I just got a very nice email from our HR dept, sure it's an automatic email but at least the computers know I'm here ;)

Congratulations Carl, on reaching your employment anniversary of 5 years of dedicated service.

The success of Oracle is a direct result of every employee striving to be the best they can be. The talent, skill, and knowledge you develop over the years allow you the opportunity to make significant contributions. In recognition of your dedicated service.........


Wow has it been 5 years? It seems like yesterday that I replied to a craigslist posting about a position at Oracle , craigslist and Oracle now there are two words you don't hear together very often, about the need for a Senior Developer in "Applications Research" that knew javascript , xml , xsl , html ,css ,sql and on and on. I need to find my copy of the posting but it was pretty cool. Considering for the previous couple of years, I have been from startup to startup and consulting for startups a nice corporate job sounded like a good idea.

So I drove down to Redwood Shores for my interview and showed some people my ( IE 5.5 only ;) PHP , MySQL , xplanet ) XMLHTTP based application that screenscraped yahoo and showed news headlines near the right place on the map, well at least on the right side of the continent.

At some point in the process Kris Rice , asked me some logic question about chasing a duck around a circular pond what was the fastest way to catch it on the other side. I remember answering back with a question , something like , "Well since I'm obviously hunting a duck do I have a gun?" , what can I say I'm results oriented.

Well over the 2 hour interview I must have said something right because on the drive back to the city I got a call back that I could start whenever I wanted to.

So here I am 5 years later, a couple group changes in , and some product releases later. It's definitely been fun , interesting and eye opening, I've worked with some of the smartest people I've ever meet on some of the funnest and most challenging projects/products I've ever messed with.

I can't wait to see what the future has in store !

13 Comments:

  1. Unknown said...
    Congratulations.

    I think this was the Question. It sure doesn't seem that long ago.

    -kris
    Carl Backstrom said...
    Well and thats why I said I wanted a gun to get that duck ;)

    Carl
    Bill Ferguson said...
    Congratulations Carl!

    Your work on Apex over the last few years (that I've noticed), is quite an accomplishment and very much appreciated.

    Bill Ferguson
    Patrick Wolf said...
    Congratulations Carl!

    > Well since I'm obviously hunting a duck do I have a gun?

    *lol*

    Patrick
    Jeff E. said...
    Congrats Carl!!!!

    --Jeff Eberhard
    Anonymous said...
    Congratulations Carl!

    Last week, I also completed 5 Year in Oracle. Reading your blog remind me old golden days in Oracle :-)

    ~ Virag
    Dimitri Gielis said...
    Congratulations Carl!

    I suppose you'll also get the "famous" 5-year Oracle pin?

    Dimitri
    Bit Bucket said...
    @Dimitri, no - no pins anymore. He'll get a pencil (without USB).
    Anonymous said...
    Congrats Carl, all your hard work is *definitely* appreciated.

    John
    Anonymous said...
    Congratulations!

    May I suggest that for your 5-years-at-Oracle gift you select a bronzed duck?
    Anonymous said...
    Congratulations Carl!
    Byte64 said...
    Carl,
    i can hardly believe it's 25 years without ever being an Oracle employee!

    I think i'll celebrate this anniversary and buy myself an iMac.

    :-DDD

    Hope to meet up at OOW
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