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Christmas is over, 2010 is here, and it's time to move my jobsearch forward.
As I've written previously a few times, I'm giving up on trying to get
hired as a programmer. (It's not like I can go work for Google writing
in Haskell...) Instead, I'm going to try to get hired as a system
administrator. At least that way I can say "hey, I've been doing this
exact job for the last 7 years continuously" rather than "well, I could
_probably_ learn this..."
The first task, then, is to adjust my CV. I wrote it to try to
demonstrate what an awesome programmer I am; most of it is completely
irrelevant if I'm not trying to be a programmer any more. So in summary,
I've just spent an hour working on my CV, and it's now about half the
length it was before. o_O
The trouble is, when I'm trying to be a programmer, I can say "hey,
dude! I know Pascal, Prolog, Java, JavaScript, Smalltalk, Tcl, Haskell,
Eiffel, pick me! Pick me! I've learned all about data compression,
cryptography and cryptanalysis, digital signal processing, database
theory, logic design, error-correcting codes, binary data
representation, I know stuff about stuff! Pick me!!"
...all of which has absolutely nothing to do with just keeping a few
servers running. So having just deleted all that stuff off my CV, it
looks a tad bare now. :-/
I suppose now I need to come up with a bunch of keywords to fill my CV
with. Stuff like "Active Directory" and "BackupExec" and "Oracle" and
"Ethernet". But then my CV ends up just being a soup of keywords.
Besides, if I just sit there and spew fourth a long list of technical
terms, that just proves that I'm good at looking up technobabble. The
most likely response is going to be "yeah? prove it."
Of course, assuming I ever get my CV sorted out, the next task is to
find somewhere to stick it... but I'll worry about that when I get to
it. I have at least got one reference to offer people now...
--
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*
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Good luck. I'm fed up with TI's bureaucratic face of the last few years
(or decades) and am willing to drop off programming altogether too. I'm
moving on to testing, as creepy as that sounds. it's a nice change of
pace anyway...
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"Orchid XP v8" <voi### [at] dev null> wrote in message
news:4b4b435c@news.povray.org...
> Christmas is over, 2010 is here, and it's time to move my jobsearch
> forward.
>
> As I've written previously a few times, I'm giving up on trying to get
> hired as a programmer. (It's not like I can go work for Google writing in
> Haskell...) Instead, I'm going to try to get hired as a system
> administrator. At least that way I can say "hey, I've been doing this
> exact job for the last 7 years continuously" rather than "well, I could
> _probably_ learn this..."
>
> The first task, then, is to adjust my CV. I wrote it to try to demonstrate
> what an awesome programmer I am; most of it is completely irrelevant if
> I'm not trying to be a programmer any more. So in summary, I've just spent
> an hour working on my CV, and it's now about half the length it was
> before. o_O
I've been wading through résumés for the last four weeks and holding
interviews for a DBA with some programming exposure (In my case, I'm looking
for someone who can at least read a stored procedure and have some idea of
what it does).
When I'm going through these mounds of paperwork, there are certain problems
I've noticed. For example, some résumés are four or five pages long. Now,
one is plenty, and two is almost too much. I want to grab some of these
people and shake them and say, "Look at the job description we posted, the
one you're applying for... let me know if you can do THOSE things. While
it's lovely that you can program in x86 assembler left handed while grooming
monkeys, we don't use that skill here." It doesn't take a whole lot of work
to tune your résumé to the job you're applying for, and it means a lot to me
that a candidate read the job description and isn't just shooting out
applications like water from a fire hose.
I really just want to know what you've been doing for the last four or five
years. If you've been in the industry for 20 years, that's great, but the
stuff you were doing then isn't likely to be relevant, and that company is
probably out of business anyway. I *absolutely* don't care what you did or
learned in school; I have never seen anything picked up by a student (myself
included) that is useful for the real world. I am less interested in a
candidate's GPA than the number of warts on his or her nose.
I probably average less than 60 seconds with a résumé before I give it back
to HR and say yay or nay on calling the person up for an interview. If you
have someone you trust who has some experience or knowledge about what you
do, have them read over your résumé and tell them to give it their full
attention. Time them with a watch, and stop them after 20 seconds or so.
Then ask them what they remember about the document. That'll be about what
sticks out to somebody looking at a couple of hundred of the things, trying
to pick someone to interview.
