The Spotlight is on David Walker Mr. Walker wrote our Oracle PL/SQL questions.

RN: Please tell us a little about yourself.

WALKER: I'm an Oracle database administrator and developer with Aon Consulting in Atlanta, GA. I am married with one son and another on the way. I love the IT field and I qualify for the classification of "total geek".

RN: What interested you in writing ReviewNet tests?

WALKER: A friend who had worked with ReviewNet told me about the company and let me know that they were looking for someone to do PL/SQL questions. Given my experience with PL/SQL, it looked like a good fit and a good way to expand my knowledge. This certainly proved to be true.

RN: Outside of working with ReviewNet, what do you feel is your biggest professional accomplishment?

WALKER: The accomplishment I'm most proud of is in the area of query tuning. Utilizing packages and strategically placed indexes, I was able to optimize a series of reports that ran for over 2 hours and have them run in less than 1 minute. Though not big technically, they appear big to clients - and by pleasing the clients, we maintain strong relationships.

RN: How do you keep up with changing technologies and the latest trends in the IT industry?

WALKER: Luckily, I have an IT manager that believes in keeping up with technology trends. However, a lot of that responsibility still rests on the shoulders of each developer. I regularly attend college and often download trials of newer products. The key is keeping yourself in the learning mindset. As long as you're willing to learn, you'll find a way to keep up.

RN:What advice would you give to someone learning your discipline? Are there significant barriers to learning about this subject?

WALKER: PL/SQL is powerful when used properly - and a burden when SQL skills are poor.

To be truly strong at PL/SQL, one should first become strong at writing SQL. I've seen many developers who could "code" in PL/SQL, but had very poor SQL skills. Ultimately, this limited their ability to exploit the strengths of PL/SQL The only significant barrier in PL/SQL is the lack of really good documentation. Most languages have multiple books sitting on the local bookstore shelf. PL/SQL has just a few, and only one or two worth considering.

RN: Please share your thoughts with us on the role that ReviewNet evaluations play in hiring IT professionals.

WALKER: One of the traits that is critical in IT is the ability to solve problems. Without this ability, serving in IT is monumentally difficult. ReviewNet questions are geared to not only test knowledge in a particular skill, they are geared to test the ability to solve a problem. ReviewNet tests help sift-out those who memorize how to do something and those who can figure out how to do something. The difference seems subtle, but is critical.