Re: Oracle Right or Wrong

Mike,

You're absolutely right about the bad attitudes of some of the "experts" on this NG. What they don't realize is that they are only harming their careers. Don't they realize that prospective future employers and clients are reading this NG? I work for one of the top tier consultancies and I already have a blacklist of names I would never recommend, not because they aren't technically competent but rather because of the attitude demonstrated on these NG's. Unfortunately, it is common that most "techies" can't make the career leap to architect, manager, or consultant because of their attitudes.

Insofar as arrogance is concerned, when you've been in this profession as long as I, it can be a humbling experience to see all the effort you've invested in a particular technology become worthless, not just once, but again and again. For example, over my 30+ year career I've counted myself as an "expert" in all of the following:

(1) IBM CICS.
(2) CDC 6600 Assembly Language and the KRONOS operating system.
(3) Motorola MC6809 Assembly Language.
(4) IBM IMS/VS.
(5) COBOL, PL/1, BAL, FORTRAN IV.
(6)IBM VM370.
(7) DBase III.
(9) IBM DB2 for MVS.
(10) IBM MVS System Programming.
(11) IBM SNA Networking.
(12) Novell Netware.

They will come a day when "Oracle DBA" will command about as much respect as "UNIVAC Engineer", "Visicalc Expert", "Office Automation Consultant", etc. My advice to everyone is to remember this possibility, since in 10 years time the newbie you humble on this NG may be in a position to turn the tables!

John Roberts Received on Tue Oct 08 2002 - 17:38:26 CDT