On a related note, I don't know what things are like in your neck of the
woods, but over here in the middle of the U.S. the big needs seem to be .NET
developers (about 30/70 VB to C#), and either MS-SQL or Oracle. If you don't
have any experience with the MS tools but you do have a Windows OS, you
might try getting the (free) Express editions of those programs and hanging
out in some of the VB or C# newsgroups. Those tools aren't awfully hard to
pick up, and it may get you in the door, anyway, where you can wow them with
your boyish charm and eagerness. :-)
--
Jack
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Captain Jack wrote:
> I've been wading through rsums for the last four weeks and holding
> interviews for a DBA with some programming exposure (In my case, I'm looking
> for someone who can at least read a stored procedure and have some idea of
> what it does).
>
> When I'm going through these mounds of paperwork, there are certain problems
> I've noticed. For example, some rsums are four or five pages long.
OK, well that sounds way, way too long. Currently there's little or no
danger of my CV being anywhere near that long. It *was* just under 2
pages before I started, and now I've taken out all the stuff that's no
longer relevant given my new target area, it's only just more than a
single page. Looks quite bare, actually...
> I really just want to know what you've been doing for the last four or five
> years. If you've been in the industry for 20 years, that's great, but the
> stuff you were doing then isn't likely to be relevant, and that company is
> probably out of business anyway. I *absolutely* don't care what you did or
> learned in school.
Fair enough.
On the other hand, what *have* I done in the list four or five years?
Sat at my desk surfing the Internet. Well, obviously I don't mention
that part. ;-)
> On a related note, I don't know what things are like in your neck of the
> woods, but over here in the middle of the U.S. the big needs seem to be .NET
> developers (about 30/70 VB to C#), and either MS-SQL or Oracle. If you don't
> have any experience with the MS tools but you do have a Windows OS, you
> might try getting the (free) Express editions of those programs and hanging
> out in some of the VB or C# newsgroups. Those tools aren't awfully hard to
> pick up, and it may get you in the door, anyway, where you can wow them with
> your boyish charm and eagerness. :-)
Seems like around here, if you want to do any serious kind of computing,
you must be in London, end of story. Hence my slight shift in focus...
--
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*
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On 11-1-2010 16:27, Orchid XP v8 wrote:
> Christmas is over, 2010 is here, and it's time to move my jobsearch
> forward.
>
> As I've written previously a few times, I'm giving up on trying to get
> hired as a programmer. (It's not like I can go work for Google writing
> in Haskell...) Instead, I'm going to try to get hired as a system
> administrator. At least that way I can say "hey, I've been doing this
> exact job for the last 7 years continuously" rather than "well, I could
> _probably_ learn this..."
>
> The first task, then, is to adjust my CV. I wrote it to try to
> demonstrate what an awesome programmer I am; most of it is completely
> irrelevant if I'm not trying to be a programmer any more. So in summary,
> I've just spent an hour working on my CV, and it's now about half the
> length it was before. o_O
>
> The trouble is, when I'm trying to be a programmer, I can say "hey,
> dude! I know Pascal, Prolog, Java, JavaScript, Smalltalk, Tcl, Haskell,
> Eiffel, pick me! Pick me! I've learned all about data compression,
> cryptography and cryptanalysis, digital signal processing, database
> theory, logic design, error-correcting codes, binary data
> representation, I know stuff about stuff! Pick me!!"
>
> ...all of which has absolutely nothing to do with just keeping a few
> servers running. So having just deleted all that stuff off my CV, it
> looks a tad bare now. :-/
>
> I suppose now I need to come up with a bunch of keywords to fill my CV
> with. Stuff like "Active Directory" and "BackupExec" and "Oracle" and
> "Ethernet". But then my CV ends up just being a soup of keywords.
> Besides, if I just sit there and spew fourth a long list of technical
> terms, that just proves that I'm good at looking up technobabble. The
> most likely response is going to be "yeah? prove it."
>
> Of course, assuming I ever get my CV sorted out, the next task is to
> find somewhere to stick it... but I'll worry about that when I get to
> it. I have at least got one reference to offer people now...
As many people have said: adjust your CV to the situation.
If you would want to apply with us, programming skills would be
essential. Anyway something went wrong with the submission of the grant
proposal so you have at least a few more months to definitively decide
not to leave MK
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Captain Jack wrote:
> I really just want to know what you've been doing for the last four or five
> years. If you've been in the industry for 20 years, that's great, but the
> stuff you were doing then isn't likely to be relevant, and that company is
> probably out of business anyway.
I think it depends on what kind of job you're advertising. I wouldn't want
to work at a job where my experience of 10 years ago isn't relevant. Indeed,
I've made quite a lot of money in the last 4 years based on what I was doing
in 1994.
