Re: Visual Basic and Oracle

IMHO - it all depends on the company you end with as a programmer. To get experience from the programming end you should try to find a smaller shop that will give you the flexibility to learn the details of the databases you program against.

As for myself, I started out as a VB programmer, using Access and then Oracle as a back-end. Since we are a small company and there was one DBA and myself, I had the opportunity to learn a lot about Oracle.

Three years later, I am a senior programmer, I program against and help support 5 Oracle instances and major applications, I am also the backup for our Oracle DBA. I don't pretend to know everything about being a DBA, and some of the more technical nuances I prefer not to go too deep into at this time, but from talking to other people in other larger companies I've had good a situation and the freedom to expand my knowledge and skillset in regard to dealing with Oracle.

It all depends on what you want to do though, if you want to get into the depths, then augment your programming and database exploration with classes at a community college. Oracle's DBA, tuning classes and prep for certifications are now available as community college courses in some areas.

I hope that helps -

Mike

"H_H" <gucciard_at_Bayou.UH.EDU> wrote in message news:Pine.OSF.4.21.0103261742070.5074-100000_at_Bayou.UH.EDU...
> Hello,
>
> I am working as a software engineer, but I'd like to make a career change
> and go into the database field. Specifically, I'd like to eventually
> become an Oracle DBA. I don't have any working experience in databases.
>
> I was told that it is hard to be hired as a DBA if I haven't worked with
> databases.
>
> I noticed many companys want to hire junior VB programmers.
> In your experience, do you think that a position as a Visual Basic (+ SQL
> Server or Access) programmer would help me get started, or do you think
> this would be a bad career choice/path to begin with?
>
> Do you think that, let's say, 2 years down the road, a company would want
> to offer me an Oracle-related job even though I have experience in
> Access and SQL Server as supposed to in Oracle?
>
> I would greatly appreciate it if you shared your point of view on this.
>
> Thanks in advance for your help.
>
Received on Tue Mar 27 2001 - 14:48:13 CST