As Published In July/August 2003

Paperless Trails

By Blair Campbell

DBAs on their efforts to collect taxes, trace airbags, and track offenders

Dan Stanley

Peer Specs Company: ASIX, an IT-consulting and software-development firm Job Title/Description: Senior Oracle database administrator (DBA), responsible for conversion from Informix to Oracle of business-intelligence objects in ASIX's Ascend property-tax system Location: Bellevue, Washington Oracle Credentials: Oracle-certified DBA (Oracle8i PL/SQL), with five years of experience using Oracle products

How did you get started in IT? I had a job that required the use of a legacy system that everyone complained about but would do nothing to fix. I had basic programming skills from some courses I took in college, so I bought a few books, did a little research, and spent six months designing and coding a new system in my spare time. Management recognized the benefits of the new design and sent the project into production. In your role, you focus on your company's property-tax application.

How does that application work? Ascend is a property-assessment, tax-billing, and tax-collection system that we market to county governments. It's a substantial application, with more than 250 database tables. The client code is compiled C++, and our database is Oracle9i. At the core of Ascend is a GAAP [Generally Accepted Accounting Principles]—compliant, double-entry accounting system that makes our product unique.

What advice do you have about getting into Web and database development? Find a skill area that you obsess about, and you'll inevitably be very successful at it.

Sandra Harris

Peer Specs Company: TRW Automotive, a manufacturer of automotive safety systems Job Title/Description: DBA/project lead Location: Queen Creek, Arizona Oracle Credentials: Oracle-certified DBA (Oracle8i, Oracle9i) with seven years of experience using Oracle products

Tell us about your work in the occupant-safety-systems division of TRW Automotive. We are required by law to maintain 15 years of traceability on the airbags and airbag components we produce. My main focus for the past couple of years has been the design and implementation of data warehouses to store product-traceability data.

You earned your Oracle9i certification in December 2002. How did you prepare for the exam? I found that Oracle University Online Learning (OLN) classes were a significant factor in being prepared. I had purchased one of the non-Oracle book sets early on and found that it was only about 50 percent representative of what was covered in the tests. The OLN online courses were closer to 85 to 90 percent.

What's your favorite pastime outside of work? I learned how to ride a motorcycle after years of watching Dad and my brothers and wishing I could ride. My daughter and I have plans to own our own bikes someday and take cross-country trips.

Ranko Mosic

Peer Specs Company: Self-employed; on contract with the technical-architecture group of Ontario, Canada's Ministry of the Attorney General Job Title/Description: Senior Oracle DBA consultant, responsible for prototyping and testing new products, releases, and upgrades Location: Toronto, Canada Oracle Credentials: Oracle-certified DBA (Oracle9i) with 13 years of experience using Oracle products

How is the work you're doing for Ontario's Ministry of the Attorney General aiding the region's criminal-justice system? My group does a technical assessment of any new initiative; it could be a new software product, an upgrade, or a new technology. One of our best achievements is OTIS—the Offender Tracking Information System—which is second to none in North America. My job is to make sure that every new release of OTIS is fully functional, tested, benchmarked, and proven. Suggestions for system modifications are also filtered, approved, or rejected by my group.

What's your favorite tool or technique on the job? SQL*Plus, querying Oracle Dictionary, and UNIX shell scripting. Add a little bit of C, and the sky's the limit.

How has the internet changed your professional life? It helped me expand my market reach. I've gotten contracts in California, Virginia, and Iowa via the internet—all from my home base in Toronto.