Learning Oracle

I have seen so many questions posted on discussion boards all with the same subject - How do I Learn Oracle?

This is an unfortunate misunderstanding. Oracle is more than one product to learn. Everyone using Oracle, myself included, will know SQL, possibly something about the responsibilities of a DBA and something about operating systems at a minimum. There is no "one" thing to learn, no course where you start at the beginning and come out the other end "knowing" Oracle.

What tends to happen, is that you start out learning some SQL and PL/SQL. This should be the most fundamental part of starting a career in using Oracle. Then you either expand your skill set out into another area, DBA for example, or you concentrate on enhancing your knowledge. Unlike most careers, there is no clear path that once started down means you have burned your bridges and cannot back up and try something else.

After a few years most Oracle professionals have settled into a niche that suits them, some as developers, some as administrators, some as hybrids, some doing Forms/Reports etc.... The field of possible skills is so vast and increasing all the time that it is normal to specialise in one area. All areas of knowledge have one core commonality - SQL.

Learn it well.

Take half an hour a week to look up a function in the documentation and try it out. Look through the provided packages - there may be something there you could use. I guess my message is - There is only one way to learn Oracle start with SQL and keep learning until the day you leave.