If you say "We have a start-up company building a new and innovative X, but
don't bother to apply unless you understand Visual Basic and ASP.NET 3.5",
you're going to fail right there.
If you say "We have a McDonalds, and don't bother to apply unless you've run
a cash register in a fast-food restaurant before", I'm not going to apply.
--
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
Forget "focus follows mouse." When do
I get "focus follows gaze"?
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On 11-1-2010 22:47, Darren New wrote:
> --
> Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
> Forget "focus follows mouse." When do
> I get "focus follows gaze"?
You had it when you were younger
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Orchid XP v8 wrote:
> The trouble is, when I'm trying to be a programmer, I can say "hey,
> dude! I know Pascal, Prolog, Java, JavaScript, Smalltalk, Tcl, Haskell,
> Eiffel, pick me! Pick me! I've learned all about data compression,
> cryptography and cryptanalysis, digital signal processing, database
> theory, logic design, error-correcting codes, binary data
> representation, I know stuff about stuff! Pick me!!"
>
> ....all of which has absolutely nothing to do with just keeping a few
> servers running. So having just deleted all that stuff off my CV, it
> looks a tad bare now. :-/
>
I wouldn’t delete the stuff about programming just cut it down and move
it to a section that says “I also am familiar with…”
--
Best Regards,
Stephen
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On Mon, 11 Jan 2010 15:27:35 +0000, Orchid XP v8 wrote:
> The first task, then, is to adjust my CV. I wrote it to try to
> demonstrate what an awesome programmer I am; most of it is completely
> irrelevant if I'm not trying to be a programmer any more. So in summary,
> I've just spent an hour working on my CV, and it's now about half the
> length it was before. o_O
It's a good start - and good to hear you're starting this in earnest.
> The trouble is, when I'm trying to be a programmer, I can say "hey,
> dude! I know Pascal, Prolog, Java, JavaScript, Smalltalk, Tcl, Haskell,
> Eiffel, pick me! Pick me! I've learned all about data compression,
> cryptography and cryptanalysis, digital signal processing, database
> theory, logic design, error-correcting codes, binary data
> representation, I know stuff about stuff! Pick me!!"
>
> ...all of which has absolutely nothing to do with just keeping a few
> servers running. So having just deleted all that stuff off my CV, it
> looks a tad bare now. :-/
Being able to program is a very useful skill when doing system
administration, especially in larger companies. I would still include
your programming skills, even if they're not as prominent. I think I
showed you one of my old CVs, where I listed about 15 languages I've
written some code in. I've never been a professional software developer,
only sysadmin work before I moved into training.
Programming (and more importantly, the type of problem solving that
programming requires) is very useful when looking to build automation
solutions. That's something a fair number of sysadmins do, if only to
keep their sanity from doing repetitive tasks that a computer can do
better.
> I suppose now I need to come up with a bunch of keywords to fill my CV
> with. Stuff like "Active Directory" and "BackupExec" and "Oracle" and
> "Ethernet". But then my CV ends up just being a soup of keywords.
> Besides, if I just sit there and spew fourth a long list of technical
> terms, that just proves that I'm good at looking up technobabble. The
> most likely response is going to be "yeah? prove it."
Which you can do, because you've been doing it. Chances are you'll be
asked to do some sort of test (or at least answer some questions) to show
that your skills are more than just words on paper. :-)
Jim
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>> The first task, then, is to adjust my CV.
>
> It's a good start - and good to hear you're starting this in earnest.
Heh. I've wasted enough of my life here already. (Not that there's
realistically much hope of getting anything better, mind you...)
> Being able to program is a very useful skill when doing system
> administration. I would still include
> your programming skills, even if they're not as prominent.
>
> Programming (and more importantly, the type of problem solving that
> programming requires) is very useful when looking to build automation
> solutions.
Point taken. I can still mention it. But I do need to find something to
fill up the rest of my CV now.
>> I suppose now I need to come up with a bunch of keywords to fill my CV
>> with. Stuff like "Active Directory" and "BackupExec" and "Oracle" and
>> "Ethernet". But then my CV ends up just being a soup of keywords.
>> Besides, if I just sit there and spew fourth a long list of technical
>> terms, that just proves that I'm good at looking up technobabble. The
>> most likely response is going to be "yeah? prove it."
>
> Which you can do, because you've been doing it. Chances are you'll be
> asked to do some sort of test (or at least answer some questions) to show
> that your skills are more than just words on paper. :-)
Chances are, they'll see a page full of buzzwords and conclude that I
don't know what the hell I'm talking about and I just copy & pasted as
many technical-sounding words as I could find.
