Oracle and Database Technology
Welcome to our grab bag of Oracle Database technology. Here you will find some useful resources and a little bit about my time at Oracle.
Useful Sites and Links
Oracle Specific
Oracle Base
Oracle Documentation
Oracle FAQ
Kevin Closson
Guy Harrison
Jonathan Lewis
Burleson
Oracle Tutorial
General/Other
SQL Server Central
Red Gate
SQL Team
Database Journal
DBAZine
DB Engines
SQLines
Several9s
DBA Stack Exchange
SS64
MariaDB
PostgreSQL
Script Bank
My collection of useful scripts. Check them out here.
Articles and Tutorials
My Time at Oracle
I started as a graduate intern at Oracle Melbourne in 1994, in what I would consider as the “good old days” of Oracle. I began my career as a technical support analyst for the RDBMS team in the Australian “National” Support Centre. This was before Google and the Internet has really hit. You had to rely on training, a truckload of manuals, documentation and internal materials to support customers. Here is a pic of our team. Sadly, my mentor (Sanjeev) has passed. I miss him.
After a stint in support I became the DBA for Oracle Support in Melbourne. Support was turned into a follow-the-sun, global offering. I spent many long nights doing “database maintenance” out of hours. Sometimes I would get home at 3-4 in the morning after working a full day already.
Y2K was an exciting time. We had to do on site support for some large customers and the support centre was running “full-bore” and there were some nice food and treats put on for the staff. Including some pretty good cash for working those hours.
I was also lucky enough to win a trip to “Support Club” in Monterrey, California. We were put up in some pretty swanky accommodation and did lots of great activities. The highlight was a round of golf at Pebble Beach. I took Daphne with me and we tripped around for a bit together. It was a very memorable trip.
The best thing about Oracle was the people. I always worked in great teams — very close knit and everyone got on very well. We always had fun even though we worked hard. I had a great boss for most of my time also (Dennis). When I go back to Melbourne I always try to have an Oracle catch-up. I haven’t ever worked in a place like that again, where the friendships were very tight and survive when you leave.
The skills I learnt at Oracle were invaluable as I became a .NET developer. It’s always given me a point of difference above everyone else. It was a great and exciting place to work.