I received a question the other day:

I want to grow my skills in Oracle Database. Can you help me get started?

Here’s my suggestion.

Conferences and User Groups

• You should engage in your local user group. Attending meetups and conferences is a good way of learning and boosts your network. If you need to find your local user group, try to contact one of the local Oracle ACEs.

• Come to Oracle DatabaseWorld at CloudWorld. It takes place in Las Vegas in September. Three days of intense learning, plus a pre-conference training day.

• If you’re based in Europe, you can attend one of the major user group events.

  • DOAG 2024 Conference + Exhibition hosted by the German user group, DOAG. Many sessions are in English, even if you don’t know German it is definitely worth a visit.
  • UKOUG Conference ’24 hosted by the UK user group, UKOUG.
  • On other continents, I assume there are similar conferences, but I’m mostly familiar with the ones in Europe.

Oracle University and Certification

• You can find a lot of courses at Oracle University. A good way to learn is to work towards a certification.

• For a DBA, it makes sense to get the Oracle Database Administrator Certified Professional.

• You can also get a Technology Learning Subscription which gives you access to the entire portfolio. Thanks to Sven-Olaf for the hint.

Oracle LiveLabs

• Oracle has tons of hands-on labs that you can try out for free. It’s called Oracle LiveLabs.

• You don’t need to install anything. It all runs in Oracle Cloud and typically you just connect with a browser.

• My team has several labs available:

  • Hitchhiker’s Guide for Upgrading to Oracle Database 19c
  • Patch me if you can
  • Data Pump Cross-Platform Migration
  • At Oracle DatabaseWorld at CloudWorld 2024 we launch new versions for Oracle Database 23ai. Another good reason to come to Las Vegas.

Webinars

• My team has 20 webinars on YouTube that you can access at any time. It’s all tech, no marketing.

• Further, the DBA Masterclasses has many very good webinars as well.

Documentation

• Borys suggests reading the Oracle Documentation.
• Oracle Interactive Technical Architecture Diagrams gives a good overview of the concepts and details in Oracle Database.
• Use the New Features guide to get an overview of new topics to learn.

What Else?

Do you have any other ideas? How do you sharpen your skills? Share your approach by leaving a comment.

Never stop learning!