Get Down With OCP: Evaluating DBA Job Applicants in an OCP World
Not long ago, weeding through DBA applicants with a tech interview was a
straightforward process. You'd ask candidates 200 or so technical questions. If they
got 100 correct answers, you knew they'd been around the block; 150 or more and
you knew you were on to superior talent. But once the Oracle Certification Program
(OCP) became popular in the late 90s, the traditional tech interview lost its
effectiveness. These days, candidates can answer 180 questions correctly and you
still won't know whether they're talking from experience or simply regurgitating
what they memorized at OCP a few weeks earlier. Although it has become
increasingly difficult to determine whether you've found a seasoned, highly qualified
DBA or a newly minted OCP Graduate, there are ways. First, start by throwing out the questions. Any candidate who has been through OCP
knows the answers-all of them. That list that helped you find superstar employees
in the past is unfortunately useless now. Second, if you are a manager without solid
database experience, enlist the help of an experienced DBA to help you prepare that
critical interview. IT Managers have varied backgrounds and here it's important to
pull from the right background, be it yours or someone else's. You also need to analyze your needs. If you're looking to hire a junior person and
mentor them, the OCP program ensures that the candidate has been exposed to
most areas of the Oracle RDBMS. You can assume you'll have an employee who
knows the commands and has a general concept of how a database works. But if
you select an inexperienced OCP candidate thinking you're getting a skilled veteran,
you'll be in for countless unpleasant surprises. Typical horror stories sound like:
A DBA restores the backup for the first time in a real-life situation, finds out the
backup strategy was flawed and loses the whole database. S/he probably also forgot
to make a backup of the database before attempting the recovery, therefore
rendering Oracle support intervention nearly impossible. A DBA recommends technical implementation decisions based on limited experience
with a single user database that has 10 tables of 100 rows each. Of course, the
system hangs a few hours after the launch-as soon as 10,000 users start pounding
on a 500GB database. The most damaging aspect of newer DBAs is that they don't know when they are in
over their heads, or how to plan properly. Senior IT professionals, no matter their
field of expertise, have a gut feeling when it's happening. They know they have to
step away, talk things over with a peer, roll everything back, and try another day.
Inexperienced IT professionals are fearless and can therefore be dangerous,
especially if they're expected to run the show. So how do you find truly qualified DBAs in an OCP World? Put them to work-in the
interview, that is. Create real world situations where candidates are allowed full use
of any familiar online resources, and see what they can do. Some examples: Want to check out their data modeling skills? Give candidates a hypothetical
business that everyone understands, like a video rental store, and a basic set of
business requirements. Put them in front of a white board and let them create a
model that meets the stated requirements. You play the role of a subject-matter
expert who is decidedly non-technical, and have them walk you through the results. Wondering how they handle troubleshooting? Set up a database with various
performance anomalies such as poorly written queries, missing indexes, and
internal resource contention. Have applicants deal with the issues and walk you
through their methodology. They can't use automated tools. The Oracle Data
Dictionary and OS basic facilities must suffice. Want to see if they know how to minimize downtime? Pretend you're a client who
wants to upgrade a 500GB database from version X to version X+1. It's a 24/7
environment and each hour of downtime costs $10,000. There will be downtime
regardless, but the DBA should be able to generate scenarios to keep it at a
minimum. Whatever skills you're looking to assess, make sure you test candidates in situations
they can't prepare for and can't fake. The new interview process isn't quite as easy
as those trusty old 200 questions. It requires more up-front planning and often
more time in the interview room. But if it saves you from having to fire incapable
employees who wreaked havoc on your database, it's probably worth it. A little
advance preparation can save a whole lot of time, money, and hassle down the road.
And isn't that all we're looking for in this crazy, mixed-up OCP world? Robert Hamel
DBA Team Lead
Rob has served as the applications architect for one of the largest government
databases in the world, as well as a primary architect on a database with one of the
world's highest record of transactions per second. Before joining The Pythian Group in 2000, he worked for numerous
corporations and government agencies, including Human Resources and
Development Canada and Elections Canada. An acknowledged expert in the field,
Rob excels in application architecture and application performance tuning. Rob graduated from the University of Ottawa in 1987 and has been working with
information systems ever since.
