How to Learn Oracle

Do you ever wonder how SQL databases begin being used across the world in real-time applications? While SQL was a theoretical concept of structuring and organizing data, how did it enter the industry for use in end-user products? The answer is Oracle — the first relational database that supported the Structured Query Language (SQL) design. SQL has grown to become an industry-standard in today’s times.

In this guide, we’re going to talk about how to learn Oracle and what resources you can use to master it.

What You Need to Know About Oracle

Oracle is a relational database management system with a wide range of possible uses. It is a full-fledged database management solution, with powerful querying capabilities. Oracle is commonly known as Oracle database or OracleDB. Oracle is designed for enterprise-level grid computing. This means that Oracle is built to withstand tremendous traffic and operations in real-time scenarios. Some of the key features of the technology that make applications robust and scalable are:

• Cross-platform. Oracle is one of the few database systems that work on a number of platforms. You can easily run Oracle databases on Windows, Unix, and Linux environments.
• Networking. Given the cross-platform support by Oracle, powerful networking capabilities are built-in for making internal communications across varied platforms smoother.
• ACID Compliant. OracleDB follows the ACID compliance, which makes it reliable and robust.
• Partitioning. Oracle databases support partitioning, which is a high-performance feature that allows users to divide large tables into different pieces and distribute these pieces across multiple storage devices.
• Memory Caching. The memory caching feature of Oracle allows scaling up a large database that can still perform high-speed operations. 
• Clustering: Oracle supports RAC (Real Application Clusters) which ensure high availability and keeps the system up and running without interruption of services even if servers fail.

These are only a few of the many things the technology offers. As you learn more about Oracle, you’ll become aware of more things you can use to create more reliable and powerful data stores.

Skills Needed to Learn Oracle

To learn Oracle, it is favorable to have a preliminary understanding of database management. 

You are not expected to be an expert in databases to understand Oracle, but having a prior understanding of the concept will help you easily get started. Having some experience with any other database management solution is a bonus.

Why You Should Learn Oracle

If you are looking to build applications that will scale big, you need to know how to design reliable database management solutions. On top of that, you also need to know how to ensure enterprise-level security and reliability. Oracle is one of the most common alternatives for storing huge volumes of application data, so it is an added advantage if you know how Oracle works to build applications faster.

If you are looking to process and analyze data for analytics purposes, Oracle is one of the best available alternatives. Due to its powerful querying capabilities and organized structure, Oracle finds its use in data processing jobs. Also, considering the huge community backing Oracle, it is only wise to learn Oracle as a database management solution.

How Long Does It Take to Learn Oracle?

If you have some prior experience in designing and building databases, one to two weeks of dedication to written as well as visual content should be sufficient to master the concepts of Oracle. If not, you can expect a time of two to three weeks to cover the topics in all its depth.

All in all, you can expect to devote six to eight hours daily for a period of one to two months to get a good grip on the technology. Mastering any technology is no easy job, and the same goes for Oracle. To start building real-life applications that use Oracle as their database management solution, you can expect to spend about two to three months working on the ins and outs of the technology.

Learning Oracle: A Study Guide

You will find plenty of Oracle learning resources online. With so much information available, you may be wondering where exactly you should start. We have compiled a list of five learning resources to help you learn what you need to know about the Oracle platform.

Oracle Wikibook

• Resource Type: Written tutorial
• Price: Free
• Prerequisites: None

The Oracle Wikibook is a great way to start your Oracle journey, as recommended by the Oracle organization themselves. Wikibooks has a collection of chapters on the language’s concepts, listed in the main table of contents.

In the end, the tutorial contains an SQL cheat sheet, which contains a big number of useful commands, shortcuts, tips, and tricks that can help you solve common problems in OracleDB easily.

