Question about course curriculum.

N2IT

I would appreciate it Cablegod and others who are familiar with Oracle products if you would give me your recommendation.

I am trying extremely hard to get a data analyst, quality analyst, supply chain analyst etc. All these analyst position require a great deal of SQL knowledge, predominantly Oracle, although some mention Informex and DB2.

http://www.stlcc.edu/Document_Library/Catalogs/Entire_Catalog.pdf

Page 61 in the PDF view and 51 in the actual course documentation. This is a certification of specialization. This is not an associate degree, but it provides a lot of Oracle based classes, plus I have been wanting to learning VB really badly.

I already have my path planned out for the rest of the year Project +, ISO 27002. Obviously a large contrast from Oracle curriculum.

My questions are these
1. If you are a hiring manager would this impress you, or would this strike you as odd and bizarre?
2. Do you think I would learn enough of the tools to apply them to a real analyst position?
3. Without actually using SQL everyday would this be a waste or have little ROI?
4. Would grabbing a book on my own and pulling down a certification or at least understanding the DBMS on my own be considered a wiser decision?

Keep in mind I already have take IS 225 and 257. Both database classes. Ive done modeling and normalization and a lot DDL and DML SQL. No stored procedures or triggers, but joins, unions, and subqueries.

Just looking for advice. The credit hour cost is relatively low and gives me some guidance. I enjoy databases from a development standpoint tremendously. And the instructor is a real world DBA who works with DB2 and Oracle for the last 20 years, so the knowledge is there from the instructor. He would be what you consider a real working professional.


Thoughts?

The Master Degree is too intensive and expensive for me right now, and another BS to me seems like a waste.

My mother is a DBA and she said that I need to do something because I enjoy, not because it will pay heavy in the end. I was really trying to force myself into a business education, but that would be more like work, and this in my opinion would be more like a hobby with a solid upside (hopefully)

cablegod

N2IT wrote: »

I would appreciate it Cablegod and others who are familiar with Oracle products if you would give me your recommendation.

I am trying extremely hard to get a data analyst, quality analyst, supply chain analyst etc. All these analyst position require a great deal of SQL knowledge, predominantly Oracle, although some mention Informex and DB2.

http://www.stlcc.edu/Document_Library/Catalogs/Entire_Catalog.pdf

Page 61 in the PDF view and 51 in the actual course documentation. This is a certification of specialization. This is not an associate degree, but it provides a lot of Oracle based classes, plus I have been wanting to learning VB really badly.

I already have my path planned out for the rest of the year Project +, ISO 27002. Obviously a large contrast from Oracle curriculum.

My questions are these
1. If you are a hiring manager would this impress you, or would this strike you as odd and bizarre?
2. Do you think I would learn enough of the tools to apply them to a real analyst position?
3. Without actually using SQL everyday would this be a waste or have little ROI?
4. Would grabbing a book on my own and pulling down a certification or at least understanding the DBMS on my own be considered a wiser decision?

Keep in mind I already have take IS 225 and 257. Both database classes. Ive done modeling and normalization and a lot DDL and DML SQL. No stored procedures or triggers, but joins, unions, and subqueries.

Just looking for advice. The credit hour cost is relatively low and gives me some guidance. I enjoy databases from a development standpoint tremendously. And the instructor is a real world DBA who works with DB2 and Oracle for the last 20 years, so the knowledge is there from the instructor. He would be what you consider a real working professional.


Thoughts?

The Master Degree is too intensive and expensive for me right now, and another BS to me seems like a waste.