And if they conclude this, I'll never even get as far as an interview. :-(
--
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*
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On Wed, 13 Jan 2010 19:54:25 +0000, Orchid XP v8 wrote:
>>> The first task, then, is to adjust my CV.
>>
>> It's a good start - and good to hear you're starting this in earnest.
>
> Heh. I've wasted enough of my life here already. (Not that there's
> realistically much hope of getting anything better, mind you...)
Well, start with a positive attitude - that will help you approach the
task. :-)
>> Being able to program is a very useful skill when doing system
>> administration. I would still include your programming skills, even if
>> they're not as prominent.
>>
>> Programming (and more importantly, the type of problem solving that
>> programming requires) is very useful when looking to build automation
>> solutions.
>
> Point taken. I can still mention it. But I do need to find something to
> fill up the rest of my CV now.
Yes, definitely mention it. Don't worry about your CV looking "full" -
many prospective employers will recognise a CV that has additional
'fluff' or 'padding' in it. Some embellishment (for the purposes of
marketing yourself) is expected, of course; just don't make that all
that's there.
>> Which you can do, because you've been doing it. Chances are you'll be
>> asked to do some sort of test (or at least answer some questions) to
>> show that your skills are more than just words on paper. :-)
>
> Chances are, they'll see a page full of buzzwords and conclude that I
> don't know what the hell I'm talking about and I just copy & pasted as
> many technical-sounding words as I could find.
>
> And if they conclude this, I'll never even get as far as an interview.
> :-(
It's all about the presentation. When I was in my early 20's and doing
my CV, I felt it was too long, but I had a fair bit of relevant
experience and knowledge at the time - but it did look like so many
buzzwords. It still got looked at; so will yours. Like I said above,
presentation matters.
Jim
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Damnit, every time I edit this more, it gets shorter! o_O
A few of you who saw my previous CV may remember that it used to be 2
full pages of stuff.
Currently I think almost the entirity of page #2 could be completely
removed and it would make almost no difference to the quality of this CV.
Any hints, people?
--
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*
Post a reply to this message
Attachments:
Download 'cv-v08-sysadmin-partial.pdf' (40 KB)
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Orchid XP v8 wrote:
> Damnit, every time I edit this more, it gets shorter! o_O
>
> A few of you who saw my previous CV may remember that it used to be 2
> full pages of stuff.
>
> Currently I think almost the entirity of page #2 could be completely
> removed and it would make almost no difference to the quality of this CV.
>
> Any hints, people?
>
That looks good. :)
Page #2 is important and if I were you. This is where I would add your
knowledge of programming languages. Including PovRay SDL, you never know ;)
--
Best Regards,
Stephen
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On Wed, 13 Jan 2010 21:36:09 +0000, Orchid XP v8 wrote:
> Damnit, every time I edit this more, it gets shorter! o_O
>
> A few of you who saw my previous CV may remember that it used to be 2
> full pages of stuff.
>
> Currently I think almost the entirity of page #2 could be completely
> removed and it would make almost no difference to the quality of this
> CV.
Page 2 contains important information; it shows that you have interests
and hobbies, and for many employers, this is something that matters (it
says to them that you aren't a workaholic and thus are less likely to
burn out)
> Any hints, people?
Under "Main experience", I would word as follows:
● Desktop and server hardware assembly / troubleshooting.
● Installation and configuration of Microsoft Windows operating systems,
with a focus on Windows XP and Server 2003
● Active Directory user account management, NTFS file security, TCP/IP
network configuration.
● Symantec BackupExec software. DDS and LTO tape backup hardware.
(For the above item, I would specify what you did - I know it's obvious
to you and me that you managed backups; but you want actions to be what
you document. "Utilised Symantec BackupExec to maintain verified backups
of critical system data" or something along those lines. "Have
configured and worked with DDS and LTO tape backup hardware")
● Oracle database creation, configuration, backup and recovery, and other
maintenance.
(Define "other maintenance" more precisely; user administration? Access
management?)
● Long track record of very strong grades in technical subjects,
particularly computer programming.
● Proven ability to readily learn new techniques and technologies.
(These are good to have as well. Details can come up in the interview)
Under your employment history, the changes I'd make are mostly to get rid
of parenthetical phrases:
* Responsible for keeping the UK computer systems operational. This
consists of approximately 30 staff, 50 workstations, 5 servers, and the
necessary networking infrastructure.
