Just to add a few of my thoughts.
a _lot_ depends on what kind of learner you are. Generally you want a
mix of all the learning formats - but you also want to concentrate on
the formats fit your learning style best.
some various formats:
- reading by yourself (docs, books, tutorials, labs, blogs, mailing lists, etc)
- watching recorded videos (on-demand training, youtube, etc)
- lectures and presentations from instructors and speakers
- interactive group exercises and discussions with peers
- labs or hands-on exercises (ideally problem-solving, not just installations)
- top-down: focus on high-level concepts and architecture, discovering
implementation specifics by deduction
- bottom-up: focus on specific implementation details, discovering
broad concepts through inference
- physically attending classes or conferences or user group meetings
- home or 3rd place (e.g. coffeeshop)
- at office or workplace
classroom training is just one piece of your total education picture.
when it comes to good classroom experiences, in my opinion, the single
most important factor is the instructor. (i feel the same way about
college classes.) and it's not just a simple matter of good and bad;
you might love a particular instructor while your classmate doesn't
really connect. i really don't know much about Oracle Education but
they seem like a large organization with a lot of instructors. i would
imagine that they are able to be somewhat selective and try to retain
top instructors, but i'm sure that people still have a wide variety of
experiences. also they are probably on the more expensive side -
although these days if you want to pursue a certification then you'll
be required to do at least a few classes.
performance tuning is a bit of a tricky subject too. if you jump into
one of Tanel's classes without much foundational knowledge then you
might end up frustrated with your actual take-aways; likewise if you
take an introductory class and they only cover stuff you already know
then you'll be frustrated there too. i'd strongly recommend getting to
some user group meetings and talking to peers. if you're able to spend
some time getting to know people, then they can help you assess what
the best next step for you would be. hmm, maybe someone should start
an oracle dba coaching network or something. :)
-Jeremy
--
http://about.me/jeremy_schneider
On Thu, Aug 20, 2015 at 2:05 PM, D Kennel <dkenlwork@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
We’re currently on 11g, but planning to move to 12c shortly, so would--
probably prefer 12c training. I live near Chicago and recently joined COUG,
so will take a closer look at their site. I’m definitely interested more in
the how/why than using just straight OEM (which we do use, but our boss
nixed the tuning packs, so I’m stuck with StatsPack for now). Thanks to
everyone for your suggestions – very helpful!
Deborah
