Re: DBA vs Developer

In article <levin-3105991747080001_at_ts25l14.pathcom.com>,   levin_at_pathcom.com (Carolyn Levin) wrote:
> I'm not sure which to pursue...Oracle DBA or Developer. Can someone
please
> explain the differences???
>
> I would really appreciate it!
>
> Also is Oracle taught as part of a university computer science degree?
In
> other words, would I be competing with university grads with computer
> science degrees if I looked for a job as an Oracle DBA or Developer?
>
> Carolyn
>

Greetings, Carolyn,

  I have six years experience as an Oracle DBA, supporting databases on UNIX platforms. As part of my job, I install Oracle, configure it, create tables, indexes, etc, do performance maintenance and tuning, backup and recovery, apply patches and upgrades. Some DBA's do entity relationship modelling, diagramming the relationships among data in a system.

  The Oracle Developers usually write code in a programming language and use the one of the Oracle Precompilers (Pro*C, Pro*Cobol, etc) to enable the program to access the database. They also get involved in creating reports and documents with the Oracle tools such as Oracle Forms, Oracle Reports, etc. Some developers do data modelling as well.

  If you want to take Oracle classes in college, your best bet is to check out the university or college's Extended Education offerings - these are classes offered, usually in the evenings, for working people who want to advance themselves in their job or learn new skills; and there's usually not a formal matriculation process. You fill out a short application and pay the class fee.

  I'm not sure where you might be going to school, but in Southern California, UCLA offers Oracle courses (their program leads to Oracle certification, I think). UC Irvine and California State University Fullerton also have Oracle offerings. UC Riverside is beginning an Oracle Database Administrator program; they will be offering the Introduction to Oracle and PL/SQL, Oracle8 Database Administration, Oracle8 Backup and Recovery, and Network Administration courses using materials from Oracle.

  One advantage to the college courses, if they're using materials from Oracle, is that the fees are about 1/3 - 1/2 that of Oracle. For instance, the Oracle8 Database Administrator class is 5 days, and $2,200.00 if you take it from Oracle; at a college or university, it would be somewhere around $500-$1200. The people that teach the classes are usually experienced Oracle DBA's or developers.

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Share what you know. Learn what you don't. Received on Fri Jun 11 1999 - 17:58:38 CDT