what is Oracle all about, does it involve extensive programming or what is it all about.?

Question

I wish to take up Oracle as a career....can someone pls tell me what is it all about. Does it involve extensive programming or what is it actually. Do we have to write code. Or do we just have to work on modules like SAP. what are the primary skills nesscary. And what kind of aptitude does one need to excel here.........can someone pls help me out with this.,,,its important point in my career.i am a BTech passout.

BTech meaning , Bachelor of technology...or basically Bachelors in Engineering

Answer 1

Oracle, is sort of all of the above.

Primarily, Oracle is a database, and a VERY robust one. Being XML based, it can index just about everything, and still be interoperable with all sorts of standards out there.

However, Oracle is also a portal, with which you can access/harness the power of the database. Remember Yahoo!'s homepage? One that you can customize to show only certain things that are dynamically updated? That's a database, edited by you. A database engine reads your criteria (which is stored in a database) runs criteria against other databases, and composes a page with it. Your login data is a database table. Your profile is another table. In fact, any data would be in a database, and instantly pulled. Y!A is basically a huge database, albeit organized in this web format.

Oracle, however, is also a set of applications that help run a large business, similar to SAP. There's Oracle Financials, Oracle Manufacturing, and more.

Oracle mainly prides in its fault tolerance. Imagine two servers accessing the same database, and are setup to complement each other. Pull the plug on one... and the other one keeps on running, without losing a single record or even a single session. One of their slogan is "Unbreakable".

There are a variety of certifications you can get that specialize in Oracle. If you do database, you can do PL/SQL cert which will eventually get you up to DB Admin. If you prefer coding (sounds not!) You can do Oracle/Java developer or whatever language you prefer to use. Oracle's primary developement tool was JDeveloper, which is a licensed clone of Borland JBuilder (or at least it used to be). Or you can just be an analyst and analyze business needs and recommend customizations to existing systems (and implement them). There is a lot to consider.

Now that Oracle had bought out PeopleSoft and J.D. Edwards, both of whom are also in the ERP business, there are even MORE stuff to learn.

This is where you need to start: Oracle University
http://education.oracle.com/pls/web_prod-plq-dad/db_pages.getpage?page_id=3&p_org_id=1001&lang=US

Answer 2

I'm not familiar with what BTech passout means, so I can't really comment on that.

I can tell you what Oracle is however. First and foremost Oracle is a company that makes a variety of software products, and offers related services. The cornerstone of their product offerings is their relational database which comes in a variety of flavors. Oracle's relational database is one of the best in the world, and is used by companies throughout the world as a key component of their systems.

Like all relational databases, you manipulate oracle using SQL. Because it's a relational database, the basic principles involve set theory. Like most modern rdbms, Oracle also offers the ability to integrate procedural code using stored procedures and triggers. With Oracle, that language is called pl/sql, although with version 9i, Oracle also added the ability to write stored procedures in java.

Oracle also makes ERP/Accounting software (Oracle financials) and purchased several competitors (JDEdwards, Peoplesoft) as well as Customer relation management software (Siebel). They also offer application servers that in most cases extend Oracle database, but also to a degree can stand on their own. They made a huge push into the enterprise java arena and have for example, an Enterprise java (J2ee) server amongst many other similar offerings.

A "career" in Oracle could mean a lot of different things. One of the traditional system administration related Oracle careers has been that of the Database admin (DBA). DBA's come in alot of different flavors, and a career as an experienced DBA can earn you a good living, although it's also in its own way a potential dead end. I don't see DBA's going away anytime soon, but a lot of DBA work is being outsourced to parts of the world that have a lower cost of living than in the US and Europe for example. Definately check out the want ads in your location and gauge the demand and salaries.

A good understanding of relational databases is great for all developers to have, as most enterprise or interactive systems involve a relational database. BTW, the best way to get started learning about Oracle is to get a copy of Oracle personal edition, which you can download from Oracle once you join the Oracle Tech network (OTN) which is also btw free.

I should probably also add that most companies use Oracle on some sort of unix box, so a good understanding of Unix is pretty much a must have if you want to pursue a career as a DBA.

Answer 3

Oracle is made up of a set of processes running in your operating system. These processes manage how data is stored and how it is accessed. Oracle is a program that is running in the background, maintaining your data for you and figuring out where it should go on your hard drive.

No, you don't need to know programming langauges, but if you wish to become a DBA, it wouldn't hurt.

Answer 4

Blah oracle is straight programming using SQL language to make databases. I took that class and it was hard as hell dealing with nested queries,cartesian products,outer,inner and normal joins, and normalizations.If your patient it's learnable and manditory if your going for a database job.Other than that, I dont really see any point in learning it.

Answer 5

Oracle is reallly shitty..
I flunked one grade thanx to it..