Oracle SQL – A Complete Introduction

• Resource Type: Video Course
• Platform: Udemy
• Price: Free
• Prerequisites: None

If you are an absolute beginner with databases and SQL, this course is probably one of the best choices for you. Instead of covering a lot of topics in fewer details, this course covers set up and basic concepts of OracleDB and MySQL in great detail. The four-hour long course focuses purely on helping learners write accurate SQL commands and trying them out in the OracleDB console.

Oracle Tutorial by javatpoint

• Resource Type: Written Tutorial
• Price: Free
• Prerequisites: None

This tutorial covers the basic and advanced concepts of Oracle. The tutorial has been designed having kept both beginners and professionals in mind. You can follow along with the list of topics on the left side of the page, or look for the exact topic that you are looking to study from the glossary. Towards the end, the tutorial contains a set of interview questions that are commonly asked on OracleDB.

Oracle Tutorial

• Resource Type: Written Tutorial
• Price: Free
• Prerequisites: None

The Oracle Tutorial is a good place to start your OracleDB journey. The tutorial has a collection of chapters on the language’s concepts, grouped under two tracks — beginner and advanced. 

In the end, the tutorial contains a collection of resources that the learner can follow once done with this one. The beginner track from this tutorial is sufficient to help you begin with real-life applications that depend on OracleDB databases.

’Oracle Database 12C: The Complete Reference’

• Resource Type: Book
• Price: $39 (Amazon)
• Prerequisites: None

This book offers complete coverage of installation, configuration, tuning, and administration of OracleDB databases. With this book, learners can find out how to build and populate Oracle databases, perform effective queries, design applications and secure your enterprise data. This book also contains a comprehensive appendix covering commands, keywords, features, and functions. Oracle Database 12C appears as a great one-stop solution for beginning with and mastering Oracle Database.

Communities for People Studying Oracle

Communities are an excellent resource for anyone who wants to learn Oracle. By joining a community, you can quickly find help. You can also learn more about how other people use Oracle, which may inform how you use the tool.

Below we have created a list of some top communities for people studying Oracle that you may want to look at in more detail.

Oracle Communities

Run by the Oracle team, the Oracle communities are hubs of knowledge. You will find a list of customers, developers, and partners to connect with. There is also a community search, using which you can locate and join a micro-community based on the same site.

Oracle User Groups

Oracle has a dedicated community for users to have discussions with other Oracle users. The discussions are sorted by their last active time on the platform. This serves as a great resource for folks who are new to the language and are looking for a targeted platform for resolving their queries.

How Hard is It to Learn Oracle?

Oracle is a relatively large DBMS solution. You can hope to put together a simple application with an Oracle database within the second or third week of learning. But to build more complex applications and write advanced queries, you will need to devote a month or two to fully understand the fundamentals of the technology.

Will Learning Oracle Help Me Find a Job?

Oracle is a highly sought-after database skill in the enterprise industry. Employers hiring for software development and database administration positions often list Oracle as an essential skill. Most major corporations use Oracle in some of their software products. Oracle is the go-to for major distributed computing systems for efficiently and quickly storing and manipulating data. To help you understand the value of learning Oracle for your career, we have compiled a few job and salary statistics.

• Salaries. PayScale reports that jobs that involve Oracle pay, on average, $90,138 per year. Positions that use this skill include senior database administrators, software engineers, senior software engineers, and information technology managers.
• Industry Growth. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, software developer positions will grow at a rate of 22% between 2019 and 2029. A lot of these roles will involve Oracle, while a considerable number of these professionals are likely to use relational database management systems similar to Oracle.

Conclusion: Should You Learn Oracle?

Oracle is a powerful relational database management system that is meant to serve the needs of enterprise-level and small applications as well. Using Oracle, secure, high-traffic applications can be developed and launched quite easily.

Oracle is extremely beneficial for you if you see yourself working on large-scale, distributed applications in the future. If you are looking to learn a database management solution that is diverse and yet supports the traditional SQL as well, Oracle is the right technology for you.

With ever-growing salaries, strong career growth projections, and a relatively easy learning curve, Oracle holds the potential to add a lot of value to your career.