Related News
|
 |
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
10 Resolutions For The New Year!!
Each year many people create a list of resolutions designed to help them improve their lives. As Business Leaders, we also need to take a look at our business lives and find ways to improve ourselves.
Quick Tips On Bringing Out The Best In People
Want to bring out the best in people?
Preparing For ISO 9001 2000 Registration
The steps need to be taken to prepare an organization for ISO 9001 2000 registration:
Reprimanding Marginal Employees
THE MARGINAL PERFORMER: Every manager must, from time to time, deal with a marginal performer - an employee whose work, for the most part, is satisfactory, but who regularly fails in some specific area or areas to maintain a satisfactory level of performance. The work of the marginal performer can be classified as substandard in some cases but not so poor as to warrant immediate termination.
Innovation Management ? how does the user benefit?
Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation.
Collections Management
How long does it take your customers, clients or patients to pay you for the products or services you have provided?
Making Change Work
Shaky Foundations
People Are Our Most Important Asset!
How many times have you heard or uttered this phrase in the last 5 years or so. As a "reformed accountant" this phrase makes me cringe more than any other business euphemism being espoused today.
How to Hold Effective Staff Meetings
Many people believe that they conduct effective meetings, when all they really do is
host a party. Or worse, they deliver a monologue. In either case, their meetings
produce little.
Eliminate Performance Anxiety Forever
You've had many years of training in your craft as a performer, singer, actor etc. but if you still feel haunted by the ravages of Performance Anxiety your career may be in serious jeopardy.
30 Ways to be a Butt-Head Boss
1. Trust no one. Not your superiors and not your employees. Especially not your employees. They're probably out to get you anyway.
Protect Your Computer System with a Comprehensive Security Policy
The most difficult part of creating a Security Policy for your business is determining what, exactly, to include in it. Never heard of a Security Policy before? You're not alone. But whether you are the only employee in your company or you have a small staff working for you, you need to learn what a Security Policy is, and then you need to create one.
Do the People in Your Organisation Dress For Success?
What really amazes me, with all the personal and professional development seminars people attend, from executives in corporate world, business owners and employees alike, very little investment has been made into the way they look ... personal image.
Great Hires: Avoid Costly Mistakes
The goal of selection interviews, buying apples, is to make the most appropriate choices...to hire the right people for the job. The goal is to match applicants with openings. More specifically to match applicant's qualifications with the job requirements. The interview is a subjective tool that attempts to forecast a candidate's performance.
Problem Solving
When problem solving, you may recognize that you were working on a symptom instead of the problem. An analysis of the more clearly defined problem may require an alteration to the objectives or the ideal solution. These reviews and changes are costly in terms of time and effort which emphasizes the need for rigid scrutiny during the initial problem definition to avoid wasted time and effort. Once implementation begins, it is even more difficult to learn that the entire action plan and subsequent efforts were based on symptoms in lieu of authentic problems.
Beyond Management Coaching: When Things Are Getting Out of Control
Leaders and Managers often ask us, 'What do you do when you have tried to coach and counsel an employee about a performance concern, and the employee has not responded?
Diversity in the Workplace
As you look around your office, is everyone just like you? Probably not. The demographics of the American workforce have changed dramatically over the last 50 years. In the 1950s, more than 60% of the American workforce consisted of white males. They were typically the sole breadwinners in the household, expected to retire by age 65 and spend their retirement years in leisure activities. Today, the American workforce is a better reflection of the population with a significant mix of genders, race, religion, age and other background factors.
Problem-Solving Success Tip: Use Your Time for Problems that are Truly Important
Use your time for problems that are truly important.
5 Ways of Increasing Business Profits
The economy may finally be turning around and showing signs of a rebound. Interest rates have begun to rise and the stock market is recovering from the lows it experienced in the last couple of years. Is your business ready to take advantage of these improving times? Can you translate these improvements into increased profits? You can. Read on?
First Things First -- Process BEFORE Technology
Here's a brief story I encountered while leaving Newark International Airport following a recent business trip. Hard to believe, but true.
|
