My Oracle Cert Journey.. So Far

My halfway point and my thoughts on The Race to Certification so far.

Aug 11, 2025

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So a few weeks ago I sent an email FULL of freebies, mostly tech related training and certs that are available on the internet. Missed it? Click here to catch up.

I want to fill you in on my personal journey with the Oracle Race To Certification 2025 challenge. To make a long story short, Oracle is offering a bunch of free certs that will allow you to level up in the cloud industry by gaining critical skills and knowledge that is needed as the industry expands. Oracle just signed a $30B (PER YEAR) contract with OpenAI (ChatGPT) and they will need more people to keep up with the demand.

I myself am pivoting in my own career and going back to school, so I saw this as the perfect chance to get my foot in the door. I have a background in tech, just not the tech everyone thinks of when they hear that word these days. I have spent my last 6 years working in the film industry as a lighting technician and set electrician. I program lights, troubleshoot them, update the firmware, run power, operate generators, and the list goes on. With this background, transitioning into a career that’s more computer based hasn’t been that hard for me so far (think in-office or remote versus outside in the field in the film industry because we film anywhere and everywhere).

The Oracle Race presented me with the perfect opportunity to stack some knowledge and gain some credible certs in the exact niche I want to work in. They’re offering free exam vouchers to get certified and gain knowledge in Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), Multicloud, Data, and AI.

The rules are simple, start with 2 free exam vouchers in your Oracle wallet once you sign up. Earn 1 cert by passing an exam, earn 1 free exam voucher. Earn a 2nd cert, earn 1 free exam voucher. Earn 2 more certs, and earn 1 more free exam voucher. So they give you 2 freebies, and then you have a chance to earn 3 more. (more detailed explanation here)

TIP: The foundations associate exams are all free to take. There are 3 foundations associate certs you can earn. All 3 exams are free. If you earn these 3 + use 1 of your free exam vouchers given to you at the beginning to earn cert #4, this will allow you to have 4 more free exam vouchers to use on exams that are not free. Think about it. Use the free exams that don’t need vouchers to earn vouchers to use on exams that do need vouchers + learn foundational knowledge while you do it. It’s not rocket science.

Here’s where I am so far and what I did to get there:

I started with the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) Foundations Associate learning path (about 4+ hours of videos + information). This took me about 2 days to finish. It was the easiest to understand of all of the Oracle material I started. I found that this was a great starting point to be introduced to Oracle and their cloud infrastructure. By completing this I received 1 free exam voucher.

I then moved onto the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) AI Foundations Associate learning path (about 5+ hours of videos + information). This took me 1 day to finish (2nd easiest course for me). I binged the course in one day and knocked out the exam. I figured learning the basics on OCI then learning the basics of AI within OCI would be the best pathway to take given where technology is heading. I then earned another exam voucher. This brought my free exam voucher total to 4 (2 free + 2 earned).

Data is the most valuable resource right now. Data is stored in the cloud. AI is used to help automate workflow within the cloud. Don’t think too hard. These are 2 learning paths to get your feet wet, learn the basics, AND earn yourself 2 free exam vouchers.

Here’s the next level: you need to earn 2 more certs to win 1 free exam voucher… so away we go. I moved onto the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) Generative AI Professional learning path (about 7+ hours of videos + information). I was coming fresh off of the AI Foundations Associate learning path so I figured why not continue my AI journey. This was actually a great idea because this was the hardest exam for me so far. It took me about a week to complete the course and study for the exam. Generative AI is the future whether we like it or not, so why not learn about the logistics behind it to know what to look for? Exactly.

After the 1st three certs, I was on a roll and I knew that if I completed at least one more, I would earn one last free exam voucher, bringing my total to (5) FIVE free exam vouchers (2 free + 3 earned)… so I was eager to knock it out. For my next cert, I went for the Oracle Data Platform Foundations Associate learning path (about 6+ hours of videos + information). This took me about 3 days to complete. It was pretty easy to be honest.