* Responsible for ensuring IT systems are operated in compliance with
all applicable regulations, including the Good Laboratory Practice. This
includes routine record keeping of all configuration changes for audit
purposes as well as developing various documentation. Confirmation of
regulatory compliance was achieved through periodic interviews with
external auditors.
* Responsible for creating and updating computer policy and procedure
documents, which were reviewed by external government and client
auditors. Several external auditors have complimented me on the high
quality of the documentation.
* Designed, documented, and formally tested the UK site computer
disaster recovery plan. This plan included documentation of all
plausible failures, the operational impact of those potential failures,
and the remediation options. Where feasible, a test plan was produced
and executed and a record kept of all test results confirming that
redundant hardware performed as expected, the identified impacts matched
what was documented, and the remediation steps performed as intended and
expected.
* Technical support and general troubleshooting for all computer-related
problems. This involved liaising with various staff to resolve problems,
advise on technical matters, plan future upgrades, and other related
tasks. Responsible for coordinating with IT departments from the
company's other sites.
* Became the system administrator of the UK site's Oracle database.
Responsibilities included regularly backing up data and restoring it as
needed.
(You might also expand this to cover other things - user administration,
for example, might be something you did for the Oracle setup. You might
also specify the version of Oracle being used if it's current).
Jim
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On Wed, 13 Jan 2010 21:57:03 +0000, Stephen wrote:
> Page #2 is important and if I were you. This is where I would add your
> knowledge of programming languages. Including PovRay SDL, you never know
> ;)
I agree, that's a great place to add more detail on programming languages
and other hobbies (like maths, crypto, compression, etc).
Jim
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>> Currently I think almost the entirity of page #2 could be completely
>> removed and it would make almost no difference to the quality of this
>> CV.
>
> Page 2 contains important information; it shows that you have interests
> and hobbies, and for many employers, this is something that matters (it
> says to them that you aren't a workaholic and thus are less likely to
> burn out)
Heh. Like employers are going to care whether I prefer ballroom to
hip-hop. :-P
> ● Active Directory user account management, NTFS file security, TCP/IP
> network configuration.
Woah. That one really is a random grab-bag, eh?
> ● Oracle database creation, configuration, backup and recovery, and other
> maintenance.
>
> (Define "other maintenance" more precisely; user administration? Access
> management?)
Neither of those.
Actually *all* I've done is install Oracle, create a blank database,
recover a destroyed database from backup, and regularly backup a running
database. That's basically *it*. But by mumbling something about "other
maintenance" I can make it sound like I did something significant.
> * Became the system administrator of the UK site's Oracle database.
> Responsibilities included regularly backing up data and restoring it as
> needed.
>
> (You might also expand this to cover other things - user administration,
> for example, might be something you did for the Oracle setup. You might
> also specify the version of Oracle being used if it's current).
I specifically didn't mention the version of Oracle I worked with, since
it was after all released over 10 years ago.
That said, I doubt things have changed *drastically* from the
administrator's point of view. (I'm sure they still have tablespaces and
redologs and rollback segments and parameter files...) But it doesn't
look cool when you say the equivilent of "hey, I have lots of experience
with Word 3.0!"
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On Thu, 14 Jan 2010 12:58:46 +0000, Invisible wrote:
>>> Currently I think almost the entirity of page #2 could be completely
>>> removed and it would make almost no difference to the quality of this
>>> CV.
>>
>> Page 2 contains important information; it shows that you have interests
>> and hobbies, and for many employers, this is something that matters (it
>> says to them that you aren't a workaholic and thus are less likely to
>> burn out)
>
> Heh. Like employers are going to care whether I prefer ballroom to
> hip-hop. :-P
They may not, but if you're being interviewed by someone who is also into
dancing, that common interest can be useful for the interview. Never
underestimate the value of having something in common with the
interviewer.
>> ● Active Directory user account management, NTFS file security, TCP/IP
>> network configuration.
>
> Woah. That one really is a random grab-bag, eh?
Not really, they're all related to administration of a Windows
infrastructure.
>> ● Oracle database creation, configuration, backup and recovery, and
>> other maintenance.
>>
>> (Define "other maintenance" more precisely; user administration?
>> Access management?)
>
> Neither of those.
>
> Actually *all* I've done is install Oracle, create a blank database,
> recover a destroyed database from backup, and regularly backup a running
> database. That's basically *it*. But by mumbling something about "other
> maintenance" I can make it sound like I did something significant.
