Originally posted by julian
I think that you will loose Oracle DBA skills if you do not use them 100%. I have heard Oracle DBAs complaining about this.

Oracle is enough large area and I prefer to learn some other part of Oracle than SAP.

You cannot be both excellent SAP and Oracle admin. Nor you can be both Unix and Oracle admin. It is either or. The other option is a to be somehow good in both.
I kind of agree, but with slight exception. While learning other aspects of Oracle is great, if your company doesn't use them you end up losing the skill. If your company is offering to train you on SAP or another ERP package in addition to your current duties, great.

I don't buy into the "demand" argument. If you always took a job with what's "in demand", you would be a C-Netware-VB-Unix-Cisco-NT-C++-HTML-Java-Oracle-ERP guy. Part of the reason there are no DBA jobs out there is because unskilled people got "certified" and got jobs as DBAs and flooded the market. Part of the reason there are no DBA jobs our there is demand for ALL IT positions is soft right now.

So, where does that leave you? If you have no security at your current position/company, move. If you see no future at your current position/company, move. If you like what you are doing but want to make more money, really think about it. Your career is like a business; only you can manage it correctly.