In today’s highly
volatile work environment, the average IT professional rarely
stays with a single employer for a long period of time. While the
recession of 2002 has created an overabundance of lower-level IT
professionals, the competition remains extremely strong for those
IT superstars whose skill and background make them indispensable.
While some IT attrition is inevitable, there are many techniques
that savvy IT managers can use to retain their top talent.
Who are the Oracle DBA
superstars, and do you have one?
While many IT shops have hundreds of technology workers, the
retention efforts are normally focused on the technical superstars
whose knowledge of the company’s systems are not easily
transferred to replacements. These Oracle DBA's typically hold a
masters degree or Ph.D. in Information Systems or computer science
from a top U.S. university and are highly trained in system
internals. In most shops, the IT superstars typically serve as
system architects, informaticists (functional pros who possess an
MS in computer science and are also trained in professional areas,
such as medicine or accounting), database administrators, or
system administrators.
The explosive growth of the IT industry has created a two-tiered
job market. The top universities often produce the IT superstars,
while lesser schools produce hundreds of thousands of IT
programmers and developers. Even in recession, large corporations
actively recruit their top talent for their mission-critical roles
from recognized graduate schools and rely on state universities
and community colleges to provide talent in IT development areas.
So how do you tell if you have an IT superstar? Answering the
following questions can help you find out.
- Does he or she possess a professional degree or
certification? If an employee has earned an MD, JD, MBA,
MSEE, or CPA degree in addition to an IT degree, that person
will be very difficult to replace in the open job market.
- Did he or she graduate from a “top” university? If
the employee graduated from a top-notch technical university
with rigorous admission standards, then he or she will command a
premium in the IT job market. These schools include most all of
the Ivy League schools, especially MIT, and also include
universities with stellar reputations in Information Systems
such as Purdue, the University of Texas, the University of
California at Los Angeles, the University of San Diego, and the
University of California at Berkeley.
- Has he or she published IT research? Many IT
superstars publish theoretical research in respected academic
journals (the Journal of the IEEE and the Journal of
Information Systems) to advance IT knowledge.
- Is he or she trained in a specialized skill? IT
professionals with specialized, difficult-to-find training are
often IT superstars. Examples of specialized skills include SAP,
Oracle Applications, and J2EE.
- Is he or she a recognized IT expert? If an employee
has published books or magazine articles or is in demand as a
conference speaker, then he or she may be an IT superstar.
- Does he or she possess irreplaceable institutional
knowledge? If the employee serves in a mission-critical IT
role such as chief architect or DBA, his or her departure may
create a vacuum in your IT department.
Retention techniques for
the Oracle DBA
While no method can guarantee employee loyalty, there are a host
of techniques used by IT management to reduce attrition among
Oracle DBA staff. These techniques include:
- Flex time. Burnout can be a real problem among the
Oracle DBA who must typically work evenings and holidays to
maintain the computer systems. Many companies offer formal
comp-time policies or institute a four-day workweek, allowing
the DBA to work four, 10-hour days per week.
- Telecommuting. Many Oracle DBA's are allowed to work
at home and only visit the office once per week for important
face-to-face meetings.
- Golden handcuffs. Since a high base salary does not
always reduce attrition, many IT managers use yearly bonuses to
retain top Oracle DBA staff. These golden handcuffs may take the form of a
Management by Objective (MBO) structure whereby the superstar
receives a substantial annual bonus for meeting management
expectations. Some companies implement golden handcuffs by
paying the employee a huge signing bonus (often up to $100,000)
and requiring the employee to return the bonus if he or she
leaves the company in less than three years.
- Office perks. Since many Oracle DBA professionals command
salaries commensurate with corporate vice presidents', they
often get private offices and company cars, and fly first class.
- Job titles. Because Oracle DBA professionals command high
salaries, many are given honorary job titles. These include
fellows titles such as the Apple fellow, whereby the corporation
grants special privileges to IT employees granted fellow status.
Other Oracle DBA superstar titles include vice president of database
administration, chief technologist, and the new job title (used
by Bill Gates), chief software architect.
- Specialized training. Reward your top Oracle DBA's by
sending them to lavish Oracle conferences and specialized Oracle training
classes. For example, Oracle Applications professionals
visit Hawaii for major conferences, and IT cruises have
become an extremely popular reward for the IT superstar. The
Geek Cruise Line
combines a technical conference with an ocean cruise, offering
hot topics in Oracle, Java, and Perl. Companies pack these
cruise ships with their IT superstars, sailing to exotic
destinations in Alaska, Hawaii, and the Mediterranean.
In sum, while the recession of 2002 has created a shakeout within
the lower ranks of IT professionals, IT managers remain committed
to retaining their top IT talent, and those IT professionals with
specialized skills are still in high demand. It is imperative that
IT managers recognize his or her IT superstars and take active
measures to retain them.
 |
|
Need an Oracle Health Check?
- Do you have
bad performance after an upgrade?
- Need to
certify that your database follows best practices?
BC Oracle performance gurus can quickly
certify every aspect of your
Oracle database and provide a complete verification that your database
is fully optimized. |
|
|
|
