oracle 10g on hpux career path

[Shivkumar]

Hi,

I have planned to get official training from oracle on "Oracle Database 10g: Real Application Clusters".
I am looking out to work as oracle DBA on Unix platform. It appears that Oracle 10g is far ahead than its competitor product DB2.
I have some work experience on websphere, weblogic, siteminder and webservers on unix platform.

I like HPUX as it seems HPUX is not planning to develop Linux on the cost of HPUX.

IBM is focussing on Linux which i don't think will pay big buck. DB2 on AIX seems to have small installbase compared to Oracle on HPUX.. Right ??

It looks like to me that 90% of HPUX boxes are being purchased for running oracle.

Secondly, Pure system admin jobs are going to be very stressful due to global economy slow down as companies are keeping least number of os system admin.

It appears to me that DBA Admin of Oracle on HPUX would be more appropriate and may fetch quicker jobs. Also, salary for applications support has increased recently than pure os system admin professionals.

Based on above, i have decided to focus on oracle dba along with other expertise in application support on hpux unix.

I am 43 years old guy and hence would find difficult to cope up with lower end fast changing technologies. A more stable and technologies having very long learning curve may be useful.

I would appreciate if gurus can share their thoughts and experience on this. It would be useful for building my remaining future career path.

Thanks,
Shiv

[Arunvijai_4 · Accepted solution]

Hi Shiv,

Yes, it is indeed a correct decision to along with Oracle and HP-UX. I would say, you should have certified in either way (Oracle and HP-UX)to get a well paid and decent job.

Go ahead and start Oracle learning and get certified soon. Wishing you best of luck in your career aspects.


-Arun

[Alexander M. Ermes]

Hi there.
You should go for Oracle certification.
As OCP you can easily get used to other operating systems than HP-UX.
At least you can get some Oracle docs, whar to do on which OS.
Rgds
Alexander M. Ermes

[Arunvijai_4]

Hi Shiv,

Some information on OCP,


http://education.oracle.com/pls/web_prod-plq-dad/db_pages.getpage?page_id=39
http://www.dba-oracle.com/bp/bp_ebook_dbazine_OCP.htm

I got some dumps for OCP, if you need, i can send it across to your email ID.

-Arun

[Victor BERRIDGE]

Hi Shiv,
Well Im 49, and started late in IT (89) after my programmer analyst diploma passed in 93, I went as a developper, but when It jobs were getting scarce in 95 I was only offered a developper job because that is what the oppening was but the IT direction needed a sysadmin and so I accepted the deal to be sysadmin while my contract mentionned I was a developper...
Things were put in order a few years later...
I never programmed since...

My experience is that if you specialize too much when economy slows down unless you are a consultant you are in danger, Im not saying your choice isnt good, it is an excellent choice because you become a more experienced sysadmin with dba knowledge, and so you can do both and when a real specialist is needed because you ask for such help you in a specific (and time limited) project, you may get that extra resource for the time you need it, without risking your own job...
If after you realize you are more DBA then sysadmin you can always go into greater specialization.

All the best
Victor

[Yogeeraj_1]

Hi shiv!

IT is about life-long learning.

If you want to specialise in the Oracle Field, i would also suggest that you go for OCP certification.

For more information, please see:
http://education.oracle.com/web_prod-plq-dad/plsql/show_desc.redirect?redir_type=3&p_org_id=〈=&source_call=global


hope this helps too!

kind regards
yogeeraj

[Shivkumar]

I had never been a developer in my career but possess the knowledge of languages such as jcl, cobol, c, c++, vb,vc++,uml and java etc.

Also i didn't get opportunity to work on SAN, RAID, Backup Tape Library in unix world but has some knowledge.

I wanted to upgrade my knowledge in vPAR, LPAR/DLPAR, MCSG, and HACMP on HPUX and AIX etc. Some people mentioned that sys admin job are not highly paid nowadays when compared to application admin on unix.

I thought of pursuing career in web application support administrator on HPUX and AIX platform until i enhance my skillset in higher end skill areas in HPUX/AIX. The cost of computing is higher in higher end platform where learning curve is very long, man power resources are rare and hence i may get good salary once achieve these expertise level in the future.

As Oracle 10g has emerged with a new computing paradigm and has become an integral part of various applications, it may a good idea to add Oracle 10g dba skill in my existing capabilities.

My email address is:
sksonkar1@yahoo.com

Thanks in advance for your guidance and suggestion.

Please let me know your thoughts without hesitation as i am an open minded person and respect everyone's opinion.

Regards,
Shiv

[Shivkumar]

Arun, I have posted my email address. Regards. Thanks.

