i think giving the guy the right answer will be very much appreciated , i understand your analogy between a cheap car and an expensive one, whilst ccna is about networking like you said, CCNA expires and you'll have to resit the exam again hence its cheapness , but oracle certification doesnt expire, you can also study oracle at university as part of your computer science degree,(which you cant with CCNA) so u get to keep the degree, you can always top up with bits and pieces from the oracle university. and you would not expect your employer to call you and inform you that your cerification in oracle has expired so you better do something about it. And also regarding your request for oracle 8 , i think you better look for something newer 10g or 11g , cos theres been a lot of additions since 8. oracle is actually free to download, yes the file is big but with a descent connection you should be able to download it. i use both and find 11g a bit to heavy for slower pcs, so its up to you my friend and good luck.

merry christmas everyone, i have just been reading on the topics here and just seem to hear everyone asking about oracle, 11g , dumps etc, if we want to make it work well, i am expecting people to ask questions on things like tables writing sql queries, create procedures , functions, creating triggers(PL/SQL) then we bring our heads together and help, lets make this thread a one we'll always want to visit, ask tough questions and we will try and answer, expecially questions you'll meet at the workplace. and also there's documentation on all versions of oracle, at oracle.com, if anyone wants to download them. they arent big files so a slow connection will still be good.

i wont like to help with your course work, you'll at least have to start with your er1 and maybe an enhanced er diagram, i can see 3 entities already, you can then split up the house type and states in your ER2, get your relationships together then 'i'll be willing to help from there, but wont do ur coursework for you if you lknow what i mean

just download the 10g vista version from oracle website and it works