It's a warm summer afternoon in Los Angeles as I pen this post. I happened to come across this post: How did you learn so much about Oracle? by Cary Millsap whom I met at the beginning of my career at Oracle. Cary, a Regional VP at Oracle in 1998, ed a week long consulting skills workshop which I attended
In his post, he explores the steps necessary to become an expert with the Oracle database. We can certainly extrapolate the same steps and apply them to almost any domain. Beyond Cary's post I echo my own thoughts as well:
To become a guru:
1. Persistence - There's absolutely no substitute for persistence in solving an issue and coming up with a solution. Too many people give up but those who stick on at some point enjoy the fruits of the labor.
2. Share what you learn - One of the best ways in building a network of resources you can rely on is to share with them what you've learnt and what they may find useful.
3. Immerse yourself - Whatever the subject matter is, immerse yourself in it. Books, blogs, you tube videos to get the fundamental knowledge of the subject you're focused on. Look for divergent points of view. Beyond the theoretical understanding, look for opportunities in experiential learning. Employers and companies, for example in the technology sector, no longer value academic credentials. What they seek are candidates with strong experiences, people who have encountered and solved problems that these organizations are trying to solve. Individuals who have come across challenges but have taken every possible step to finding solutions.