[Shivkumar]

Arun, I have posted my email address. Regards. Shiv

[Steven E. Protter]

Shalom Shiv,

I turned 41 yesterday(happy birthday to me!).

I don't find it difficult at all to keep up with fast changing technology. One of the ways I learn is by looking up answers I post here. One does not need to be young to stay current. I intend to stay current for decades to come.

You seem to be doing a lot of admin work. You are also hopefully learning a lot from the many questions you post. If you keep at it, and do admin work, I think you'll turn out to be a pretty fair admin. The most important aspect is not being afraid to ask questions.

Oracle DBA's are indeed in demand. In combination with Systems Administration skills you should be able to demand a pretty good wage.

Right now we're looking to hire a DBA where I work. You probably don't want to work in Israel, but it goes to show you are correct, there is good demand for DBA's.

We have more sysadmins on staff in my company than DBA's so how plentiful the jobs are depends.

I can give you more advice offline:

http://www.isnamerica.com/contactsep.shtml

SEP

[Steven E. Protter]

Deepest apologies for the double post. Please only assign points to one reply, zero for this.

>>>
Some people mentioned that sys admin job are not highly paid nowadays when compared to application admin on unix.
<<<
Perhaps this is a local thing, but I would check this out further. Good admins in the US make very good money and it is demanding work that pays well all over the world.

AS I noted in my first post being a good admin and having good knowledge of Oracle will make you a hot prospect.

Note, posting your email address to itrc is a great way to attract spam. Most spammers harvest email addresses from public web pages. I suggest you post to the issues thread and have your email address edited out of this post.

SEP

[Sanjay Kumar Suri]

Hello Shiv

Age does not matter in this part of the world. One only need to have the hunger for the knowledge.

Agewise I am a tad away from you. Without much of bragging in a short time I could achieve the following since 2001: Basis (SAP) certification on Unix/Oracle (2001), Oracle OCA/OCP 9i (2002), Knowledge of XP1024 (2003), HP-UX CSA (2004), OCP 10g (2005).

Many of these learnings are now coming from the fresh enigeers joining the company. At this stage lot of hand-on are done by them. They take of science. I take care of Art. Documentation and knowledge sharing are other great tools to keep update with the knowledge.

In this field the more you share, the more your learn.

My best wishes.

sks

[Shivkumar]

Hi Everyone,

It is my ambition and goal of life to be a good Unix System Admin. I like to learn HPUX, AIX, IBM Mainframe Unix (it is called zOS Unix System Services).

I am grateful to the people of this forum who are sharing their valuable knowledge.

My quest of learning will continue. Forum members please forgive me for silly questions sometime i post. But again sometime i feel it is better to be fool once rather than throughout my life.

Regards,
Shiv

[Arunvijai_4]

Hi Shiv,

Good luck to you in your career aspects. Have you received my mail ? I had sent some materials to you.. I am posting here since i didnt see any reply from you to my email.

-Arun

[Indira Aramandla]

Hi Shivkumar,

Age should not be a factor to gain knowledge, may be for experience. With years of hands on experience, one learns form ones own mistakes and various experience / situations.

Your career path to be an Oracle DBA is good. As others said having Oracle DBA skills along with UNIX systems administration is an added advantage. I believe knowing database administration and Systems administration, helps a lot in many aspects.

ITRC is one of the best places to know and learn a lot about systems, databases on various environments. By reading the various posts in itrc and how they overcome their problems, is like a real time experience. There is wealth of knowledge here. The other areas are books, certifications and mainly hands on. Once you get a chance for hands on then you will remember that command / situation more easily then reading for a book.

Getting a good placement for me is "Being at the right place at the right time". Offcourse one should be qualified for the role as well.

And remember unless you ask you will never know, and there is no such think as a silly question. I am sure many of us had learned many things while answering to your questions. Knowledge increases / grows by sharing.

Wish you good luck in your career pursuit.


With best wishes
Indira A

[ericfjchen]

Hello Arunvijai,

Could you pls send OCP related documents to me?

My e-mail : ericfjchen@bluebottle.com

Thanks

Eric

[Shivkumar]

Yes Arun!! I received your material. I replied to you. Sorry for the late reply as yesterday i came very late. Appreciate your help.

warm regards,
Shiv

[Raju Joseph (PDI)]

Hi Shiv,
Age is not at all a barrier when you have the fire inside. Also a good architect/administrator needs a lot of real world experience which will be translated to age.
About Oracle DBA, yes there are lot of opportunities but acquiring a certification is the best path as there is competition too.
1. Get OCP certification.
2. Get knowledge of SAN as most of the Oracle istallations are going to use RAC and SAN combination.
3. You can prepare yourself using some test software from www.selftestsoftware.com
Good Luck !!
--Raju