Re: About LMT's -- nice article

Following up on DA Morgan, 17 Feb 2003:

> Speaking for the Pacific Northwest region of the US (if I may be so bold
> and presumtive) there is no 6 or 7 and very very little 8.0. That
> doesn't mean I couldn't find one or two hiding at Boeing or another
> large company in a legacy role ... but it would be a matter of having to
> do major research to find it.

What about 8i? I'll make you one bet: just about most Oracle Applications users in your region will NOT be on 9ir2 anytime soon. Go check. Most will still be on 7 and 8!

>
> With Oracle releasing verison 10i this year, according to an otn web
> page I found ... around May-July, companies here will have all the 8i
> expertise they need. They will certainly keep those people but they'll
> not be advertising for more. They will be moving 8.0 and 8i to 9i ... or
> 9i to 10i. Any lesser skill set will not be in demand.
>

Me thinks you'll find with Oracle releasing 10i it will definitely be 9ir1 that will be completely out of fashion. Which augurs badly for those who just spent thousands of dollars getting their 9i certification! Oh well, serves them well for falling into the trap. They've been warned many, many times.

You'll see *some* 8i users go to 9ir2. As for 10i, it will be a few years yet b4 it makes any impact. And there is preciously nothing any1 can do about it. It's been like that with EVERY new version of Oracle.

What you are forgetting is that people don't use Oracle because it is Oracle. They use it to run systems and applications. Those move a LOT slower than Larry would like. Like it or not, the market for Oracle-only skills out there is remarkably small. You have to be a much more rounded individual nowadays than just MrOCP. That buys you preciously nothing.
Except a "warm, wet pants" feeling for exactly how long it will take to release the next verison.

> And I do believe version related skills are critical.

I'm afraid we'll have to agree to disagree.

> With the release
> of 10i knowledge of the RBO and related tuning will be meaningless.
> Knowledge of rollback tablespaces and segments will be irrelevant.
> Knowledge of dictionary managed tablespaces will be irrelevant. And
> surprise surprise knowledge of SQL*Plus will be nearly irrelevant. And I
> could go on without once divulging information not published by Oracle
> at otn.oracle.com.
>

I sincerely hope in all that, knowledge itself won't be out of fashion?... ;)

BTW, you are not the only person with access to otn, metaclick and all other sorts of interesting sites. Many others here have that same access and spend time in it. It's nothing new or special.

> Those that do not know the word "quiescing", how to use the "advice"
> views such as db_cache_advice, optimizer dynamic sampling, etc. ... may
> still be hired. But they will get eaten alive by 20-30 year olds that
> have learned on 9i and are not stuck with the way things "used to be".

Nonsense. Age has got preciously nothing to do with this. I've heard that "age" argument over and over. It's as false as anything propagated by the marketeers in this industry.

As for skills that go out of fashion: heard it all from V5 to V6, then from V6 to V7, then from V7 to V8. Another fad, that's all.

Of course people have to update their knowledge. Anyone in a technical field who fails to do so is in for a change of career. Nothing new there. Happens everywhere technical, not just Oracle. That is just learning new techniques and features. Par for the course, comes with the territory.

However, people upgrade as needed. Not when Larry says. What's that got to do with age? BTW, your 20-30 year olds better know what a disk is: with all that "out of fashion" stuff they incur the risk of forgetting the basics. Computers are still von Neumann machines and will remain so for a long time. No, hardware is NOT cheap!

Heck!: with a bit more enticement, we may still see Howard dishing out information here on Linux/Unix! That OS has only been around for 30 years or so, about time he caught up with it? :D
<just joking, Howard. Don't go cold on me, ta?>

If you had been around long enough, believe me: you'd have realised this already. And BTW: some of the current "best" dbas I know are straight off the System 34 and AS400 stable. I'd not trade one of them in a million years for any of your you-beaut 20-30 year olds with the fresh "works-in-this-release-only" certifications. I've seeb too many of them only last one version of Oracle. Not my idea of competence or professionalism.

Do not confuse people like the folks here with the rest of the industry: there is a huge difference between "Mr.Average20yearolddba" and Jonathan or Richard or Howard or any of the many others here. It's called dedication and professionalism. It doesn't come in courses or packaged training. Nor can it be bought or "marketed". Or even taught.

-- 
Cheers
Nuno Souto
nsouto_at_optusnet.com.au.nospam