A lot of good news this week about jobs here in the United States and a bunch of new hires for the month of April has many people feeling much better about the US economy. After being hammered with depressing reports for the past two years, it’s very nice to see the pendulum swing in the other direction.
Quest has hired a couple hundred people in the past few months. This is kind of a big deal, as our company employs only about 3400 souls worldwide. And, we have many more openings waiting to be filled. My colleagues on the North American Commercial team (I work in the Public Sector today) are now looking for a new ‘Toad SC’. I can say without qualification or hesitation, that this is one of the best jobs in the entire company!
When asked why someone should bother learning Toad, I sometimes bring up job security. It’s amazing to me how many people list ‘Toad’ as a core or critical skill or experience area when posting job ads. I’ve even seen it listed BEFORE Oracle or the database piece. It surely doesn’t hurt to know a bit about it. Even if you have no experience with it today, you could download a trial or a freeware copy and have a few weeks of experience to talk about before applying for a job. Remember, generally no candidate fills EVERY need listed in a job posting. So if you can show drive and the ability to self-learn, then you will be a much more attractive candidate.
My Toad Job
Before I came to Quest, I used a freeware copy of Toad to work with Oracle. I didn’t get to use it as much as I would have liked. But it was enough to get my foot in the door for an interview. They liked that I had strong support skills and was willing to get my hands dirty with the database. From there, I was able to use my expertise with Toad to leverage new opportunities in Product Management/Marketing and PreSales. While I might not be able to say my career going forward will always have some component of Toad present, I can at least guarantee my last 10 years of working with the tool and the database will not have been in vain.
Want to be a Toadie Too?
If you think you might be a strong candidate, feel free to send me your resume off-line at [email protected]. I’ll be happy to review it and pass it along. I’m also always happy to review resumes in general. If you are looking to apply for a job in the Oracle domain, let me know! Lots of people are looking 🙂
