Question for it/dev/tech/dba folks

[f(x)]

My boss has given me two months to pass Oracle’s 1Z0-082/3 exams. I don’t have to do anything on the job except shadow my coworkers for a few hours a week. The rest of the time I’m expected to prepare for exams. I have no prior dba experience and the certification is professional level. I was transferred to the dba team because I told boss I really like sql and rdbms.

If I make this my only focus outside of exercise and sleep, I think I can do it. I’m going to try to put in 10-12 hour days every day for the next two months.

Has anyone here in the tech world ever done anything like this? What is the best way to fully immerse myself in learning a technology without burning out/going bonkers?

Job is fully remote and I have a home gym. Apartment is also connected to one of the largest nature trails in the city.

 

[f(x)]

Boss changed mind, I no longer need certifications. He just wants me to focus on learning the technology, which is a relief.

 

[BackInTheGame78]

I would still work on getting those certifications if the company is willing to pay for them. Always good to have if you ever need to find a new job or want to progress your career further, quicker than what is possible where you work at now.

You will open up more doors for yourself and open up higher starting salaries with them than you would otherwise.

I am working on getting Microsoft Azure Certification this year and work as a fullstack senior software engineer. Not needed but since we have continuous build and deployment pipelines set up in Azure I feel it's worthwhile to get this since I work in there a lot anyway.

We have an uneasy alliance...we both need the other side and it works OK when things are going good but as soon as a deployment gets screwed up network/DB Admins and software developers are usually at each other's throats haha

 

[f(x)]

I have an Azure certification. I would suggest anyone interested in getting into the IT realm check out the options offered. Even with no prior tech experience you could probably get an associate certificate within a year for minimal investment. The portal is very user friendly and aesthetically pleasing. Microsoft also has a ton of learning material, free of charge. AWS, Google, and Oracle have cloud learning platforms but Azure is my favorite.

 

[BackInTheGame78]

I have an Azure certification. I would suggest anyone interested in getting into the IT realm check out the options offered. Even with no prior tech experience you could probably get an associate certificate within a year for minimal investment. The portal is very user friendly and aesthetically pleasing. Microsoft also has a ton of learning material, free of charge. AWS, Google, and Oracle have cloud learning platforms but Azure is my favorite.

I have a Computer Science degree

 

[Young OG]

I would still work on getting those certifications if the company is willing to pay for them. Always good to have if you ever need to find a new job or want to progress your career further, quicker than what is possible where you work at now.

You will open up more doors for yourself and open up higher starting salaries with them than you would otherwise.

I am working on getting Microsoft Azure Certification this year and work as a fullstack senior software engineer. Not needed but since we have continuous build and deployment pipelines set up in Azure I feel it's worthwhile to get this since I work in there a lot anyway.

We have an uneasy alliance...we both need the other side and it works OK when things are going good but as soon as a deployment gets screwed up network/DB Admins and software developers are usually at each other's throats haha

Not trying to hijack OG posters thread. I currently work in IT and I have a CIS degree. My current job consists of troubleshooting, imaging computers, setting up printers, go fix Joe Blows computer on the 2nd floor, etc. I’m trying to get into programming because it pays more. I already know HTML, CSS, SQL, and I’m currently teaching myself Python. Is there anything else you would recommend that I learn to help me get a programming job?

 

[BackInTheGame78]

Not trying to hijack OG posters thread. I currently work in IT and I have a CIS degree. My current job consists of troubleshooting, imaging computers, setting up printers, go fix Joe Blows computer on the 2nd floor, etc. I’m trying to get into programming because it pays more. I already know HTML, CSS, SQL, and I’m currently teaching myself Python. Is there anything else you would recommend that I learn to help me get a programming job?

Are you doing it for the money or because you are passionate about it?

Would you do it for free in your spare time even if there was no job?

If you can't answer yes to those questions, you will be facing an uphill climb.

 

[Young OG]

Are you doing it for the money or because you are passionate about it?

Would you do it for free in your spare time even if there was no job?

If you can't answer yes to those questions, you will be facing an uphill climb.

I’m doing it for both. I enjoy writing code. I find it fun and I’m excited to learn more Python everyday.

I have already created websites for fun before. I didn’t get paid for it, I just like the learning experience.

 

[BackInTheGame78]

I’m doing it for both. I enjoy writing code. I find it fun and I’m excited to learn more Python everyday.

I have already created websites for fun before. I didn’t get paid for it, I just like the learning experience.

OK that is at least half of it...

I'm not a fan of learning python as a first languages because it lacks defined types and has a lot of "magic" under the hood that can get you in trouble if you don't understand the underlying concepts

I'd spend time learning either C# or Java as those are enterprise languages that are in use in most companies. Check around you to determine which one is most popular. It's usually one or the other.

