Re: Beginner needs help getting started

Gary McCallum wrote:

> I start working for a new company in a months time, one of the things I will
> have to is look after 2 Oracle databases. I made it clear at interview I
> know very little about Oracle so the company understands I need training but
> I would like to hit the ground running. Can someone point me in the
> direction of where to start, what to do and what to read, I have access to
> Oracle 8i Personal Edition but I don't even now SQL, all my databases have
> been done through Access.
>
> I have one month to do this so any help would be most appreciated, I don't
> need to know everything but a crash course to get me started would be
> useful.
>
> Thanks
>
> Gary

I hate to be blunt ... but you are a little fool and whoever hired you is a really really big one. Most likely you will create a disaster. They will hate you and you will hate them and everyone will hate Oracle. Are you sure you are looking for a career opportunity that consists of walking down a road laced with land mines?

I've been working with Oracle for more than ten years as a senior DBA and developer. I even teach the Oracle curriculum at a major university. But I'd walk away from that job because I see disaster written all over it. The management is prima-facie incompetent.

If you take it, and you are very lucky, you may get some career skills. But likely what you will learn you will learn badly and be known by others as a hacker.

If you insist on doing this buy a copy of the following Oracle Press books.

Oracle DBA Handbook
Backup and Recovery Handbook
Oracle Certification Handbook
Oracle Architecture

read like crazy. And expect bad things to happen anyway.

Daniel A. Morgan Received on Wed May 23 2001 - 21:19:44 CDT