Humility and a decided lack of ego. It is one thing to be confident with your skills, however, most of the best Oracle people I know are also the most humble. Case in point is Mike Ault. I have known of his work, books and appreciation for all things Oracle for many years. I met him in person about two years ago at RMOUG training days in Denver and again at IOUG Collagorate 09 in Orlando. Instead of regaling me with Oracle knowledge, we talked of diving, kids and tiramisu. Why is this so important? Because while you can learn sitting at the feet of a guru, you can also learn something new from even the lowest, newest and greenest of people if you are open to it.  I have also known engineers who believe the world should revolve around them, and you know what? They are usually constantly involved in a perceived crisis that someone, anyone, else caused.

Humility will gain you the world.  There are a few Oracle bigwigs out there that set up shop at a conference and look more like  PT Barnum than a credible source all in the name of hawking their books, services or advice.  (Those that know me know of whom I speak!)  Getting a perspective from others with different talents than you and lesser as well as greater talents than you.  Listen to your colleagues and don’t rush to judgment on ideas just because they are from a newbie, you never know where that spark will come from that will solve a problem now in the future.

Integrity – be honest in all you do, it is easier than trying to remember what you lied about!  There is not a whole lot is new under the sun, ideas/scripts/processes are products of hashing and rehashing old ideas with new to create something that fits your needs.  My favorite ASM scripts are based on Jeff Hunters scripts, he certainly writes better formatted SQL than I do and the scripts I based my ASM scripts on are very useful for me.  Often plagiarism goes under the guise of “code reuse”,  that is fine, but give credit where credit is due.

I have solved many problems for customers over the years, but try to never leave them without an understanding of what went on, how it was resolved and how it was fixed if at all possible and time permits.   This is vital to to your client relationship and your own sense of self worth.  There are times where a root cause analysis does not bare anything out, and you have to explain to a client or manager that the cause may be found, but it may be cost and time prohibitive.  Be honest in all things you do, covering something up almost always involves digging your own grave.  Having been on more than one forensic analysis teams, I have seen first hand what happens when someone either maliciously damages a system or damages it accidentally, and then tries to cover it up.   It rarely works and the damage to your reputation can be permanent.

Imagination – Above intelligence? You bet. The ability to think outside the box is critical, much of that comes from experience.  I am not a huge Star Trek fan, but I remember a scene from The Wrath of Khan when the crew was trying to force their enemy’s shields down and Kirk said “You have to know why things work.”  That is an excellent point, so many things can affect an Oracle instance, database, cluster, etc.  It is often like the large mixing boards that music producers use in a studio.  If you move one slide up 12 others may move down.  It partially comes back to #4, that if you amass knowledge in many different areas, they will mix in such a way that your imagination can find soluti0ns to which there is no (apparent) logic.

Intelligence – This had to be in the list right? Not number one, however. There is a difference in “book learnin’” and intelligence.  Intelligence is more the process of solving a problem to the point of resolution.  It can be coupled directly with wisdom.   A DBA must have the ability to go from point A to B to C to solve a problem.  With experience, that process may go from A to D to Z because of an intuition born of experience even if you have not seen a similar problem before.

Where do you get this intelligence?  As noted above, time, in the guise of experience, is  a large part.  Absorbing information my multiple sources is the majority of the rest.  Oracle is the type of software that you learn by doing, not reading.  Don’t just troll OTN forums and blogs, participate!  Get a dialog going, you would be amazed at what you can learn from people in similar and dis-similar circumstances.    If you are a RAC person join the RAC SIG (www.oracleracsig.org).   Most importantly, however, is learn about more than just your area of expertise, by getting outside your comfort zone.  While I am a specialist at RAC, I try to be a generalist in as many IT engineering areas as I can.  For example, don’t just subscribe to Oracle Magazine or Select Journal, get Network World or Storage.  You may not understand all the topics and concepts, but with time you will absorb them and when the time  comes to make an architecture, support, design or down-time decision, you might find that some important data from outside your comfort zone has helped to make a better informed decision.

I am on site at IOUG Collaborate ‘09 this week in sunny Orlando, Florida.  I will be speaking as part of a customer panel on RAC on Virtual Machines at 4:30 Wednesday.  Had a great converstaion on Oracle RAC and streams with Arup Nanda and talked with Mike Ault already, and I am looking forward to the conferences and chatting with many of my friends I have made over the years.