So now this is where it got fun. I earned all of the available free exam vouchers that the race offers (outside of the final grand prize of 2 more free exam vouchers for the top 500 participants who complete the most certs by end of race). So my next plan: plot out a route to compliment the career I want later in life. So I reverse engineered my path and plotted out my next certs. Since I started with 2 free vouchers, earned 3 free exam vouchers in the challenge, and used 1 to take my Generative AI Pro exam, … I had 4 free exam vouchers to play with, with 3 expiring on 10/31/25, and the last one expiring on 10/31/26. So you best believe I’m trying to maximize all 3 of those before this thing is over. You know me!

Next up, I dug into the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) MultiCloud Architect Professional learning path. To be honest, I wish I got into this right after my OCI foundations exam. This goes pretty deeper into everything that has to do with Oracle and other clouds. By the time I got here, a lot of the protocols, terms, and concepts felt a bit repetitive. I drilled the OCI ecosystem into my mind and it got to the point where I kind of knew what was going on. Kind of like the point in a video game where you know how to play, but you’re just not good enough to beat it yet. I believe using the resources in the lab and the rest of Oracle University will help along the way. It’s only been about 5 weeks of immersing myself in the information daily.

As of today, I have 4 total Oracle certs; 3 foundations associate level certs + 2 professional certs. I actually was a few days away from taking the Autonomous Database exam and I did a bit more research for my career goals and realized my time would be better spent on the Multicloud Pro cert.

I purchased the ability to work on labs and projects through Oracle ($29 for one month) and I’ve been playing around with it to understand more of what I learned in each learning path. I’ve also been going back through the videos to plot out certain things they did to see if I can replicate it myself and build my own things. The journey has BEGUN.

What’s next on my hit list:

Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) Observability Professional
Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) Networking Professional (will grab in 2026 with my last free exam voucher)

I have roughly 2 and half months to finish my Observability Pro exam + 1 more before the end of the Oracle Race and my vouchers expire. I haven’t decided on what the last one will be and I’m thinking I might not even use it. I’m taking my time with Observability. I probably won’t test until late September.

I put OCI Networking Pro off until my last voucher because it is the longest of my courses (17 hours) and it’s also what I want to specialize in, so I’m going to use my 2026 voucher on that one and take my time with it sometime next year. I will technically still have one free open voucher that expires 10/31/25 but I’m not pressed to use it.

Some will call me crazy. Some will call dumb for cert stacking. But I don’t care. These exams are $200+ each, if I have the time, I will make learning the material a priority. The knowledge is worth a lot of money. Oracle offers self-paced labs for $29/month (which I am currently doing). What’s that to someone who can take these skills and get into jobs paying $85k-$130k, and even $150k+ per year? Don’t believe me? Plug some of these certs into Google or ChatGPT (or even a job search site) and see what jobs these can qualify you for (if you actually retain the knowledge, do the labs, and show you know what you’re doing). Then see what are the salary ranges for some of these positions. I’ve done my research and I highly suggest you do yours. Senior roles with years of experience and projects under their belt pull in $200k+. So work on your skills. Lab. Get a job. Learn some more. Gain experience. Get more money for the experience and skills. LEARN THE MATERIAL. PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE. LAB. THEN LAB SOME MORE. OUTPERFORM THE COMPETITION. FEED YOUR FAMILY. Rinse and repeat. The race is a good way for an individual (like you and me) to get their feet wet in cloud. Grab a couple of certs, learn some new things, and practice what you learned. Use this knowledge as a stepping stone into your next gig.

My end of race stack should be (by 10/31/25):

Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) Foundations Associate
Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) AI Foundations Associate
Oracle Data Platform Foundations Associate
Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) Generative AI Professional
Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) Multicloud Architect Professional
Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) Observability Professional

Before I go into the next section, I want to explain something. I am not running through this information just to put certifications on my resume. I actually want to learn this information and am actively pushing myself to do so. I actually love learning this information and actually want to work in this industry. Networking. Cloud. Security. It all interests me the more I learn. If you’re looking for exam dumps and ‘how to pass fast’ type of information, you will not find it here. This is for people who actually want to learn and understand this information in an efficient manner. I want to earn a high paying career in this industry and I know I actually have to retain the information and understand it first. So if you’re looking to cram this information to pass a test and forget the information a week later, I’m probably not the person to listen to.

How I Learned The Material

I had a few people on Twitter ask me how I was able to knock out the material and pass these exams so quickly and efficiently.

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