My mother is a DBA and she said that I need to do something because I enjoy, not because it will pay heavy in the end. I was really trying to force myself into a business education, but that would be more like work, and this in my opinion would be more like a hobby with a solid upside (hopefully)

Glad to help. They look like very good and useful classes. The content or syllabus would be the best indicator of quality to me. They sound good to me. If I were looking at your resume, and saw this, it would come off as a positive to me because you say you enjoy database work, and you took the initiative to grow your knowledge in the area. That's always a positive thing, and investing in education is money WELL spent. I had to look at the name of the school on the PDF link you posted because the PDF looks a LOT like UWF's, and some of the classes sound the same too. I'm considering their Masters of Administration: Database Administration program currently. The out-of-state tuition waiver makes it easier to swallow, plus it's 100% online.

If you want to work with databases, start using SQL every day on your own. It is the key to success as a DBA/DB Developer. If I were you, I would go download Oracle 11g R2, setup a decent Linux VM, and Windows 2008 VM, and install Oracle on both and start self-studying if the cost of the classes is a factor to you. Oracle has some GREAT guides at: Search and Download Oracle Database, Application Server, and Collaboration Suite Documentation Check out the 2-Day sections. I've been to a few of the Oracle hands-on classes & labs that Oracle does, and they are great. Well worth the money, especially if you're going for the OCP/OCM and you can get your employer to pay for them. They are pricey though.

Also, check out Tim Hall's blog at: ORACLE-BASE - Oracle DBA and development articles, scripts, HOWTOs and forums (8i, 9i, 10g, 11g). His blog has single-handedly helped me a LOT over the years. The installation articles are great. I read his blog on a daily basis. Database Journal – Daily Database Management & Administration News and Tutorials is very good as well. There is a TON of useful information out there to help get you started. I'm here as well. Feel free to PM me anytime.

N2IT

cablegod wrote: »

Glad to help. They look like very good and useful classes. The content or syllabus would be the best indicator of quality to me. They sound good to me. If I were looking at your resume, and saw this, it would come off as a positive to me because you say you enjoy database work, and you took the initiative to grow your knowledge in the area. That's always a positive thing, and investing in education is money WELL spent. I had to look at the name of the school on the PDF link you posted because the PDF looks a LOT like UWF's, and some of the classes sound the same too. I'm considering their Masters of Administration: Database Administration program currently. The out-of-state tuition waiver makes it easier to swallow, plus it's 100% online.

If you want to work with databases, start using SQL every day on your own. It is the key to success as a DBA/DB Developer. If I were you, I would go download Oracle 11g R2, setup a decent Linux VM, and Windows 2008 VM, and install Oracle on both and start self-studying if the cost of the classes is a factor to you. Oracle has some GREAT guides at: Search and Download Oracle Database, Application Server, and Collaboration Suite Documentation Check out the 2-Day sections. I've been to a few of the Oracle hands-on classes & labs that Oracle does, and they are great. Well worth the money, especially if you're going for the OCP/OCM and you can get your employer to pay for them. They are pricey though.

Also, check out Tim Hall's blog at: ORACLE-BASE - Oracle DBA and development articles, scripts, HOWTOs and forums (8i, 9i, 10g, 11g). His blog has single-handedly helped me a LOT over the years. The installation articles are great. I read his blog on a daily basis. Database Journal – Daily Database Management & Administration News and Tutorials is very good as well. There is a TON of useful information out there to help get you started. I'm here as well. Feel free to PM me anytime.

I have a microsoft free vm ware I installed about 2 years ago. I only installed XP on it. Do you think that would be suffcient for a Linux OS?

cablegod

N2IT wrote: »

I have a microsoft free vm ware I installed about 2 years ago. I only installed XP on it. Do you think that would be suffcient for a Linux OS?

If I were you, I'd probably get VMWare Player, which is free, or even Virtualbox. I prefer VMWare Player over VB though, just my personal preference. Either of those would run Linux fine. Get Oracle's version of Linux (OEL 5) from Welcome to the Oracle E-Delivery Web site. to run your RDBMS on. If you select "Oracle Validated Configuration" in the package list during installation, it will install all of the required packages for Oracle DB, and configure your Oracle user, kernel parameters, and everything else. Makes it nice & easy.