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Ask HN: How can my mom downshift as a SQL developer?

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Re: Ask HN: How can my mom downshift as a SQL developer?

#31

Post by seneca »

beefield wrote: post #11
seneca wrote: post #8

You need to look objectively at her skill set and desires. She has a legacy skillset on an unpopular technology, and doesn't want to grow away from it. That's fine, but it's not very marketable. Ask yourself, who would find enough value in this skillset and constraints to pay for it? That's who you need to target. My guess: It's going to be largely non-tech and traditional companies, probably. You're looking for bank…

Legacy? Unpopular? Can you elaborate a bit more. To my understanding all the rumors of SQL dying have been a bit premature so far.

Sorry, I was unclear. I mean Oracle specifically.

Re: Ask HN: How can my mom downshift as a SQL developer?

#32

Post by pmarreck »

She already was comfy. I'm 51 and I've never actually even heard of a job where you ONLY had to know a specific dialect of SQL. Also, you would think that mere intellectual curiosity would have taken her at least somewhat "abroad" in the knowledge sense, but I see no evidence of that, which means she was basically a corporate mercenary for 20 years who phoned it in. (Note: I've mostly worked for startups, so my standards and expectations about "job interestingness" and "job expectations" and "necessary intrinsic motivation" are possibly entirely different.)

She needs to find a giant corporation where she can live out her pre-retirement days in Storage Room B, only writing very specific SQL queries for Oracle, IMHO.

Data migration is not that hard, so the fact that she's balking at even step 1 says a lot to me.

Re: Ask HN: How can my mom downshift as a SQL developer?

#33

Post by JoeMayoBot »

Maybe reach out to a recruiter or two that might be able to find something. She seems to have a good idea of what she wants, which would be helpful. She might want to avoid the larger firms or ones that are out of country because they're mostly interested in numbers. Smaller local firms and individuals often care about meeting people and finding a good fit.

Re: Ask HN: How can my mom downshift as a SQL developer?

#34

Post by wheaties »

Hedge fund, data analysis/BI, any marketing department of any DTC company (soap, food, etc.) or any research group located in and/or around DC. Tons upon tons of jobs are basically SQL.

For those that don't know, you can ingest damn near any file format with columnar data via SQL. You don't have to write some Python script (although it helps.)

Re: Ask HN: How can my mom downshift as a SQL developer?

#35

Post by 0xcg »

My first job was with an older woman who was very experienced and had converted to a SSRS (MSSQL Reports) report writer a few years prior. This took her out of the daily operations, but she still used her skillsets and was a great person to learn from. Being a Maybe something like this, but for Oracle? Good luck!

Re: Ask HN: How can my mom downshift as a SQL developer?

#36

Post by phnofive »

pmarreck wrote: post #32

She already was comfy. I'm 51 and I've never actually even heard of a job where you ONLY had to know a specific dialect of SQL. Also, you would think that mere intellectual curiosity would have taken her at least somewhat "abroad" in the knowledge sense, but I see no evidence of that, which means she was basically a corporate mercenary for 20 years who phoned it in. (Note: I've mostly worked for startups, so my stand…

> She needs to find a giant corporation where she can live out her pre-retirement days in Storage Room B, only writing very specific SQL queries for Oracle, IMHO.

Cool, how should she get started?

Re: Ask HN: How can my mom downshift as a SQL developer?

#37

Post by jmye »

chaostheory wrote: post #26
foota wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Funny enough, my time in university tech as a student said the same thing. I was going to say either that or state/federal. Hello Banner my old friend to the tune of The Sound of Silence

State and federal tend to use MS SQL, but I guess some federal agencies have the budget for oracle

The difference would be irrelevant, based on OP’s description. She ought to be able to plug into literally any SQL dialect if she’s doing junior/mid-level analyst work.

Re: Ask HN: How can my mom downshift as a SQL developer?

#38

Post by sidlls »

lopatin wrote: post #18
wendyshu wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the reference is to Oracle, not SQL in general

I should clarify that she would be able to pick up MySQL or Postgres without too much trouble.

That really depends on how much weight the "oracle" part of her experience has. Oracle has tons upon tons of customized tools, language add-ons/plugins, and quirks. The SQL part of Oracle might translate (more or less) to Postgres easily, but these other things are unlikely to.

Re: Ask HN: How can my mom downshift as a SQL developer?

#39

Post by spencerchubb »

jsyang00 wrote: post #9

def non-tech, search specifically for positions with "Oracle SQL" in title if possible

agreed. talk to huge companies whose main business is not directly technical. they still hire for a lot of tech jobs with good pay and low stress

go down the list of fortune 50 companies, the super old dinosaur companies. they have the wisdom to know how to treat employees, and they have the money to pay employees

Re: Ask HN: How can my mom downshift as a SQL developer?

#40

Post by svnt »

pmarreck wrote: post #32

She already was comfy. I'm 51 and I've never actually even heard of a job where you ONLY had to know a specific dialect of SQL. Also, you would think that mere intellectual curiosity would have taken her at least somewhat "abroad" in the knowledge sense, but I see no evidence of that, which means she was basically a corporate mercenary for 20 years who phoned it in. (Note: I've mostly worked for startups, so my stand…

I went back and re-read but I still can’t find where the poster said “judge my mom’s career.”
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