Database Administration (Oracle/RDBMS)

So some of you already know that I work part-time as a database analyst. I only have 2 weeks remaining before I am leaving to start a full time job as an IT coordinator working in a technical support/network support environment at a medical centre.

I just thought I would write a little bit about my experience working with databases, both in my work here and from my studies and what I have done. Perhaps some of you will find insight in what I have experienced, and you will be prompted in some ways.

I find that Database systems, and my academic background of Computer Science is so integrally related. I would say that programming to computer science is as watching stars to astronomy, whereas databases to computer science is much closer. Where I work, we have a scaled Oracle environment joined to an application server using JSP. Our database consists of approximately 150,000 objects that is tested and simulated on the 10g and 8i environment.

Although I have not worked with the entire system and infrastructure yet, from what I do know, it is very complex, and it requires a team of 10-15 people to "keep the lights on". We really only have 3 or 4 people who are "database aware" but we need much more, I think since working in this job, I've really acquired a new taste for databases.

In my courses of database management, I have developed multiple small scale systems using MySql, DB2, and SQL Server, mostly through JDBC, and PHP, I did not appreciate databases and database management, but I think that after having the opportunity to apply myself and actually use the skills and mindset of a computer scientist, it definitely shed a lot of light.

Even though I will be focusing alot more on networking, and computer systems in the coming months, there'll always been a place in my heart for databases, and perhaps one day, I will see these two worlds of interest converge.

As an end note, I should just include a link to a bunch of Oracle Certs that are in beta, they are extremely interesting, particularly the Oracle Certified Expert for SQL...guess who'll be trying to write that exam?

http://education.oracle.com/pls/web_prod-plq-dad/db_pages.getpage?page_id=145

Find more posts tagged with

Comments

TechJunky

Just out of curiousity... How did you get into the databease side of things? Did you have prior database experience? Just college experience?

I have been doing database administration, implementation and crystal reports for about a year, and I really like the database aspect of things and would love to get into a position where I could learn/grow in the database side of things. Oracle seems as though you have to be in a big company in order to get any experience, due to the database size.

Most of my experience is in osql, SQL 2000, SQL 2005, and ISQL.

Any info would be appreciated.

bighornsheep

I was referred by a friend who also graduated from my program just one year ago. It's pretty much an internal opportunity that is available through word-of-mouth, and personal connections.

I did not have any prior database management experience, but I know how to use the SQL commands, and I have one year DB2 experience from my course which required intensive knowledge and exposure to the environment. When I first started, all I was doing was using Excel and exported/imported data, did simple search&replace, eventually they realized that I know how to write SQL queries, and I started automating alot of their updates previously done manually.

The Oracle database was/is extremely complicated, and most of the data is AT LEAST 10 years old with dozens of archived revisions. I learnt alot about key validation and data integrity control, mostly with respect to frontend/backend relationship because the application is heavily used in the front with a very small team working on backend processing.

I wouldn't say Oracle is necessarily a "big company" software, the grid computing ability is indeed quite useful for large corporations, but for us, we dont even have half the things setup and configured. Oracle like SQL Server has an "Express Edition" that you can download and give it a try.

http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/database/xe/index.html