Oracle Database Discussions

Hello,

I live in Canada, am currently visiting Pakistan, and have started taking an Oracle certification here (OCP-DBA 10g). Things in Pakistan are a bit hard to research though so I wanted to ask some questions.

Question 1:
Firstly I'd like if you could advise on the market of a DBA. I'm a recent grad in IT but still haven't done much work in the IT sector itself, I've had trouble finding work. I've started this certification in hopes of adding value to my resume, but will it benefit me if I don't have much experience? Along with this certification the place I'm taking it at is finding me an internship for a few months, but that will also be here in Pakistan, I'm not sure if that will count in other countries. So I'm trying to figure out the value of a new grad in IT with an OCP-DBA with the only experience being an internship in a foreign country. This is in USA/Canada of course.

Question 2:
I have very little prior knowledge of DB/SQL. My bachelor's degree was in IT, that was my only exposure, but I've only done one course in SQL and it wasn't all that comprehensive. So I also wanted to know if I'd be able to actually get the certification on my first attempt, or is more extensive exposure required?

I apologize if these questions seem simplistic. Ordinarily I Google answers to such questions but market demand is something I haven't been able to research for this. This was one of the hottest certifications back in 2002 from my research but I haven't been able to find much for now. Not to mention its hard to factor the new grad with no experience into my research.

By the way I haven't looked into this recently, but last time I did I also had trouble finding the cost of certifying myself in Canada, specially Toronto. Any ideas on this?

I'd appreciate any help that could be provided.

Best,
Daanish