So someone else does the DBA tasks? In that case, just be prepared to
define what "other maintenance" is in case they ask.
>> * Became the system administrator of the UK site's Oracle database.
>> Responsibilities included regularly backing up data and restoring it as
>> needed.
>>
>> (You might also expand this to cover other things - user
>> administration, for example, might be something you did for the Oracle
>> setup. You might also specify the version of Oracle being used if it's
>> current).
>
> I specifically didn't mention the version of Oracle I worked with, since
> it was after all released over 10 years ago.
That's fair enough. :-)
> That said, I doubt things have changed *drastically* from the
> administrator's point of view. (I'm sure they still have tablespaces and
> redologs and rollback segments and parameter files...) But it doesn't
> look cool when you say the equivilent of "hey, I have lots of experience
> with Word 3.0!"
Agreed.
Jim
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>>> ● Active Directory user account management, NTFS file security, TCP/IP
>>> network configuration.
>> Woah. That one really is a random grab-bag, eh?
>
> Not really, they're all related to administration of a Windows
> infrastructure.
Well, that was the general intention. It looks kind of random on the
page though. (I guess to somebody who knows what they're talking about,
it suggests that I have a clue too.)
>> Actually *all* I've done is install Oracle, create a blank database,
>> recover a destroyed database from backup, and regularly backup a running
>> database. That's basically *it*. But by mumbling something about "other
>> maintenance" I can make it sound like I did something significant.
>
> So someone else does the DBA tasks? In that case, just be prepared to
> define what "other maintenance" is in case they ask.
Define "DBA tasks".
Seriously, the database runs itself. I need to set it up initially,
recover it if it breaks, and back it up periodically. What else is there?
>> I specifically didn't mention the version of Oracle I worked with, since
>> it was after all released over 10 years ago.
>
> That's fair enough. :-)
>
>> That said, I doubt things have changed *drastically* from the
>> administrator's point of view. (I'm sure they still have tablespaces and
>> redologs and rollback segments and parameter files...) But it doesn't
>> look cool when you say the equivilent of "hey, I have lots of experience
>> with Word 3.0!"
>
> Agreed.
Glad we're getting somewhere. ;-)
--
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*
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Orchid XP v8 wrote:
> Seriously, the database runs itself. I need to set it up initially,
> recover it if it breaks, and back it up periodically. What else is there?
Performance tuning. Making changes to the schema. Things like that.
If it doesn't get heavy use and you're not often changing your applications,
then there isn't much else.
--
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
Forget "focus follows mouse." When do
I get "focus follows gaze"?
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>> Seriously, the database runs itself. I need to set it up initially,
>> recover it if it breaks, and back it up periodically. What else is there?
>
> Performance tuning. Making changes to the schema. Things like that.
>
> If it doesn't get heavy use and you're not often changing your
> applications, then there isn't much else.
We had 1 application with about 30 users, and at any one time roughly 6
people actually hitting the DB simultaneously. The crappy little VB app
at the front was far, far slower than the Oracle database engine itself.
Not much scope for performance tuning. ;-) Although, having said that, I
did fiddle around with the log file size to solve a minor performance
issue. What happens is that as you work on a project, you gradually add
data to the database. When the project is done, you archive it into an
Access DB file (!!). So the whole project gets deleted in one go - which
generates a big chunk of DB activity all at once, overflowing the
logfiles. So I could argue that I "tuned" to fix that.
If we had ever had to upgrade it, the process would probably be to run
some vendor-provided SQL scripts. That's how you set it up initially;
create an empty DB, then run their scripts to generate all the tables
and stuff. So no, no real schema changes. (Just as well really. Have you
SEEN their schema?!)
--
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*
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Orchid XP v8 wrote:
> If we had ever had to upgrade it, the process would probably be to run
> some vendor-provided SQL scripts.
Oh, so it's not your code. No, that part doesn't apply, then.
--
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
Forget "focus follows mouse." When do
I get "focus follows gaze"?
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On Thu, 14 Jan 2010 19:25:36 +0000, Orchid XP v8 wrote:
>>> Woah. That one really is a random grab-bag, eh?
>>
>> Not really, they're all related to administration of a Windows
>> infrastructure.
>
> Well, that was the general intention. It looks kind of random on the
> page though. (I guess to somebody who knows what they're talking about,
> it suggests that I have a clue too.)
With regard to your parenthetical - exactly! :-)
>>> Actually *all* I've done is install Oracle, create a blank database,
>>> recover a destroyed database from backup, and regularly backup a
>>> running database. That's basically *it*. But by mumbling something
>>> about "other maintenance" I can make it sound like I did something
>>> significant.
