Ha..Ha..Reading the posts on this one .esp. Mr.Poo(start drinking!) reminds me of jaded 60 yr.old hoes giving advice to teen sluts starting out...( I should know as I go for them now - cheaper than the $1000/night hoes I used to go for during the late 90's!)

Anyway you have to wear a few hats:(or be knowledgeable in:
-Sys Admin. on OS's u're gonna use
-RDBMS/OO concepts
-D/B setup/run/backup/recover procs.

Start with a book called DBA 101 by Marlene Thierault from Oracle Press and go indepth into each of the concepts highlighted there!

After a while you can the dish out advice.....to other aspirants!!