There are lots of YouTube video series out there that are exceptional. I used to watch them and code along.

Pluralsight courses.

Free college courses you can take at places like
EdX.org are exceptionally well done.

If you are interested in learning stuff like fullstack modern web development, there is an exceptional free course taught by the University of Helsinki you can take at

Https://fullstackopen.com/en/

Code challenges at places like CodeWars, HackerRank, LeetCode, etc are good to help you learn concepts, data structures and to see how you stack up in your solutions compared to others.

Mostly tho, you need to understand concepts as concepts are what travel between languages and allow you to quickly pick those up as needed.

Starting with the basics like the difference between value and reference types, difference between stacks and heaps, data types, basic data structures, how garbage collection works, etc

You don't necessarily need to know these on a day to day basis but it's important to understand these things because everything is built on top of them.

 

[f(x)]

I already know HTML, CSS, SQL, and I’m currently teaching myself Python.

If you already know HTML and CSS, look into JavaScript and see if you like it. You can build a lot of cool stuff with it. Maybe check out Vue when you’re ready.
The key is to find something you like, because otherwise you will not be motivated to learn and might give up too early.

I like SQL and Linux.

 

[Murk]

Oracle DBA roles pay well and there’s lots of them, but Oracle is **** and will be phased out over the next few years so there’s that.

 

[f(x)]

Oracle DBA roles pay well and there’s lots of them, but Oracle is **** and will be phased out over the next few years so there’s that.

I heard AWS dropped them, and they have lost market share, but they’re still bound to a lot of legacy systems. I’m not too worried, wouldn’t be the first time I’ve had to find something else to do, haha

 

[BackInTheGame78]

If you already know HTML and CSS, look into JavaScript and see if you like it. You can build a lot of cool stuff with it. Maybe check out Vue when you’re ready.
The key is to find something you like, because otherwise you will not be motivated to learn and might give up too early.

I like SQL and Linux.

"Knowing it" to do some stuff at home and "knowing it" to be a professional are vastly different things...

I would stay away from Vue for now if you are looking to get into jobs with it...it's community based and most big companies use either Angular or React as they have major support behind them from Google/Microsoft and Facebook/Meta.

Most companies aren't going to trust something in production where future updates are solely at the whims of the community and it could vanish at any time

 

[BackInTheGame78]

Oracle DBA roles pay well and there’s lots of them, but Oracle is **** and will be phased out over the next few years so there’s that.

Everywhere I've worked has only used SQL Server. Currently use Azure with SQL Server

 

[BackInTheGame78]

I heard AWS dropped them, and they have lost market share, but they’re still bound to a lot of legacy systems. I’m not too worried, wouldn’t be the first time I’ve had to find something else to do, haha

That's why Java is still around so much. C# lapped Java like 20 times by now in terms of features and functionality but since it was the first major language that evolved for companies to use during the tech boom in the mid 1990s and early 2000s, it's still got a lot of legacy code out there.

Nobody I know uses Java anymore on new applications and they released a "new" version of Java called Kotlin, to try and compete with C# but it should be called Notlin because nobody uses it.

 

[nicksaiz65]

Going for my AWS Developer Cert as the next step in my career after my life calms down a bit.

 

[Travel memoir21]

Are you doing it for the money or because you are passionate about it?

Would you do it for free in your spare time even if there was no job?

If you can't answer yes to those questions, you will be facing an uphill climb.

hey man…Im thinking of getting into IT but Id be doing it mainly for income. Is my approach all wrong?

 

[Murk]

I heard AWS dropped them, and they have lost market share, but they’re still bound to a lot of legacy systems.

They've been losing market share for years but you're right on the legacy systems, companies would have sunk millions into Oracle implementations and further optimizations so will keep Oracle for years to come.

You can expand to other technologies like Blockchain or AI or become a data architect/engineer/database migration specialist etc

 

[Murk]

Everywhere I've worked has only used SQL Server. Currently use Azure with SQL Server

Yeah I see that the most

Nobody I know uses Java anymore on new applications and they released a "new" version of Java called Kotlin, to try and compete with C# but it should be called Notlin because nobody uses it.

I have Scala and Java/Scala developer roles with European clients that ask for Kotlin with other JVM programming languages might be a European thing.

 

[BackInTheGame78]

hey man…Im thinking of getting into IT but Id be doing it mainly for income. Is my approach all wrong?

You'll be at a serious disadvantage to the people who are passionate and obsessed with it. There is never a time when you "know all you need to know" because things change so rapidly, you have to want to constantly learn more and change as techonology dictates.