>>
>> So someone else does the DBA tasks? In that case, just be prepared to
>> define what "other maintenance" is in case they ask.
>
> Define "DBA tasks".
User admin (granting access and such), troubleshooting, table layout and
design (sounds like you probably weren't involved in this last bit, with
one application that was vendor-supplied).
> Seriously, the database runs itself. I need to set it up initially,
> recover it if it breaks, and back it up periodically. What else is
> there?
Troubleshooting if it breaks comes to mind.
Jim
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>> Heh. Like employers are going to care whether I prefer ballroom to
>> hip-hop. :-P
>
> They may not, but if you're being interviewed by someone who is also into
> dancing, that common interest can be useful for the interview. Never
> underestimate the value of having something in common with the
> interviewer.
Reminds me of a telephone interview I had a while back, it was meant to be
about 30 mins, but after 30 mins of talking about radio controlled
helicopters it ended up being about an hour!
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>> Define "DBA tasks".
>
> User admin (granting access and such), troubleshooting, table layout and
> design (sounds like you probably weren't involved in this last bit, with
> one application that was vendor-supplied).
No user admin; rather than use Oracle's extensive security features,
this crappy little VB app chose to defeat Oracle's security and
implement all the security in the application itself.
In other words, the VB app connects to the database with username
"database" and password "blue198". The app itself then decides what data
it will or won't let the user see. But if you open up a copy of the
Oracle SQL console and use the same username and password, you have
unlimited access to the entire DB. (And I *mean* write-access!)
Even more amusingly, the user information is stored in an Access
database file. Why the hell that table isn't in the Oracle DB is beyond
me. Every now and then the Access DB would get "corrupted", and I'd have
to try to fix it. (Usually by just restoring it from backup.)
Presumably the reason for this stupidity is that the VB app works with
Oracle *and* SQL Server, which presumably have utterly different
security systems... Even so, really dumb design!
>> What else is there?
>
> Troubleshooting if it breaks comes to mind.
Well, yeah, there is that.
The documentation doesn't actually *explain* how half of this stuff
works, and the company that makes it got bought half way through our
using it, so...
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Invisible wrote:
> Presumably the reason for this stupidity is that the VB app works with
> Oracle *and* SQL Server, which presumably have utterly different
> security systems... Even so, really dumb design!
Not necessarily. A really dumb design if you have more than one application
accessing the database, tho.
--
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
Forget "focus follows mouse." When do
I get "focus follows gaze"?
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>> Presumably the reason for this stupidity is that the VB app works with
>> Oracle *and* SQL Server, which presumably have utterly different
>> security systems... Even so, really dumb design!
>
> Not necessarily. A really dumb design if you have more than one
> application accessing the database, tho.
What, and giving every user on the network complete access to the DB
isn't a bad idea? ;-)
Seriously, anybody with the smarts to open up the Access DB and read the
username and password out of the table there would then know how to
access the Oracle DB.
Actually, wait - yes, I remember now! That was the most retarded part...
The Access DB contains "linked tables", which actually reside in the
Oracle DB. In other words, the Access DB makes Oracle look like an
Access DB. (I'm guessing VB probably has a native JET API or something.)
So all it would take is for some random user to stumble upon the right
folder and go "what's this?" and open up the Access DB, and they now
have write access to all of our regulated, audited data.
So that statement about "data is kept under strict access controls" is
actually balony. ;-)
--
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*
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Orchid XP v8 wrote:
> What, and giving every user on the network complete access to the DB
> isn't a bad idea? ;-)
OK, storing the password in a *desktop* application is a dumb idea. It's not
quite so dumb when you're talking about a web app where people don't have
the database's password stored locally.
--
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
Forget "focus follows mouse." When do
I get "focus follows gaze"?
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>> What, and giving every user on the network complete access to the DB
>> isn't a bad idea? ;-)
>
> OK, storing the password in a *desktop* application is a dumb idea. It's
> not quite so dumb when you're talking about a web app where people don't
> have the database's password stored locally.
Sure. If it's a web app, you can put the DB server and the web server
right next to each other and firewall the hell out of it. But giving the
desktop users the password - in a highly regulated safety-relevant
system? Not smart.
Of course, I didn't make a point of telling the auditors about this...
--
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*
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>> Page #2 is important and if I were you. This is where I would add your
>> knowledge of programming languages. Including PovRay SDL, you never know
>> ;)
>
> I agree, that's a great place to add more detail on programming languages
> and other hobbies (like maths, crypto, compression, etc).
