Education Insurance
Stay current, and stay employed: five easy ways for
technologists to update their skill sets.
Although some technologists feel that the best way to take care of business is to keep
their heads down and their noses to the grindstone, they are likely not doing themselves
any favors with this attitude. With the rate of
change in technology and tools, technologists
would be wise to enhance their skill sets.
Over the past few years, the annual Oracle
Development Tools User Group (ODTUG)
tools survey has shown a shift in technology
away from some traditional development
tools. For example, although core SQL and
PL/SQL technologies still play a huge part
in a majority of development shops today,
tools such as Oracle Forms, Oracle Reports,
and Oracle Designer are not as in demand as
they once were. So technologists who choose
to keep their heads down and focus on tools
that are playing a diminishing role in an organization rather than learn new technologies
may be limiting their value to their current
employer, and may also limit their marketability to other potential employers.
One way to enhance your current technology skill set is to attend your local community college or university. Education in
this structured environment allows you
to learn about the latest in Oracle technology—without traveling far from home.
Additionally, you can benefit from the
camaraderie and networking of learning with
other like-minded individuals.
Another way to learn about current technology is available to you right now from your
desktop: Oracle allows you to download its
software for use in a development environment. And supporting resources available on
Oracle Technology Network (at oracle.com/
technetwork) include Oracle By Example
tutorials, sample code, demos, and much
more. In fact, one of the most powerful
tools available is Oracle VM VirtualBox. This
virtual machine environment allows you
to load and run several prebuilt developer
One of the most
powerful tools
available is Oracle
VM VirtualBox.
appliances, including Java Development VM,
Database App Development VM, SOA & BPM
Development VM, Oracle WebLogic Server
Hands-on VM, Oracle WebCenter Portal
Framework 11 g Hands-on VM, Enterprise PHP
Development VM, and several Oracle Solaris
VMs. Running Microsoft Windows Vista Home
Premium and want to try your hand at one
of these environments? Just download the
Oracle VM VirtualBox software, download a
prebuilt appliance, and away you go.
Not satisfied with these options? Consider
attending one of the many courses that Oracle
University offers. These courses are available
in many countries and come in several flavors.
Instructor-led training lets you choose the
topic and the location and then attend and
learn with many other students. Live virtual
classes save you travel and accommodation
costs. Self-study CD-ROMs provide an even
more economical learning option. Private
events (available upon request) are advantageous for companies looking to educate
several employees at the same time. For more
information on the various options that Oracle
University offers, visit education.oracle.com.
Another way to continue your education
is through self-study. Several great Oracle
technology books have come out recently,
including Achieving Extreme Performance
with Oracle Exadata (Oracle Press, 2011),
Look Smarter Than You Are with Hyperion
Planning: An Administrator’s Guide (lulu
.com, 2010), and Expert Oracle Application
Express (Apress, 2011).
However, the technology education option
that I feel gives you the most for your money
is attending a user group event. Although I
am partial to ODTUG ( odtug.com) and Kscope
( kscope11.com), there are certainly numerous
events out there for you to choose from.
From local user group meetings to regional,
national, and international events, you have
many choices. For events like Kscope, you
have the opportunity to spend several days
learning from the best of the best—the
independent technologists who are often the
speakers at these events. With several tracks,
each covering a different subject area, you
can choose the topics that interest you. In
addition, the networking opportunities allow
you to build relationships that can further
enhance your value as an employee.
Mike Riley (mriley@
hortica-insurance.com) is
the president of ODTUG
and an Oracle ACE. Riley
is a project manager/DBA
for Hortica Insurance &
Employee Benefits in Edwardsville, Illinois, where
he has developed applications using Oracle
Database and Oracle tools for more than 20 years.
NEXT STEPS
LEARN more about
Oracle VM VirtualBox
bit.ly/mkJ6bu
prebuilt developer VMs
bit.ly/iIraln
ODTUG
odtug.com
SEP TEMBER/OC TOBER 2011 ORACLE. COM/ORACLEMAGAZINE
