RE: Career Advice

From: Saira Somani-Mendelin <saira_somani_at_yahoo.com>
Date: Wed, 17 Dec 2003 11:19:35 -0800
Message-ID: <F001.005DA318.20031217111935@fatcity.com>

Hi Allan,

Please call me Saira :)

All you are saying is true. I find that in my present role, I don't have access to the applications source code so I have to look at the database for performance tuning (which should be the case anyway to start).

On the other hand, I'm the only one at this job so I have a lot of flexibility about how much I know about the application - luckily, I own all of it so I am able to experiment at my leisure.

Thank you for taking out the time to write all your thoughts. You've given me much to think about.

Saira

-----Original Message-----
Nelson, Allan
Sent: December 17, 2003 1:59 PM
To: Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L

Hi Somani,

This is, of course, just one opinion. YMMV. I would recommend that you go deep enough on the Oracle server until you would be willing to take the junior off your title. The reason for this recommendation is that the server is an intricate piece of software that rewards study and experimentatation. If you were to go for any of the large ERP's that are out there you will find that they each have a great deal of application specific administration that has little or nothing to do with the database directly. There is literraly 1000's of pages of documentation for the server and more 1000's of pages of documentation for the ERP's.

Frequently, an ERP will have certain rigidities in the database configuration that will not permit you to gain knowledge about certain areas of the server technologies. Query tuning in an ERP environment is an order of magnitude more difficult because you don't own the sql. The query source is available but in general query tuning can turn into a cooperative effort with your ERP vendor or you will find upgrades to be significantly harder projects. When you control the source it is a lot easier to learn that particular area. Similarly, the ERP's all lag the server releases in terms of feature usage.

In ERP's there is generally a division between functional folks who do the transaction and business related setup and problem resoultion. Technical people generally focus on the interface between the OS environment and the applications. For instance, on the tech side you might have responsibilities for the forms server (Oracle Finapps) and the web servers, where a functional person might setup GL and be responsible for transaction and data problems in that area. If you shop has an installation of much more than moderate size you will most likely have to specialize.

Most ERP's will take 3 to 5 years to learn reasonably well. I know only a handful of people that are genuinely competent in more than one.

Just some thoughts. That's a nice complicated question you asked

Allan
-----Original Message-----
Saira Somani-Mendelin
Sent: Wednesday, December 17, 2003 11:44 AM To: Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L

As an applications analyst/junior dba, I feel I need to learn more but I'm not sure of the direction I should take, so I'm asking for advice.

Should I become interested in Oracle Apps? Or should I learn another suite like SAP or Siebel or PeopleSoft? The difficulty is that my company does not use any of these. We use a smaller package by Tecsys called Elite and they don't have as many customers - or should I say, as many customers with deep pockets.

I know I can get my hands on a working copy of SAP, what about the others? I believe you can purchase an evaluation copy of Apps from the Oracle Store. Has anyone actually tried to train themselves on any of these products? Has anyone installed Apps at home for testing?

Sorry if this question has been presented on the list before.

Thanks,
Saira

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Author: Saira Somani-Mendelin
INET: saira_somani_at_yahoo.com

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Author: Nelson, Allan
INET: anelson_at_midf.com

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Author: Saira Somani-Mendelin
INET: saira_somani_at_yahoo.com

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