Comments on: AppsLab FAQ: What Do You Do at Oracle?

By: Jake

Jake — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 21:33:58 +0000

A 12 year old, as a member of the digital generation, would probably understand it better.

By: joel garry

joel garry — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 05:01:30 +0000

I forget who said it (David Brin?) but it went something like this:

If you can't explain to a 12 year old what you do in 6 sentences, you don't understand it.

By: Jake

Jake — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 23:22:05 +0000

Too true, back when we both worked in Financials, I did the same thing. You think accounting is boring, try building software for accounting. Loads of laughs. Good way to deflect a conversation, unless you're talking to an accountant, which happened more frequently that I imagined it would.

Well, you're from London, do you know Jon Smythe?

By: davidhaimes

davidhaimes — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 23:05:17 +0000

I tell people that my job combines probably the two most boring professions, computing and accounting. After that we usually change the subject

There is a nightmare when you are at aparty and somebody say, oh you work for Oracle I'm a dba and we just started an upgrade to 11g I wonder if you can answer some questions…

Or I have a friend who used to work at Oracle called John Smith, you know him?

By: shishir

shishir — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 11:51:31 +0000

is envious.

By: Jake

Jake — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 21:35:16 +0000

Straight-shooter with upper management potential.

By: megbear

megbear — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 19:46:37 +0000

Bob Slydell: You see, what we're actually trying to do here is, we're trying to get a feel for how people spend their day at work… so, if you would, would you walk us through a typical day, for you?
Peter Gibbons: Yeah.
Bob Slydell: Great.
Peter Gibbons: Well, I generally come in at least fifteen minutes late, ah, I use the side door – that way Lumbergh can't see me, heh heh – and, uh, after that I just sorta space out for about an hour.
Bob Porter: Da-uh? Space out?
Peter Gibbons: Yeah, I just stare at my desk; but it looks like I'm working. I do that for probably another hour after lunch, too. I'd say in a given week I probably only do about fifteen minutes of real, actual, work.

By: Jake

Jake — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 01:56:56 +0000

True indeed. I can't blog 80% of what I do on a daily basis. Our role has evolved beyond our original charter, and our strategy and direction changes pretty frequently.

That way we stay a moving target, harder to hit

By: Dan Norris

Dan Norris — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 01:36:02 +0000

I guess I do know some of the things you do, but I also know there's a lot going on that's not visible to us on the outside of the big O. I do think that the “Apps” part of your mission is a little muted IMHO. I'm the case in point–I have very little to do with Apps and I find the community building and awareness raising to be very valuable to my various roles and interactions. I think you could drop the Apps part of the name and still be true to your mission (as I see it). I suppose the dollars come from somewhere though, so maybe you couldn't change the name.

By: Jake

Jake — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 01:01:33 +0000

Thanks dude. Point taken. I expanded a bit. As for me, I blog, remember?

The post wasn't supposed to be all about me. I do all that is not code or public appearances, with some overlap. That means I do: business development, community management, product management, project management, administration and operations, any/everything the other dudes don't want to do.

In the spirit of a startup, I'll do whatever needs to be done in order to help us succeed, and I guess depending on who you ask, I do stuff that hinders our success too

By: Dan Norris

Dan Norris — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 00:21:44 +0000

Thanks for this post, but I still have no idea what you do. I don't really care either–just keep doing more of it. The more you can convince people that #1 in your list above is true, the more successful you (and as a result, many of those that depend on Oracle) will be. At least that's what I think. People rule (at least until the cyborgs come).

Dan Norris
Unofficial AppsLab Fan Club Chairperson/Cheerleader
“Long Live the 'Lab!”