and in another month, I'll find out if I'll be joining you and Yosi and
all the others in "the hunt for work".
We are being absorbed by another internet subsidiary of our parent
company. Tech will either be asked to stay on for the transition period
(meaning we would still be laid off but we'd have some time to prepare
for it) or will be asked to stay on -- but relocate to San Diego or LA.
I don't know which will be my fate, and I don't know if I'd want to
relocate if asked.
I'm starting to look around now, I don't expect it to be easy or fast.
I expect I will be asked to take a pay cut if I'm offered anything. I'm
also (like Don and Jenny) thinking of doing something else with my
life.
at least I know in advance, won't be blindsided and through other,
unfortunate circumstances, have enough money to live on for quite a
while before I have to think about sending the cats out to work.
But, like the rest here, if anyone hears of something, please contact
me privately.
Rachel
- Don Granaman <granaman_at_home.com> wrote:
> I can sympathize with Yosi. I resigned my last position in June
> after
> four years of insanely intense activity. For example, being the only
> DBA in a two year period of 1500% growth, averaging 90+ hours a week
> in 1999, 80+ in 2000, etc... I was at the highest attainable
> technical level in a rather large internet-based company (3000+
> employees, 350+ in IT) - reporting directly to the VP of Enterprise
> Infrastructure as his chief technology consultant (emphasis on Oracle
> and back-end systems design & architecture). I won't go into all my
> reasons for leaving, but I decided to quit and take a break for a
> month or two. For the first month or so, I was ducking/deferring
> recruiters. Then things just dried up - totally...
>
> Since then, my situation has been similar to Yosi 's. I do a few
> technical presentations to the local Oracle user group, attend
> seminars, play around with 9i, read a lot of white papers, and do a
> (very) little bit of independent consulting. Not one of the three
> recruiters I've been dealing with have even called in over two months
> now. I went in for my first interview in three months yesterday - a
> small startup technology company - but they are really looking to
> hire
> a mid-range DBA at an entry-level salary. I've been doing nothing
> but
> Oracle on Unix for over a dozen years and have outstanding
> credentials
> and references. Its not exactly a perfect fit.
>
> An earlier post asked why DBAs should be more vulnerable than others.
> Rachel stated the essence of the problem - DBA isn't like
> development.
> If the job is done properly and everything is running smoothly, the
> attitude is "What does a DBA do anyway? Do we actually need one?"
> When things go bad, its often the DBA or SA that gets hit in the
> blamestorming - justified or not. Development is very visible when
> they do things - users see a direct result. When things go bad, they
> often blame the system or the database. (I've actually heard
> development managers and developers tell the CIO that "Application
> design and coding doesn't have anything to do with performance -
> that's the DBA's job"!)
>
> Just look at the posts here and on the Lazy-DBA list (much more so)
> in
> the last six months or so. A *LOT* more of them are of the type "We
> laid off our DBA two months ago and I was assigned to take over the
> DBA duties". Followed by "A disk went bad and now the database is
> down. What should I do?" or "How should I layout my database?" or
> "How do I do a backup?" or ... There are tons of very elementary
> questions from people who have taken over DBA duties from someone who
> was laid off or left and wasn't replaced. Many more than in the
> past.
>
> Too many companies are:
> 1) Not replacing DBAs that leave
> 2) Laying off DBAs
> (The rest are supposed to "work smarter, not harder."
> A statement from PHB that is often immediately followed with
> or preceded by with some decree that forces the opposite! ;-)
> 3) Trying to hire DBAs at drastically lower salaries (40%-70%)
> (monster.com and dice.com are interesting reads!)
>
> The demand for Oracle DBAs won't reach the extremes of 1999-2000
> again
> for many years - if ever. The dot-com fiasco pushed it to artificial
> highs. However, there is still a huge difference between many years,
> perhaps even a decade or two, of serious experience and an OCP with a
> year that a lot of companies don't seem to want to recognize right
> now. The net result of this could easily be a frenzy of job shifting
> when the economy does recover and demand goes back up.
>
> Frankly, I'm almost ready to join Jenny and make a radical career
> change. My uncle wants to retire from his successful hardware store
> business. I'm considering buying it. (Hmmm... What about he
> Menards/HomeDepot/... effect?)
>
> -Don Granaman
> [OraSaurus]
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> To: "Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L" <ORACLE-L_at_fatcity.com>
> Sent: Monday, November 05, 2001 8:30 PM
> an Oracle
>
>
> > Yeah, been here, still here... (It's amazing, I'm busier now that
> I'm
> > unemployed, just not with paid work... Go figure.) Gotten some
> > (minor) contract work for a few weeks, but really nothing doing
> > here in New York. It's brutal, boys and girls.
> >
> > My friend's large bank was going to announce 5% job cuts
> > this week, but they pushed it off so they could figure out a way
> > cut more than the 5%. Did I mention it's brutal?
> >
> > That said, had my first interview in two, maybe three, months
> today.
> > Actually sounds promising, like there's really a position to fill,
> and
> > they're really hiring. Been out since July, and the kids would
> REALLY
> > like to eat again.
> >
> > Will keep you informed.
> >
> > Yosi
> ).
>
> --
> Please see the official ORACLE-L FAQ: http://www.orafaq.com
> --
> Author: Don Granaman
> INET: granaman_at_home.com
>
> Fat City Network Services -- (858) 538-5051 FAX: (858) 538-5051
> San Diego, California -- Public Internet access / Mailing
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Do You Yahoo!?
Find a job, post your resume.
http://careers.yahoo.com
--
Please see the official ORACLE-L FAQ: http://www.orafaq.com
--
Author: Rachel Carmichael
INET: wisernet100_at_yahoo.com
Fat City Network Services -- (858) 538-5051 FAX: (858) 538-5051
San Diego, California -- Public Internet access / Mailing Lists
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Received on Sat Nov 10 2001 - 10:47:25 CST
