“How do I become an Oracle apps DBA” I have been asked this question lots of time. Well my answer is always, “To start with, you should be an Oracle DBA”. Oracle DBA skills are must to learn anything about apps dba. You can also be a good apps developer and still become an Oracle Apps DBA (There are developer there who asked me this question !!), but route is same, learn Oracle DBA.
There are many ways to learn Oracle DBA, however for newbie’s I would suggest to start with OCP DBA(Oracle Certified Professional) learning. To learn more about OCP see:
OCP Link (Under Job Role look for Database Administrator certifications.)
Once you are good at Oracle DBA you can start learning apps stuff. Good place to start is to read Oracle Applications Concepts manual. You can find Oracle apps documentation at:
11i (11.5.10.2+ virtual) Documentation Library
You should devote time to understand oracle applications architecture. Understanding oracle apps architecture is as important as learning to walk before you run. You can read more about Oracle Applications Architecture in my Blog entry under Categories > Beginner’s Guide > 4 Apps Architecture, or simply click on:
Rest of the stuff in concepts manual (apart from chapter 1, apps archi) will be OHT (Over-head Transmission) for the beginners 
. Dont worry and just keep on reading (If you find it interesting). Believe me, I could comprehend just 20% of the manual when I first read it.
As you move on everything will start falling into its place and you will understand the concepts.
Next thing will be to learn installation. Its pretty simple and most of it is java GUI based. Installation manual is the first one in the Apps Document Doc link that I mentioned above. I will also discuss installation in my blog entry here :
At this point you would have learned two important topics in apps dba. Other things that you will have to learn as apps DBA e.g. AD Utilities like Patching and Cloning etc, Upgrade and more. (For complete list of topics please see my blog post:Main Topics)
These are covered under different Blog categories that I have created. I will keep on posting in them in future… so keep on checking my blogs……….and happy learning.
