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I'm certainly an idiot when it comes to corporate politics, so someone help me out here. Would it have been stupid politically to just show actual evidence tha

I'm certainly an idiot when it comes to corporate politics, so someone help me out here. Would it have been stupid politically to just show actual evidence that what this admin was asked to do was actually quite a bit slower and less optimal than what he actually did? Perhaps up the DBA's chain?

tom_b 17y ago
This is actually a key insight - you need to actually do a little bit of experimenting when you get into software performance. Politically, you can run into weird "ownership" issues (eg, the DBA team handles system performance) and fighting the chain is soul-deadening. One of the reasons I considered actually getting one of the myriad DBA certifications is to add the heft of being able to say I had it to the PHBs when this type of thing comes up. Thankfully, I held off and I think for the most part these certifications (although valuable when paired with demonstrable applied skills in real projects) have fallen out of favor lately. Certs are a particularly strange form of resume fodder - a few years ago they were pretty key in making it past the HR gauntlet. I imagine that for some techs (I'm looking at you, Oracle) they are still a defacto requirement.
- j_baker 17y ago
  "fighting the chain is soul-deadening" ...not to mention a career-limiting move. PHBs tend to not like it when people complain to them about their bad hiring decisions.
protomyth 17y ago
"Did you get your change signed-off by the appropriate stake holders?", "Did you do a production change request?", "Does this change the last technical audit results?", "Is this a certified configuration?" - these will all get you fired. Knowing whom to blame is more import than being right.
johngalt 17y ago
Then every time there is a performance issue, however unrelated, it's because you couldn't follow orders. This story is actually a minor example of politics in play. If you're an idiot when it comes to corporate politics try and stay that way. Ignorance is bliss in this regard.

tom_b 17y ago

This is actually a key insight - you need to actually do a little bit of experimenting when you get into software performance. Politically, you can run into weird "ownership" issues (eg, the DBA team handles system performance) and fighting the chain is soul-deadening. One of the reasons I considered actually getting one of the myriad DBA certifications is to add the heft of being able to say I had it to the PHBs when this type of thing comes up. Thankfully, I held off and I think for the most part these certifications (although valuable when paired with demonstrable applied skills in real projects) have fallen out of favor lately. Certs are a particularly strange form of resume fodder - a few years ago they were pretty key in making it past the HR gauntlet. I imagine that for some techs (I'm looking at you, Oracle) they are still a defacto requirement.

j_baker 17y ago
"fighting the chain is soul-deadening" ...not to mention a career-limiting move. PHBs tend to not like it when people complain to them about their bad hiring decisions.

protomyth 17y ago

"Did you get your change signed-off by the appropriate stake holders?", "Did you do a production change request?", "Does this change the last technical audit results?", "Is this a certified configuration?" - these will all get you fired. Knowing whom to blame is more import than being right.

johngalt 17y ago

Then every time there is a performance issue, however unrelated, it's because you couldn't follow orders. This story is actually a minor example of politics in play. If you're an idiot when it comes to corporate politics try and stay that way. Ignorance is bliss in this regard.