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The acts commenced on this ball of earth: Upon my tongues continual slanders ride,
Lots of work + Busy life = Lack of updates on Dellah, sorry
In addition to work being rather busy this past week (and not particularly interesting, but that is my fault for agreeing to a job that was a lot of work and a yawnorama), my manager has dropped a rather large question on my plate. I have to make a decision that will decide the direction my career goes over the next few years.
First the background. In the past I was always on the programming side of computing, starting with pcExpress (hands up anyone who has heard of that?), moving to VB/ODBC and finally landing in Java/Oracle land.
However, from last year onwards I moved to doing Oracle stuff full time, you know DBA things, backup/recovery, performance etc etc, but keeping hold of the Java and XML skills because a) oracle has Java in the database, and b) the way the company is organized, I could do both. I am enjoying it.
Now, Oracle is moving Java slowly out of the database, realising I think, that J2EE and RDBMS don't belong in the same place at the same time (and performance was skeesy). Also, the company structure is changing and RDBMS and Java are being split up. In addition, everyone's roles are changing and I can do one of two things. Be a specialist in a particular area, or a generalist and know a little about a lot of different areas. The crunch is that you can't be a specialist in more than on area (which is limiting to my mind; why can't you know a lot about two different skills?).
My manager has subtly hinted that it would be really good career wise for me to do the Java specialisation (do you here the KER-CHING here?) and I held in high regard in this area. Also, I'd have to be a generalist in the RDBMS area due to my relative lack of experience in it. (less than 2 years).
I like doing server more than Java, but would I like just doing that, and just being a generalist. As a generalist, I'd be dealing with a mixture of noddy issues like "I'm installing Oracle on a laptop and I don't know where the CD goes" and some more interesting things, whereas a specialist gets all the interesting, complicated things that a true geek loves to get involved with. Of course, being a generalist is far easier and I'd have time to surf the net all day and do lots of updates to dellah (I thought I'd perfected the knack of being quicker at my job than my manager things I am; but obviously he is wise to me know).
What would you guys do? (forget that it is Java, I know you all hate it)
In other news, George is alternating good nights and bad nights. Last night we were up at 2am. He is having consistently good evenings, though. We read that siblings are more likely to start showing jealous tendances at four months once they realise that it is here for good, and as the brother/sister starts to do things.
George is now 10lbs and has chubby cheeks. Picture when I remember to bring the camera in.
Finally Series 6 Buffy episode on Sky this week. World Cup starts the next day. This is somehow fate, and meant to be.
It turns out the next door neighbour is a Liverpool fan. I knew he was scum.
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Don't know.
At the moment, I'm pretty much a specialist, but I'm looking to get into more generalist high-level stuff (high-level both in terms of how stuff is viewed and position-within-the-management-structure). If you're good enough to be a specialist, which I suspect you are, it might be worth it -- it doesn't limit you from a later career as a generalist (whereas being a generalist means you can't be a specialist later), it pays good money, and it means you get to do something you enjoy all the time. That is, if the thing that you'd be specialising in is the thing you'd be doing. Constantly working on something you hate is the worst kind of purgatory, trust me. But you're still young enough (despite the hair ;)) that you can afford to take a two-year byway to see if you like it and then come back out if not.
I'm ignoring the Liverpool comment. :P
Thanks, worth thinking about, except the hair comment :)
Posted by Sarabian at May 31, 2002 12:41 PMGeorge settles into a pattern, Emilia gets slightly cheekier, I ponder on various things, I watch multiple football games, and read a lot (2)
Lots of work, lack of updates, a decision to make, George is getting fatter and the World Cup starts this week, (2)
George's 4 week birthday and Emilia's reaction to George (0)
It is interesting how two children from the same genetic stock can be so different. Even though he is only... (0)
It is 3am and the only way George will sleep is if I continually walk up and down the living room at a consistent and slow pace. (1)
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