Career Trajectory : Issue 128 : Oracle, OpenAI and Softbank Form Stargate

Hey there LinkedIn Family! Career Trajectory is back with breaking news. Oracle, OpenAI and SoftBank have partner to create AI data center infrastructure company, Stargate. Speaking of Oracle, I have the exclusive Oracle Cloud response about its free certifications. There's also big Microsoft certification news.

BUT FIRST

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Oracle

Oracle, OpenAI and SoftBank Partner to Create Stargate

OpenAI has announced on its official website that it is partnering with Oracle and SoftBank to create a new company Stargate.

Stargate focuses on AI and data center infrastructure. These three companies in the next 4 years will invest up to $500 billion ($125 billion per year) towards AI infrastructure. The company has also a link for data center engineers, general contractors and other businesses needed to build Stargate’s AI infrastructure.

New 2025 Foundations Exams Will Debut Last Week of February

Oracle certification customer support responded to my inquiry about retiring all of its free 2024 Foundations Associate certification exams February 13, 2025 instead of the usual June and July. Oracle says that the new 2025 exams will debut the final week of February 2025. Watch my video to learn more.

Remember in Issue 127, where I have mentioned that an Oracle Cloud person on LinkedIn hinting at the return of its free certification promotion. I do think that the retirement is aligned to this promotion. We shall see within 3 weeks. As always, stick with Career Trajectory because I will report this if the free certification promotion becomes available.

Microsoft Certifications

DP-700 Replaces DP-203. DP-203 Retires March 31, 2025

Last week Microsoft said that it would retire DP-203 Azure Data Engineer Associate March 31, 2025. The company also released DP-700 Fabric Data Engineer Associate into general availability. DP-700 will replace DP-203.

My Take

I think that retiring DP-203 is premature especially since companies aren’t adopting the all-in-one Fabric platform that fast. Besides with rival AWS releasing its Data Engineer Associate certification in 2024, Microsoft should have kept DP-203 its direct equivalent.

Fabric Community Has 50% Off DP-700 Exam Voucher Promotion For A Limited Time

Right on the heels of the DP-700 replacing DP-203, the Microsoft Fabric Community has a limited time 50% off exam voucher promotion . I am calling it limited time because it is until the 20,000 exam vouchers run out. If there are still some remaining vouchers then the promotion will end March 31, 2025.

You will need a Fabric Community profile and the Microsoft Learn profile linked to the community profile. That link lets Microsoft credit the right profile for the exam voucher.

Upon creating your profile, you will need to do 1 of 3 things in order to receive the discounted voucher

·???????? Have a DP-203 certification

·???????? Complete the DP-700 learning path

·???????? Attend 1 DP-700 Virtual Training Days

You will need pass your exam within 30 days of receiving the voucher.

This is Microsoft’s attempt at mass adoption of DP-700. If you have Microsoft Fabrics knowledge, the DP-600 Fabric Analytics Engineer or the DP-203 Azure Data Engineer Associate, check out this promotion.

?Free Certification

SecOps Group Has 5000 Free PenTesting Exam Voucher

I have posted this video on LinkedIn about SecOps Group having a Certified Network Security Practitioner (CNSP) free certification promotion. There is a 5000 voucher limit. You must complete the form.

?If you meet certain criteria then you will receive a free voucher. If you don’t use promo code CNSP-90 to receive 90% off your voucher.

Well, that is all of Issue 128. I would like to thank each and every single one of you for taking time out of your busy schedule to read Career Trajectory. If you haven't subscribed yet, please do so here.