Technology - The Greatest Equalizer

My first biggest lesson from my first job. **"Technology is the greatest equalizer"**. It doesn't take long for an expert to become a novice and a novice to become an expert. We need to stay busy, stay hungry, keep on learning new things and constantly upgrading ourselves.

I started my career as a PLSQL/ ETL developer within the Information Management Center of Excellence at GE Consumer & Industrial - India Business Center in Hyderabad, India in Aug 2003.

Being the "New" boy, I was assigned as an apprentice to existing team members, whom I used to refer as "Gods of PLSQL".

These team members were 40 - 45 yrs old, could write perfect code with their eyes closed, which would always compile without any errors or warnings.

I did find myself struggling and keeping pace with the plsql guru's. I remember, I was asked to create a plsql program which used a parameterized cursor function call, which I huffed and puffed and finally gave up on.

Then something magical happened. GE underwent restructuring in early 2004 and integrated GE Appliances. This integration also bought with it "Informatica" which now became the defacto ETL standard.

I got on to a major project with GE Supply to transition their existing EDW from Patni Systems to GE - IBC and perform a complete code re-write in Informatica.

Built up strong expertise in Informatica and by the end of 2004 the tables had turned. The "PLSQL" gods were Informatica mortals and the "PLSQL" mortal was now a "Informatica" God.

This taught me my first big big lesson very early in my career. "Technology is the greatest Equalizer".

Change is inevitable and those who submit and mould themselves with the change end up riding the wave, while those who resist find themselves drowning.

While the incident happened a decade ago, it remains all the more relevant given the pace at which technology is changing.