One of the best ways to advance in your field is to help others advance in your field. It's a surprising truth brought home to me again just now while working with Darl Kuhn and Tom Kyte on an upcoming article for the IOUG SELECT Journal.
The year is 1979. It's summer before my senior year in high-school, and my mother has gone out of her way to arrange a college course for me in COBOL programming. (Bless you mom, for doing that). I’m at Henry Ford Community College. My instructor is John Rostek. Three classmates are also high-school students, and the rest are adults looking for better jobs and career changes. It’s an evening course.
John Kaitschuck – I still remember his name – is the youngest of us high-school students. He plans to become a doctor. Curious, I ask why, and his answer slams into me like a ton of bricks: