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Re: whats going on

From: Richard Foote <richard.foote_at_bigpond.com>
Date: Wed, 26 Jun 2002 10:42:31 +1000
Message-ID: <h_7S8.20965$Hj3.65954@newsfeeds.bigpond.com>


The issue here is simply one of human nature. It is human nature to try and cut corners, take the "easy" way, accomplish a task by doing as little as possible, get rich quick, etc. You see it everywhere. People trying to lose weight the "easy" way by wearing some weird device instead of doing regular exercise and eating properly. People buying the latest DVD player the "easy" way by plonking it on a credit card and paying for it endlessly instead of saving for it and buying it when it can be afforded. I could go on but you get the drift.

Unfortunately, when it comes to Oracle and Oracle DBAing specifically, there really isn't an easy way. The Oracle database is a very clever, complicated, sophisticated product that requires a great deal of effort to learn and fully comprehend. Some people see this as a bad thing but it's not, it's Oracle's great strength because it Oracle's versatility and flexibility that allows it to be effective in all the different complicated and sophisticated applications that it needs to be. However people see this as a bad thing because there is no easy way to grasp all this and apply it effectively.

Doesn't stop people trying the easy way though and unfortunately there are indeed a lot of people who try. The results are often disastrous. Newsgroups such as this are great for those after the quick learn. However, newsgroups are also great for those after a point of view, or who have legitimately tried to find the answer elsewhere without success, who have a time issue and use this as an option for the solution or who have done the hard yards and see this as way of continuing the learning process. And it's people such as Daniel, Sybrand, Niall, Howard and everyone else who contributes to the newsgroup so selfishly that need to be congratulated on making it all possible.

How to address the issue of the incompetent DBA. Well, it ain't easy because you can't change human nature. For a start though, having an effective OCP program would help. Commercial pilots have to undergo training and testing to ensure they can actually fly and land the thing in an emergency. Answering a few multiple choice questions is not sufficient proof of competency for a pilot, why should a DBA with an organisations valuable data and systems in their care be any different ? Have a real test (which could be in a simulated environment) where someone has to install Oracle, and set-up a database, and manage those components and tune the database and recovery the database, etc. If you can't land the plane, you can't fly. If you can't recover that datafile, you can't DBA. It's more expensive to set-up (enough said) but it's where we need to go. And no, attending that one course is not sufficient.

Having more affordable training would also help though. I worked for Oracle for many years and although the courses aren't perfect, they're an excellent introduction to Oracle (and in some cases offer excellent advanced subject matter as well). However, the cost is soooo expensive and a big turn off for many people (who hence follow the "easy" road). It's a battle I never won but by making the training affordable and encouraging rather than not encouraging people to do the training would be a big plus for the industry (and importantly Oracle Corp as well).

And finally there needs to be a realisation by the IT decision makers out there that the IT infrastructure is vital for the success of the organisation, that you need sophisticated software to stay ahead and that there is no "easy" way for people to gain the required knowledge without much training and experience. Unfortunately, IT managers and decision makers are human as well and if there's an "easy" way, they'll find it. Can't win.

Regards

Richard

"shrinad_at_ora-india.com" <daekw_at_yahoo.com> wrote in message news:afam95$fvs$00$2_at_news.t-online.com...
> why nobody can read documentation ??
>
> most of the questions in this newsgroup are ridiculous !!
>
> is the level of the questions in this group comparable with the knowledge
in
> the industry ?
>
> IT professional saying learning is boring we want just click a round
>
> can somebody without technical background, without studying,
> without sweat and pain achieve something usefull with oracle ( in 3 days
at
> the best ) ?
>
> question in this group:
> ( help I cannot operate winzip, for unzipping oracle, I just want to build
a
> litte RAC system)
>
>
> no he cannot and this is fine. but me fear is will this fall back to the
> product Oracle ??
>
> I have heard a lot of "professionals" saying, oracle is to hard to work
for
> me.
> I do not like learning, I will tell my boss go for sqlserver, because it
is
> "better"
> for me.
>
> Most of the "professionals" want to click a little. Limits of the product
> are not
> a concern of these people, because this will net be their personal fault.
>
> They can tell their boss, this doesnt work its not my fault. A product
which
> is
> complicated and unlimited like Oracle they do not like, because it would
be
> their fault .
>
> Also companies like to split their systems in a lot of small databases
> all working with incompatible applications, and all operated by clueless
> people.
>
> This is not good for Oracle, because this is the microsoft way.
>
> Will this change in the future because billions of dollars were spend with
> nightmare systems, companies IT infrastructure is a utter patchwork today.
>
> so what will be the future for Oracle in this environment ???
>
>
>
>
Received on Tue Jun 25 2002 - 19:42:31 CDT

Original text of this message

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