The journey to DBA

I've been growing increasingly bored with web programming and as my emphasis in college was databases, I thought I should really get started on that path. Right now my experience with MySQL and MS SQL is indirect; I've used them both through programming, though I was doing very basic administrating when I was in tech support a couple of years ago as well.

MS SQL training is easier to get my hands on and while the exams are difficult (or maybe I don't test well), they're affordable for me to get started with the lowest level of development certification and move upwards.

MySQL and Oracle are a lot harder. The end goal is to be working with Oracle either as a consultant or DBA and I know it's going to take a lot of work and time, but right now the issue is cost. The training courses I've looked at start at $1200 and my job doesn't provide training. I do have access to Safari Books, but I'm trying to think of my next step, which is formal training and certificates.

Anyone here done this kind of training? Can you advise me on resources I could use?

There's really not a lot of difference between various flavors of SQL. If you know how to do something in MS SQL you can easily google how to do the same thing in DB2 or Oracle. If it's learning SQL that you want to master right now I'd say just use whatever you already have and go with the most affordable classes. I use SQL in MS (Access, rarely SQL Server), Oracle (Data Warehouse) and DB2 (PeopleSoft) on a daily basis and I've had exactly 0 hours and 0 minutes of formal SQL training. I just learned on the job. I'm a programmer by title though. The DBAs in our company don't normally do much actual SQL, they are quite literally administrators.

Look the best advise is to look into PostgreSQL 9.1 or 9.2...it is basically Open Source (Free) and is alot like Oracle in many ways. So start playing with that and then look at Amazon to buy Oracle Press books for 11g. I would say get the following Oracle Press books to start with and read them cover to cover:

- Oracle Database 11g DBA Handbook
- Oracle Database 11g SQL
- Oracle RMAN 11g backup and Recovery

Some other Oracle books I would also consider buying and reading as well are:

- Oracle Core Essential Internals for DBAs and Developers
- Expert Indexing in Oracle Database 11g Maximum Performance for your Database

Next for PostgresSQL 9.2 is the latest release but here are some books you might considere:

- Postgre SQL 9 Administration Cookbook: Lite Edition
- Postgre SQL 9 Administration Cookbook Lite: Configuration, Monitoring, and Maintance

Now for MySQL you can still get versions of Community for it and you can come here or google for answers. Some books for the latest version 5.6.x are:

Oracle Press Books on MySQL:
- Effective MySQL Replication Techniques in Depth
- Effective MySQL Optimizing SQL Statements
- Effective MySQL Backup and Recovery
- Oracle Database 11g & MySQL 5.6 Developer Handbook

O'Relly books on MySQL:
- High Performance MySQL 3rd Ed
- MySQL High Availability
- Understanding MySQL Internals
- MySQL Troubleshooting

You should also consider reading up on the following areas or languages as well too:

- Linux (SUSE , Red Hat)
- Python
- Perl
- Ruby
- vi and vim editors
- shell scripting (bash, korn)

Also dig into Virtualization and cloud computing as that is the wave of the future and it is here NOW!

Thank you both, for the resources and the advise. I love that I can count on other devshedders to provide support and great answers to questions like these!