I am what my Oracle coworkers call a “boomerang.” This is a term I first heard when I was hired just out of college, and it describes those of us who love a company so much that we return to it after leaving for a time. But before I tell you why I became a boomerang, let me tell you how I joined Oracle in the first place.
As many young college graduates come to find out, their chosen field of study may not be as practical as they had initially hoped. During my final year of school, it was apparent I needed to choose a career outside my major. I had watched my father build a long and prosperous career in technology as an employee at Oracle himself. And considering how far technology had evolved during my lifetime, a career in tech was worth considering. But where to start? The answer was Oracle, of course — the brand that I grew up with. First, however, I would have to find a way in.
While I was a student at Ohio State University, I had the good fortune to meet a recruiter from the Oracle Class Of program. Class Of offers new graduates a solid foundation in business practices, to prepare them for a career in Oracle sales or consulting. It was an incredible introduction to new fields and taught me some very valuable skills that I still use today. I found it to be such a great experience that I continue to recommend it to students as a way for them to learn about Oracle and get started on a highly rewarding career path.
To get started, I moved to Austin, Texas, where Oracle was building the massive downtown campus that would become its world headquarters. While the Class Of program training was very thorough and effective, I learned pretty quickly that I am not a natural-born salesperson. Still, I knew that I wanted to work in tech and that I wanted to further my knowledge. I also knew that learning more would only benefit my career, so I enrolled in a full-time program at the University of Texas to learn web development. That’s when I left Oracle.
After I completed the program, I spent some time working in information technology service management (ITSM) at another company, but I couldn’t push away the desire to go back to the place that made such a strong impression on me. I wanted to return to this company with an enduring legacy of being one of the original innovators in the tech space; this company which remains at the forefront of our industry. I wanted to return to the company that had given me my start.
So after three years away, I finally returned to Oracle — this time as a product manager in the Analytics space. And now that I’ve been back for almost two years, I couldn’t be happier! I love my team and my entire organization. It feels like we are part of a close-knit family even though we span multiple countries and time zones. We operate in a way that feels like a startup, yet we are a large company whose name is known throughout the world. It means a lot to me that my ideas are heard and acted upon, and that I have the ability to make a real difference. Ever evolving and improving, Analytics is a fast and exciting field to work in and I am so excited to be a part of it.
Working at Oracle has given me opportunities and connections that I might not have had otherwise. It’s a company that continues to challenge and reward me, and for these reasons and many more, I consider myself one very happy, grateful boomerang.
If you would like to learn more about the evolution of analytics and how the Oracle Analytics team can help you make a difference, join me at one of our regular events on Cloud Customer Connect.