How do you suggest doing this? List programming as a hobby? Add another
section heading? I'm not sure what's the best way to do this.
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On Mon, 18 Jan 2010 12:20:39 +0000, Invisible wrote:
>>> Page #2 is important and if I were you. This is where I would add your
>>> knowledge of programming languages. Including PovRay SDL, you never
>>> know ;)
>>
>> I agree, that's a great place to add more detail on programming
>> languages and other hobbies (like maths, crypto, compression, etc).
>
> How do you suggest doing this? List programming as a hobby? Add another
> section heading? I'm not sure what's the best way to do this.
I'd list it as a hobby or under a new heading called something like
"related skills".
Jim
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>> How do you suggest doing this? List programming as a hobby? Add another
>> section heading? I'm not sure what's the best way to do this.
>
> I'd list it as a hobby or under a new heading called something like
> "related skills".
Yes, I have a "Skills" section on my CV, with four points (mostly related to
engineering and project management), but the last point is computing, which
includes the obvious MS Office skills, and then I list a few programming
languages and APIs that I am fluent with. It's not the main point of any
job I am applying for, but I've found it's useful to have in a lot of
situations.
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Well, not much new to see here...
I'm thinking I should make the education section a whole heap smaller.
Most of the stuff in there is no longer relevant, given my new target area.
Other than that... at some point I need to stop tweaking and actually
*do* something with this CV. It's not exactly going to get me hired just
sitting here on my harddrive. :-/
--
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*
Post a reply to this message
Attachments:
Download 'cv-v09-sysadmin-partial.pdf' (42 KB)
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Looking good.
I still would remove the use of "Etc." - for example, in your list of
programming languages.
I've another friend who's applying for a job; one thing in his CV that
might be useful to add to yours is a "Career Focus" or "Objective"
section at the top.
This is something that would vary depending on the job you were applying
for - in my friend's case, he lists his career focus as "Transferring
ideas into software into sales", and then describes his experience.
He's older than I am and has more experience in his field, so it's pretty
impressive. It's basically a summary of his skills that relate to his
objective (ie, the job he wants).
In general, using active verbs instead of passive verbs is good - and
you've done well with this.
I would remove "(see next point)" from the second bullet under your
current job responsibilities; they're going to do that naturally. :-)
I might also be inclined to remove "Previously this work was done by an
external contractor." - that's not really relevant to your responsibility
for the database. I probably wouldn't even say "Took over management of"
but just "Responsible for managing". But that's a minor tweak.
Jim
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> I'm thinking I should make the education section a whole heap smaller.
No it seems ok for me, I mean if you were to make it any smaller it would
just be one line saying the name of the course, which IMO is too little for
someone with under 10 years work experience. It's only 4 lines, leave it
in, I would find it weird if someone applied here and gave a CV with only
"XXX University - Engineering", unless it was like 20 years ago they did it.
> Other than that... at some point I need to stop tweaking and actually
> *do* something with this CV. It's not exactly going to get me hired just
> sitting here on my harddrive. :-/
Hehe yeh, it looks good. I agree with the points Jim made about the little
words to tidy up. Otherwise you look set to go - good luck!
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> Well, not much new to see here...
BTW your pdf always seems to open on page 2 here...
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On 27-1-2010 20:21, Orchid XP v8 wrote:
> Well, not much new to see here...
>
> I'm thinking I should make the education section a whole heap smaller.
> Most of the stuff in there is no longer relevant, given my new target area.
>
> Other than that... at some point I need to stop tweaking and actually
> *do* something with this CV. It's not exactly going to get me hired just
> sitting here on my harddrive. :-/
A related question: do you read your hotmail?
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andrel wrote:
> A related question: do you read your hotmail?
Yes, but only when I'm at home. I've been kinda busy the last day or
so... (Improbable as that sounds.)
--
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*
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On 14-2-2010 14:19, Orchid XP v8 wrote:
> andrel wrote:
>
>> A related question: do you read your hotmail?
>
> Yes, but only when I'm at home. I've been kinda busy the last day or
> so... (Improbable as that sounds.)
Only if that being busy was with women.
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>>> A related question: do you read your hotmail?
>>
>> Yes, but only when I'm at home. I've been kinda busy the last day or
>> so... (Improbable as that sounds.)
>
> Only if that being busy was with women.
Well, I _did_ spend Saturday night at the Valentine's Ball. ;-)
...by myself, obviously...
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