Re: dba mentor
Date: Wed, 22 Aug 2018 09:07:36 -0700
Message-ID: <CAKsxbLrBQPwDx2pASXZMd97_sA5OCxR0A6Fe+s85-RiaFwLMPA_at_mail.gmail.com>
Thanks everyone for their responses. Oracle-L has been valuable, I read a
lot on here and post only occasionally. I will try to post more. Chris I
agree with your list. Twitter has been great to follow certain people in
the community and finding their blogs or others that they retweet about.
I've been to Collaborate a few times but sometimes that is just too big.
Local conferences and Oracle users groups have disappeared in Southern
California unfortunately.
On Wed, Aug 22, 2018 at 8:49 AM Chris Taylor <
christopherdtaylor1994_at_gmail.com> wrote:
> I'll chime in here as well.
Seems like it might be common for DBA's to be thrown in with no one to look
up to for help. Sounds like I just need to more of what I am doing and ask
more questions.
>
> 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:
>
> - Oracle-L
> - Reddit
> - Twitter (individuals and then read subjects they write about if they
> blog)
> - Youtube (to some degree - hit or miss)
> - Oracle Communities (RARELY use because it can be toxic)
> - GOOGLE (lots of Google)
> - DBI Blogs (Franck Pachot though he recently left DBI I believe)
> - Community DBAs (if you're near a local user group: check here:
> https://community.oracle.com/community/usergroups and
> http://www.ioug.org/rugs)
> - Goto Conferences (specifically IOUG, RMOUG and other USER group
> conferences in place of OpenWorld etc)
>
> 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,
>>
>>
>>
-- http://www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-lReceived on Wed Aug 22 2018 - 18:07:36 CEST