Last weekend I was surprised to see someone’s comment on the Oracle BI Forum on OTN. The fact that someone posted the question in the first place had surprised me already. But the response to one of the top contributors of this forum is definitely a sign of disrespect. On top top of that, it was his / her first post and he / she did it anonymously.
Asking for interview questions is, in my opinion, not what an Oracle Discussion Forum is all about. As you can see in the thread , I am not te only one who’s at least surprised about the question. I think it is a sign of lazyness. Don’t get me wrong, I love being lazy. Just laying laying on the couch and watching a Blue-Ray movie is one of my favourite pastimes. The difference is that I don’t ask anyone money for that
It’s true what Christian B. states in his comment; “If you want to learn interview questions by heart just to win a position…that’s not the way to go. Basically you’re cheating both your client and yourself.”. Your employer or your client wants to pay you because you have a certain level of knowledge and not because you can remember the answer to a few questions.
Also the contribution of Christian T. is very valuable; “I could also add to all the above that instead of posting a question, why don’t you try to answer 30 or so unanswered forum questions and take them as your interview training. If you know the answer you will be helping someone else. If you don’t know the answer you can research the subject and be better prepared for your interview. There is no cheat sheet for learning OBIEE, it’s a hard and slow process.”
Last but not least Alistair’s suggestion to just Fuckin’ Google It isn’t so bad after all.
Since Oracle aquired Siebel and I got in contact with Siebel Analytics, I have spend a lot of time exchanging knowledge. Still I am using the internet; Google, My Oracle Support and the OTN Forums on a daily basis.
If I go back to the list of top contributors on the Oracle Forum I can tell for a fact, that it takes a lot of time to answer questions. The number 10 the rank has at least answered around 130 questions (10 points for a correct answer). He probably has answered lots more
Answering questions force you to think about what you are writing down, because you have to make your point in a few words.
It’s easy to just ask, but why not doing some research yourself. Why does someone else has to do the ‘dirty’ work.
That’s also one of te good things about the OBIEE Enterprise Methodology Group. This is not a ‘How To’-forum, but a place to exchange knowledge about architecture and design; The ‘big picture’ .
The succes of a forum is determined by the willingness to share ones knowledge. Do not keep all the knowledge to yourself. It is a matter of give and take. If you are willing to share your knowledge, then it’s easier to ask for help. An easy thank you or in the case of the Oracle BI Forums; awarding points, keeps the spirit high enough to answer questions.
Amen
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