RE: Cary's book

Daniel,

I agree 100% with what you said.... Somehow we must find a way to come out of our shell. I am among those.... coming out of my shell is HARD.... standing up at IOUG-A, or UKOUG or wherever and speaking to that room full of people is one of the hardest things I do. I just make myself... every year I force myself to submit those abstracts, because I know it helps me grow as a person. So, THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE NEVER DONE IT BEFORE, SIGN UP AND DO IT SO I DON'T HAVE TO!!!! :-D Even writing is hard, because you put it all out there for the critics to trounce on. However, it's wonderful when you get the positive feedback and someone says, "Wow.... your book was great!".... one of those makes up for about 100 bad comments to me.

Like so many others here, I see the DBA life changing.... Like so many others, I've been doing it so long, that I'm starting to see that it's time for a change..... maybe 5 years, maybe longer.... we will see. Am I the only one that this job tires and stresses out? :-)

Best part of it, though, is I've made some great friends.... even if I only see them once or twice a year!

Cheers,

Robert

-----Original Message-----
To: Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L Sent: 10/3/2003 11:54 AM

Robert,

Well said. I think the problem goes farther back than just us sitting in our
cubes. I hate to stereotype, but there is some truth in saying that 'geeks'
tend to be somewhat introverted, where many in management are somewhat extroverted. This year's IOUG-A Live was a great example. Here we all are, the
best and brightest in the world of Oracle, walking the halls, having intense
conversations. In the midst of it all, a pharmecutical sales convention starts
sharing our hallways. Talk about polar opposites! It reminded me of high school
with the 'serious' students and the popular crowd. Is this any different than
work? Especially those people who work in non-IT companies. We all focus on
training, OCPs/OCMs, etc, but how many of us have taken a corporate communication class or engaged a business/personal coach?

As for management, I've had great ones and god-awful ones. One manager tore me
a new one because I explained that one of our systems was 5 minutes behind the
others (in explaining the entries in a log file). I've also had ones that would
step up to bat for you, even when they could easily justify the opposite. You
have to figure out the political landscape, find the mines in the battlefield
and step carefully.

We can no longer sit in our cubes, writing complex C programs, laughing at the
foibles of 'damagement' and 'lusers'. We have to find a way to integrate ourselves into the business. It's not that you have to agree 100% with what is
done. If you are going to disagree, do so respectfully and with proper reasoning and documentation. Communication is composed of two pieces, what you
say and what the other person hears.

As for the geek work, there will always be places for those who excel at something. More appropriately, they will have a place if they can make their
skills relevant. This requires understanding the bits and bytes, AND being able
to put that into the context of the business need. I've enjoyed the past few
years really exploring UNDO, but it is really irrelevant in the business world
I live in. What is relevant here? Well, that's my next big project. I'll still
be hacking away at Oracle, learning how it REALLY works, doing things that they
say should/could not be done. But my goal is to make myself more proficient in
a skill that will benefit the organization.

My $0.03 (I'm a little long winded today...)

Daniel Fink

Freeman Robert - IL wrote:

> Mladen, this is not directed specifically at you, but you have raised
> something in my mind that often just irritates the heck out of me.
>
> I often hear the term Damagement, damagers, etc... and I understand
it, and
> have had more than a few occasions where a damager has killed me....
> Management is far from perfect, and I've met a number of managers who
> deserve to be kicked in the back side and sent out on the street.
>
> Yet, I often also wonder how much of this is OUR OWN FAULT. How many
IT guys
> have I met that are way to passive, more than content to sit in there
cubes
> and blame management, when the fault, at least in part, lies squarely
with
> them. More than I can count. Lack of communication, lack of passion
for ones
> own work, lack of vision, contentment in not understanding the big
picture,
> the "I'm not paid to do this" syndrome or the "It's not my job" POV
all in
> my eyes lead to as much failure as management. The guys who will not
get
> their lazy behinds out of their chairs and go TALK to someone (other
than
> the really good looking blonde down the isle) deserve to have their
head
> chopped off as much as the manager they can't stand.
>
> I've met so many who will sit in meetings and let managers say STUPID
> things, never correct, never interject and so the cycle of stupidity
is
> perpetuated. Sure, there may be cultures that foster this type of
behavior,
> but I see it in cultures that are quite open too.
>
> Bottom line is that we have to refuse to be silent. We must go out and
take
> a stand, and take some risk. We must LEARN about more than how Oracle
works,
> we must learn how the business works. Those who do this are the
successful
> ones, and my observation is that I rarely hear them cussing
management. This
> is usually because, they either change the world around them, or they
move
> on to a place where they can be effective.
>
> My opinion, YMMV,
>
> Robert

 <<Card for Daniel Fink>>

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Author: Freeman Robert - IL
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