Picking an Oracle Release for DBA Certification: 10G vs 11G

As it turns out, I don't need to get a cat to generate something to blog about. So long as people read my blog and keep asking leading questions, I have topics. As an added bonus, readers don't shed, claw my furniture or cough up hairballs. My article about choosing between Oracle 11G or 12c when selecting a DBA certification was overwhelmingly in favor of 11G. A reader asked what my thoughts were on getting a DBA certification in 10G instead of 11G.

My recommendation between these two releases is not quite as black and white as that between 11G and 12c. While 12c does not even exist at this time, both 10G and 11G are being used in production databases. I tried to locate some market share numbers to see how they compare, but was unsuccessful. I am certain, however, that 11G installations have long since passed 10G. Premier Support for 10.2 ended in July 2010 and Extended Support will end July 2013.  Companies use Oracle for enterprise-class databases and they want to be sure that Oracle support is available if they have a crisis.

Some companies that are still running 10G databases will upgrade due to the release of 12c (even if they only upgrade to 11G). Others will upgrade when the Extended Support period for 10G ends next year. While it is certain that a number of companies will continue to use it for years to come, they will make up only a tiny fraction of production Oracle installations. I would have to recommend that new DBA certification candidates pursue 11G unless they have a specific reason why 10G certification makes sense for them.