Re: dba mentor

From: Chris Taylor <christopherdtaylor1994_at_gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 22 Aug 2018 10:47:17 -0500
Message-ID: <CAP79kiTgY63q28i4esas0b4kfBwyngXXrNLnJDYUba8Mbg+GDw_at_mail.gmail.com>



I'll chime in here as well.

Ask TONS of questions. Always be asking questions. Oracle-L is a god-send in some ways because it's fairly tight-knit and respectful of others - even if the questions seem "simple". If you have a question ask it. Or send someone an email off list asking follow-up questions about something you're interested in being discussed if you don't feel comfortable replying to the whole list.

I think the fact you're on Oracle-L shows an immense level of capability by just being involved here. Below are some recommendations and places where I go for 'mentoring' today:

Chris

On Wed, Aug 22, 2018 at 9:34 AM Tim Gorman <tim.evdbt_at_gmail.com> wrote:

> I was a PRO*C/OCI, PL/SQL, and SQL developer (i.e. SQL*Forms, etc) working
> for Oracle consulting when my customer fired their entire IT department in
> one day. This all happened immediately after the events chronicled in my
> chapter in "Tales Of The Oak Table: Oracle Insights
> <https://www.amazon.com/Oracle-Insights-Tales-Oak-Table/dp/1590593871>",
> which is reprinted (with permission from Apress) online HERE
> <https://www.red-gate.com/simple-talk/opinion/opinion-pieces/bad-carma/>.
>
> I was moved into the role of DBA, and that very first day, the production
> database started crashing, and I brought it back up twice. The third time
> it crashed, it stayed down because of media failure. I had to call Iron
> Mountain to retrieve the backup tapes, and when they returned the
> lockboxes, nobody could find the key, so I had to jimmy the boxes open with
> a hammer and screwdriver. We restored production, but were unable to roll
> forward to the point-in-time of failure due to a missing archived log
> file. After production was back up and running, we ran out of space and I
> discovered that we were almost completely out of disk, so I unmirrored all
> of the raw logical volumes underlying the index tablespaces in order to
> create new logical volumes, mirrored to table tablespaces and unmirrored
> for index tablespaces. Then I went home to sleep. I was the DBA for 10
> months until the company completed the process of migrating their
> mission-critical application from the custom-built Oracle-based application
> (i.e. VISION from the book chapter) to a much-older RMS-based VT100
> application on VMS. At one point, the previous DBA returned to visit
> colleagues, and when he heard that I had brought the database back online 3
> times my first day, ending with an incomplete recovery, he called me an
> idiot because "he should have left it down after the first crash and gotten
> those disks fixed", an assessment with which I cannot argue. As an Oracle
> employee, I had the resources of my colleagues and the company, including
> an internal email list called HELPKERN. I met people on HELPKERN with whom
> I am still in contact today, and it was because of HELPKERN that I joined
> ORACLE-L when I left Oracle in 1998.
>
> The collective expertise on HELPKERN and then ORACLE-L has been my mentor.
>
>
>
> On 8/22/18 06:33, Sheehan, Jeremy wrote:
>
> I went from Super PC Technician to Junior DBA at my previous company. I
> had a mentor for about 6 months then he jumped ship at the first sign of
> trouble in the company. That left me to fend for myself for about 2 years.
> I learned a little from him, but most of what I learned I had to learn
> myself. Fortunately, I moved companies and was placed on a team where I had
> a number of people that I could ask questions, but never got any real kind
> of mentoring. I’ve got 10+ years of experience now, but still feel kind of
> shaky on certain topics.
>
>
>
> Thanks,
>
>
>
> Jeremy
>
>
>
>
>
> *From:* oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org <oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org>
> <oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org> *On Behalf Of *Jeff Chirco
> *Sent:* Tuesday, August 21, 2018 3:51 PM
> *To:* oracle-l-freelist <oracle-l_at_freelists.org> <oracle-l_at_freelists.org>
> *Subject:* dba mentor
>
>
>
> CAUTION - EXTERNAL EMAIL
>
>
>
> Did any of you have a mentor to help you along your DBA career path?
> Someone to coach you on what is right/wrong, offer advice for various
> projects, etc… I was the first DBA for my company and never had someone to
> go to for advice and such. I learned completely on the job besides going
> to some classes at the beginning and a couple conferences recently. And
> then some consultants over the years. I’ve always reported to a
> Programming manager, and they understand some of the job but not everything
> that needs to be done. Although I have been a DBA for over 10 years I feel
> there is still a ton for me to learn and be better at. I was alone for many
> years and did a lot of database development in addition to DBA duties. Kind
> of a jack of all trades expert at none. I am a lead now, we have one other
> DBA and maybe a third in the near future, but I know I can be a better
> leader and hope to advance that further.
>
> Did any of you have some kind of mentor during your career? For most of
> you it probably was someone inside the company but what about outside? How
> did you find this person and was it helpful? What did they do for you?
>
> Another other details or advice?
>
>
>
> Thanks,
>
>
>

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Received on Wed Aug 22 2018 - 17:47:17 CEST

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