cloud Administration (2022 version not yet available; here's the 2021 version and LinkedIn Course)

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Across this collection of training materials, cloud infrastructure and database professionals can get themselves off to a pretty good start. That said, Oracle offers dozens of exams with associated credentials in each of these subject areas, and more on related developer topics.

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I haven’t counted lately, but Oracle University seems to be developing the same reach and heft as IBM’s certification program, which includes more than 800 credentials.

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What Makes This a Good Deal?

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LinkedIn Learning costs $20 per month if purchased on a yearly basis, and $40 per month if paid monthly. Either way, it’s a good deal for an enormous collection of training and certification prep materials across the whole certification spectrum.

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The addition of Oracle is noteworthy, because that company charges $5,000 for a training subscription that’s good for 1-to-5 years, depending on programs undertaken. Under that umbrella it's a "consume whatever you can" kind of plan. But it's also an order of magnitude more expensive than LinkedIn.

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Part of what I’m saying is that LinkedIn is a better buy than Oracle training, if any of the foregoing items are on your certification to-do list. Above and beyond the Oracle stuff, though, there’s an additional wealth of topics you can fund under the LinkedIn umbrella. This also includes LOTS of "soft skills" topics, which are always a worthwhile ongoing development goal for IT professionals.

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In fact, a 2019 Cengage Survey reported that 65 percent of employers wish their IT workers had more and better soft skills, to the point where they have trouble finding candidates with the right kinds of skills and knowledge outside purely technical realms. That's something else that LinkedIn can help with.

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Personally, I’m lucky enough to get a free LinkedIn Learning subscription as part of my annual Windows Insider MVP benefits. (Don’t forget that Microsoft now owns LinkedIn, and uses its learning offerings as a major in-house resource, as well as a revenue generation tool.) That’s how I was able to explore all the Oracle (and other) learning goodies that are currently available.

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I’m not trying to endorse LinkedIn Learning, but I am saying it’s a valuable resource that’s worth investigating for those interested in certification prep as well as soft skills learning and personal development. And this new Oracle deal just adds to that value. It's worth checking out, at any rate.