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Re: Career questions: databases

From: Larry Linson <bouncer_at_localhost.not>
Date: Sun, 01 Jul 2007 00:02:40 GMT
Message-ID: <AaChi.538$fw2.366@trnddc04>


"DA Morgan" <damorgan_at_psoug.org> wrote

> In the learning curve of all skills and technologies
> there is a point where one begins and they know
> they know nothing.

Before there was any software product category for "databases," I remember hearing the following definition:

   Generalist: One who learns less and less about more    and more until he knows nothing about everything.    Specialist: One who learns more and more about less    and less until he knows everything about nothing.

Keep us advised as to when Bob is coming to the meeting; I need a good reason to come to Seattle, anyway. :-)

In a previous incarnation as a mainframer with a major computer manufacturer, I sometimes had the chore of reviewing applications and recommending who my manager should interview. I surely passed on a lot of them which claimed more knowledge than was possible, just as you said. I was in a contracting group in that company and our skills inventory had several levels -- most of us didn't even bother to put down the "1" level, which only meant that you'd heard of the product and had a pretty good idea what it was intended to do. It was a long time ago, and I forget whether the top level was 5 or 10, but it meant that you had sufficient knowledge to modify the internals of the software product. Anybody who had more than a very few products marked at that level was automatically suspect for "bragging".

There's a lifetime of effort, I am certain, to simply maintain competence with Oracle, much less to reach a level where people regard you as "expert." And most of the people I regard as "expert" in various disciplines prefer not to be called "expert", in any case.

  Larry   Received on Sat Jun 30 2007 - 19:02:40 CDT

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