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Don’t Settle for Mere Competence

Be the Magician!

Chris LawsonOracleMagician.com

IOUG Live! 2002Paper # 317

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Introduction

This presentation explores some of the less-often discussed skills.

These are lessons that you won't find in ANY certification exam!

Emphasis is on real-life strategies for career enhancement.

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Session Topics

We discuss 3 ideas for advancing one’s career. – Part I: learning while working.– Part II: putting the users first. – Part III: publishing technical articles and

presenting at conferences. Note that each of the ideas focus on the

same principle: providing service to others.

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Background

The "best" DBA or developer is smart in many areas.

Being technical competent is not good enough.

There is no shortage of “smart people.” There is, however, a shortage of smart

people who “put the customer first.”

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Part I: Learning While Working

Questions for the aspiring DBA or designer:– How can we advance our careers while working

on the job? – Is it possible to do both?– If so, how?

– Doesn’t this really “cheat” our employer?

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Learning While Working

It is a continual struggle to keep up with changing technology.

For example, frequent database releases include many new features.

Extra “horns and whistles” to investigate. How many new features has oracle

introduced in Oracle 9i?

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Learning While Working: The Struggle

This struggle is challenging because we must also meet our obligations to our client.

The tension between these two conflicting obligations leads us to ask,

“Can a software professional keep up with new technology & learn new skills while “on the job?”

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Learning While Working: The Answer

The answer is "yes." We can keep-up with the latest Oracle

releases at the same time as providing good service to the client or employer.

Not only that, but the employer will gain just as much (or more) as the employee!

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Learning While Working: The Approach

This idea of "learning on the job" relies on a three-pronged approach:– Mentoring.– Researching.– Documenting.

The allows the employee to learn new skills and be able to become acquainted with new technology.

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Not Shirking Our Duty

This strategy has nothing to do with shirking our duties to our employer.

The employer is actually a bigger winner than the employee!

The employer gains the value of having highly skilled workers.

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Mentoring

Companies often desire the more senior workers to assist the less experienced.

Senior workers often scorn this mentoring process as a waste of time.

This view misses a big opportunity for career growth.

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Mentoring: Who Learns More?

Most teachers will claim that they learn more than the student.

As a teacher, you are forced to understand the material to a much higher degree.

When teaching, you can’t just “get by.” Therefore, mentoring assignments should

be sought after as a path to career growth..

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In most corporations, there is a great need for someone to investigate and train others in new technology.

Researching

This corporate goal can also be beneficial to the individual.

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Researching

Surprisingly, many employees will resist the effort needed to learn new skills.

They will stay in their “comfort zone.”

Many will let others take the initiative.

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Researching

What about the employees who are willing to branch out? What will happen to them?

Most likely, they will gain a reputation as real problem solvers.

They will be the ones that others in the firm seek out for assistance..

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Researching: How to Begin?

Set-aside time for creative brainstorming periods.

Read the documentation that is provided with an application.

By this simple step, it is often possible to become “the expert.”

Investigate the ideas found in "white papers" on the particular subject being analyzed.

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Documenting “Lessons Learned”

While working on a project, make notes of things that have proven of great benefit.

Then, offer to present these findings to your peers in a short mini-presentation.

The firm will clearly benefit greatly from your initiative.

Once again, this is a ‘win-win situation” for both the employee and employer.

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Lessons Learned The “lessons learned” may also be suitable for

publication in a technical journal. The insights can be prepared into a “white

paper” for presentation to a larger audience, such as an Oracle users meeting.

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Lessons Learned These types of presentations can lead to a

mutually beneficial exchange with other, more senior people in your field.

You may receive emails from people across the world who have read your article.

For example, this presentation began as an mentoring-paper for a previous client..

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Part II: Advance Your Career by

Putting the Users First Help your customers achieve their goals. The “golden rule” of treating others in the

same way that you like to be treated. Whether a DBA, designer, or developer, we

need to remember who our customer is. Clearly, a company does not exist to

support a database, but vice versa.

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No “Lone Rangers” It is simply not acceptable to “work in a

vacuum” and ignore everyone else. As crazy as it sounds, this is a frequent

occurrence in the IT world! This type of attitude is not likely to yield a

happy customer. If the customer is ignored, the solution to his

problem will likely be inadequate.

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Advance Your Career: Example 1

DBA listened to the customer, and set out to solve the customer’s problem (DT clear quest).

Putting the customer first led to a satisfactory conclusion for all parties.

The users were happy, plus the company remembered the DBA who went “beyond the call of duty.”

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Putting the User First: Listen Carefully

Anyone who wishes to gain a reputation for excellence must start as an excellent listener.

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Putting the User First

This means putting yourself in the shoes of your “customers.”

Try to see things their way. This step is deceptively challenging. Few people in any profession have

successfully mastered the art of good listening.

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Listen Carefully: Example 2

Simply calling the users and listening to them opened up a new “channel.”

A big application bug was solved. Company saved many thousands $$.

A “Baby Bell” firm had many irate users. The DBAs never talked to the users!

