Re: What makes an Oracle Programmer a DBA?

> I pose the question what makes an Oracle Programmer a DBA? ...
> - How should a person learn to be a DBA?
> - Attend Oracle Classes?
> (Starting with the Intro to Oracle in some situations)
Take all the courses that you can get. I was thrust into an Oracle DBA position in my last job with zero training. I learned a lot the hard way (e.g. learning about rollback segments when we ran out of them).

> - Read books? (Please List)

In order to master any software tool, I recommend reading through ALL the manuals at least once, in order to get a broad understanding of the product's capabilities. Take notes on whatever you feel is important. You won't remember everything you read, but at least you'll know where to look if you need to find something. I take this approach with any software product -- OS's, compilers, DBMS's, etc..

In addition to the Oracle manuals, Oracle Press publishes books that deal with Oracle administration and tuning. I haven't seen these myself, but I've heard from independent sources that they are very good.

> - Ask questions of current DBA's?
It would be very helpful if you could learn by working with an experienced DBA. Also, join your local Oracle user group. Also, participate regularly in this newsgroup.

> - Be trained to use Oracle from current programmers?
You may find that programmers tend to look at the database from a biased perspective. A DBA needs to consider the needs of all users, not just developers. However, if you're not already an expert Oracle user, then you can learn a lot from a good programmer.
In practice, the DBA should have a close working relationship with the software developers (analysts, programmers). The DBA needs a good understanding of all corporate applications, and their underlying data structures, in order to do his/her job effectively.

Just my spur-of-the-moment $0.02 worth...hope this helps.

Mike Kohut
Database Administrator (not Oracle, unfortunately) NorthwesTel
Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada mkohutnw_at_yknet.yk.ca Received on Tue Aug 15 1995 - 00:00:00 CEST