..:: Metamorphosis ::..

			Logs
			I am devoting this page to documenting and sharing the information I collect on OCP, MCA and Oracle in general. I hope this page will be of some assistance to all of you who are taking the same path. Disclaimer: Information on this page is not advisory. Friday, February 09, 2007 The DBA If my last log has not scared you I'm sure the time distance between the two logs definitely will :-) It's fun to know the adrenalin rush has lasted over 2 years with expectations of more. I've collected some more information in the past few months and will be adding them on the site. For starters, here is a good one - Statspack Analyzer Monday, August 07, 2006 Life on-call I've been an Oracle DBA for a year and a half now. Life as an Oracle DBA is good. Yes, there are on-call moments. And then there are times when the database is running like an athlete and the apps guys will call in to ask "can you see this job running at your end?" That's when the fun begins! You can log in to the database and play around with it. v$process, v$session, v$session_longops.... you name it and they are sitting right there to dig out all the information you want from the database. And then there are innumerous moments when you actually experience your hair turning grey. Nothing seems to work. You have checked everything. The very script your seniors swear by is not yielding the required results. All the prechecks were done, all the post checks were done and yet, and yet the results escape you. Heart pounds against the rib cage. Head throbs with excitement. And of course, there is no one to help. That is when you realise that your phone lines don't work. There was an outage and everyone except you knew about it :-) Are you still here? Good then. You have guts. Haven't you heard or read all this before. Of course, you have. These are the rantings of every new DBA. Why should I be an exception! You take another look at the script and like an arrow through your mind shoots a thought... how the heck will it work... there is a "#" sign instead of the "$" in the script. Of course it didn't work! Your hair starts turning its natural colour again. You run the query and the output stares at you. All the v$ view are proud of you. You have just resolved the impossible puzzle. God! I'm such a hero!! You promise yourself you'll rectify the code before the morning. Morning! A look at the watch reveals that it is half past nine. You look up. Your team lead has been staring you at least this half hour expecting to rush to your help whenever you call out for him. But, of course, you were resolving the issue at hand and you didn't see the poor guy standing at an arm's length. You smile at him somewhat foolishly. He understands. He was a new DBA once. Good byes and rush home. And then your head hits the pillow (at 11:00 a.m.), you take a deep breath, smile - on-call moments! Sigh! Tuesday, July 25, 2006 "Life after Coffee" has an interesting piece written on "Determining credibility of web resources". Take a look at the article on Donald Burleson's website - Evaluating the Credibility of Oracle Information on the Internet and you know what all is possible in the name of "expertise"! Donald Burleson is an experienced Oracle professional and his articles have always been educative and a source of inspiration. But I don't agree with him when he recommends that all Oracle professionals have a Bachelor's Degree in science. However, I do agree that fake experts are there galore. With all due respects to Mr. Burleson, I don't see how a Bachelor's Degree in science is going to help someone gain more credibitlity or prevent someone from being a fake. Despite my MCA aspirations, I find that what my day to day DBA work teaches me I shall never get from degrees. Aren't there a lot of fake degrees as well! Then how do we determine that the person professing expertise, whether online or in an interview, is genuine! I think knowledge is the only tool for measurement. Ask questions! A lot of questions! I've known the seniors in my organisation interviewing people claiming seven years of work experience as hands-on DBAs and when interviewed these very people have been found to be lacking in everyday backup and recovery procedures. And most of them come with a B.Tech. degree!! I'll leave this argument to the more knowledgeable but these are my opinions. Monday, June 19, 2006 In my log of Tuesday, October 25, 2005 I had promised that I shall archive the old logs. I've kept my promise and at present these can only be viewed from the home page. I shall be making amends, till then please bear with me.

		Home \| Resume \| Portfolio \| Links \| Logs \| Sitemap
		(c) 1998-2004. All rights reserved. \| Best viewed in Internet Explorer 5.x at 1024 x 768 resolution.