Re: Any help for a new DBA?

Hello,

I recently completed the DBA exams after 2 years of working with Oracle.

There is no substitute for practical experience but I still think that taking a test is worthwhile as it forces you to learn about things that just might not turn up in your practical experience.

I used the Oracle Manuals (I had the most relevant ones printed out and bound) read and took notes and experimented with syntax on Personal Oracle on my laptop.

bought and studied the Exam Cram books which were ok,

bought and studied the Oracle Press DBA Certification book which was ok,

practiced all the examples I could. Both books very short on labs you have to ad lib those yourself by experimenting with the syntax.

also bought the Self Test Software tests. Recommend them very highly. Not cheap but worth every cent.

Found that they gave a pretty fair idea of what to expect on the exam and so long as you looked up the ones you got wrong in practice (or tried it out on your test server) I was able to pass all the tests on the first go.

However I found it hard work and I took time off work to do it. All up 3 weeks of cramming and study approx for the four exams which I took in the Oracle recommended order. SQL and PL/SQL, Database Admin, Backup and Recovery, Performance Tuning.

However I think you could do Performance Tuning before Backup and Recovery if you wanted. B&R I found rather dry. PT was more my cup of tea.

The nice thing is that you can schedule the exams when you feel you are ready which is the way I did it.

Total cost all up for 3 exams was about half the cost of one Instructor led course. (I am an ex-teacher so I kind of prefer to DIY...)

I did find some web sites but did not think much of them. Bit too thin in terms of content.

Good luck!

Regards,

Sean

vasarpota_at_my-deja.com wrote in message <8edp43$lis$1_at_nnrp1.deja.com>...
>I was wondering if anyone had reccomendations on starting out in
>Oracle. I have somewhat of a background on MS SQL Server the last year
>and have decided to pursue Oracle. I have been preparing for the OCP
>Exam #2, the last three weeks and am now comfortable enough to take it
>next week. Does any one have reccomendations? My SQL background is
>pretty good and wont be taking the OCP PL/SQL exam for now. Should I
>instead concentrate on the Backup/Recovery exam? Are there any web
>sites for new DBAs? My knowledge so far is not as practical as I would
>like. Any help would be greatly apprecaited
>
>
>Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
>Before you buy.
Received on Sun Apr 30 2000 - 00:00:00 CDT