Newbie: Looking for guidance

Greetings,
Trying to make the transition from a sales/acct mgmt background to an Oracle DBA track and a bit overwhelmed by the initial crush of info. This decision is after yet another startup has fallen by the wayside leaving me unemployed (and truthfully a bit tired of sales). I've picked up "Oracle DBA 101" from Oracle press and have seen mention of some other good books posted here, but I'm still unsure of my next steps. In NYC (and certainly elsewhere) there are several vocational schools and Universities (Oracle included) that provide training for this track, but I don't know what standard to base an evaluation on. Does anyone have any opinions on any of these programs one way or the other, taking into account my lack of real programming experience? I'm sure I can learn it, I just don't want to be at a disadvantage without it if I do take a course. Ideally I'd like to be able to start working in this field at some level as soon as possible (that IS the goal here), so I can take advantage of the gurus and hands-on usage that are available. At what point does someone become employable in this regard? Is it more important to focus on SQL vs PL/SQL?
Any advice/help/insight is most appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Sean Received on Mon May 14 2001 - 16:29:14 CDT