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Analytical Listening Many of us have a very difficult time

listening to others. Les Donaldson: “people hear only a phrase

or sentence out of context, and jump to a conclusion. This often results in an argument which leaves a poor impression.”

Les Donaldson, Conversational Magic; Parker Publishing, 1981.

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Analytical Listening Analytical listening is the act of trying to

see the other’s point of view without becoming “mentally argumentative.”

This art of listening is extremely rare.

Any engineer who simply listens to a user will create a very favorable impression.

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Listening: Example 3

The greatest “people” consultant in modern history,” dale Carnegie solved a huge problem with just a rug!

Simply listening to the customer told him what they actually wanted.

It turned out that no one had ever taken the time to listen to them before.

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Don’t Blame the User Another tough “people

skill” is not blaming the user.

This is a tough one. DBAs KNOW that users are the cause of the problem!

Taking care of the users

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Ask for Help If Necessary

Senior DBAs or designers usually find it easy to ask for help.

They don’t let their pride get in the way. Usually the more junior engineers seem to

have trouble asking for help. Are they afraid that we might “find them

out?”

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Some Resources

Metalink or Oracle support White papers on the Oracle web site Fellow DBAs Email discussion lists IOUG-A discussion boards Technical journals such as SELECT Local user groups

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Part III: Advance Your Career

by Publishing Publishing is an excellent way to help you organize what you have learned.

Share information with your colleagues, impress your boss, and further your own career.

Plus, it is a lot of fun.

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Tips On Publishing Don’t think that you are not qualified. You all

have a story to tell that others want to hear.

You don’t have to have special degrees or certificates, or many years of experience.

Try a local user group first. Editors very much wants to hear from local people.

The disadvantage, of course, is that you won’t get paid for local journals.

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Tips On Publishing

Begin by researching journals in your area of interest.

There are probably a dozen or more publications that would publish articles related to your project.

Ask your colleagues what magazines or journals they get.

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Examples of Publications Oracle Magazine Exploring Oracle Oracle Internals Northern California Oracle Journal IOUG-A SELECT Intelligent Enterprise SoftwareMag.com UNIXreview.com SysAdmin Database Trends and Applications Server/Workstation Expert

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Tips On Publishing Articles

Always be looking for ideas to write-up. If you have spent time researching

something, why not document it and try to publish it?

Remember that before submitting for the first time, it is a good idea to have a friend review your article.

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Tips On Publishing Articles

Correspond with editors via e-mail. You will first prepare a “query” to the editor,

to see if they are interested. You can send the query before you have

completed the article. Here is an example of a query to a technical

editor.

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Sample Query Email (Part 1)

I would like to propose an article for Intelligent Company magazine. This article would be a case study on successful implementation of a data warehouse system.

This system was built for Digital-Wizard, a San Francisco company (where I currently consult). This project was one of the most successful projects I have been associated with.

Given the historic failure rate of data warehouse projects, I think your readers would find this case study very useful.

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Sample Query Email (Part 2)

This article also matches the planned theme of your Oct 4 issue, which I see will cover data warehousing/data mining.

Here is a brief summary of my article: [give summary].

I am a database consultant in the San Francisco bay area and have worked on data warehouse projects for five years.

Thank you for your consideration,

Bobby Jones.

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Tips On Publishing Articles

Review past copies of a journal to see sample articles and their target audience.

Many also have “writer guidelines” that you should review.

Remember also that the lead-time for articles is long.

Accepted articles are typically published in 3-7 months.

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Tips On Presenting Papers Consider presenting at Oracle user groups. It is not too intimidating, and the audience is

friendly (usually). Practice the presentation. Don’t be afraid to say, “I don’t know.”

Encourage anyone in the group to answer. ALWAYS get there way ahead of time to

checkout the room.

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Tips On Presenting Papers In both northern and southern California,

there are many Oracle user groups. In the northern California area, one

important group is the Northern California Oracle Users Group—NOCOUG.

You might also consider larger, national conferences. It’s tougher to get accepted, but a hot topic could succeed.

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Other Tips: Join User Groups Failing to participate in user groups is a big

career-building blunder. The cost is small, and the meetings are

often fun and educational. Plus, the Oracle meetings always give away

lots of prizes. (I won a great jacket.) Another tip: Be willing to help others when

they are in a bind or ask for help.

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Wrapping Up

Being technical competent is not good enough.

The "best" DBA or developer is smart in many areas -- not just technically.

Career advancement depends on more than just smarts!

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The 3 Ideas

(1) Advance your career by “learning while working.” This activity relies upon three ideas: mentoring, researching, and writing.

(2) Advance your career by putting the users first. This means practicing “analytical” listening and asking for help.

(3) Advance your career by publishing technical articles and presenting.

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Wrap-up None of these steps is difficult, but each

requires focus and determination. With these tips, you can

achieve greater competence + exposure to new technology.

In this business, competence and reputation is a sure way to career advancement.

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Contact InformationChris LawsonOracleMagician.comTel: 925/829-7496Email: chris@oraclemagician.com

Coming this fall:

“The Art and Science of Oracle Performance Tuning”

(WROX/Curlingstone)