A Linchpin's Journey

Looking back, perhaps one of the most memorable experiences of becoming a polymath was when I started playing the guitar. I grew up learning music. At 10 years old, I took piano lessons. I learned how to read music sheets, the notes, the scales, the time signatures, and all that. But playing the piano wasn't something I looked for. It was something my parents had me do. While learning the piano was somewhat forced upon me, I'm actually grateful that I actually went through with piano lessons. Music exercises the brain (maybe through one's reading notes and timing, and activation through harmonic vibrations and frequencies), soothes, regulates breathing, and improves hand-eye coordination. You can say it makes one smarter. But moreover, lessons helped me appreciate and even gain interest in learning other instruments, particularly the guitar. I told my parents I was interested in playing the guitar, so they signed me up for lessons at Yamaha. Being my 13 year old self, I was...

It's been a while since I've posted anything. I have to admit, I may have gotten preoccupied with other things in the past year. As much as I'd like to blame changes in my routine since I stopped working from home -- I now go to the gym every weekday morning, plus travel time to and from the office, I acknowledge that it's only myself that's stopping me from providing insights into sharing my ideas to becoming a linchpin. One word that's been on my mind lately is the word Polymath . So why has this word been crossing my mind lately? Perhaps it's because I'd like to consider myself one, maybe it's because I'm interested in so many things. Or at the very least, gain the advantages a polymath has. The advantages? You can gain a whole new range of skills. You are able to produce new output you wouldn't think possible. You learn lateral thinking: taking something from one subject, then applying it to another. You get to meet people and see new per...

This is a concept I fabricated. Sometimes users would ask me to create a saved search and have a filter for a checkbox. That seems simple enough. NetSuite does allow users to filter based on the checkbox status - either unticked or ticked. But users would sometimes request to be able to filter ticked, unticked, or both in the results. As a workaround, I recommended to use a formula (text) as an available filter, where users can type t , f , or all . The criteria filter would be a formula (text), returning tall or fall (true or false respectively). It worked I guess. When doing this however, I recommend not adding other formula (text) filters in the criteria. Doing so will apply AND logic, and can mess up search results.

I am deeply saddened by the news about the recent layoffs happening in Oracle worldwide. I know what it feels like to unexpectedly lose a job. I even know the heartbreak of giving your all just to get fired, and even unpaid, after all your effort. I know the shame and disrespect of an angry boss (after my Oracle experience) that extorts you for their self-interest. In fact, I myself was fired from my previous employment. I held back from sharing this because I feared sharing this wouldn't inspire people to become linchpins if they'd get fired anyway. But I have come to realize why this story may be worth sharing. I left Oracle early this year as I would be taking up a NetSuite Admin role for a NetSuite partner. The company would be setting up operations in the Philippines, and the owner and CEO of the partner company saw my application. He proceeded to interview me and said he was very impressed with my profile. He told me that it was not easy to impress him. I thought to mys...

If you've read my previous posts, you may be aware that I've been complaining about the low salary I've been getting in Oracle. It's just really enough for our family. But it definitely is not going to be enough in case of emergencies or sudden expenses, like a car battery replacement, a rise in amortization costs, or  inflation. As much as I have loved my experience in Oracle, the recognitions, achievements, and of course, the people, I have other goals in life. There's more to it than just work. Financial goals, in particular, are what I needed to work on. And ultimately, the decision to leave Oracle seemed to be for the best. I've recently finished reading The Dip , by Seth Godin. I knew it would be a source of comfort as I enter this liminal space of unemployment. The book reaffirmed that my decision to leave was the right one, and that I had been in a cul-de-sac in Oracle all along. Oracle was truly a happy place. There was a lot of space to grow, but only ...

REGEXP_COUNT is quite interesting, especially when you combine it with NS_CONCAT. Doing so will allow you to count the number of elements in the NS_CONCAT results, allowing for further flexibility to your searches. Further, you can perform mathematical operations between multiple REGEXP_COUNT expressions. You'd normally think to create a calculated measure in the Analytics Workbook in order to perform this, but it appears there are times when a saved search is all you need. Here's an example: Say you want the search to show each sales rep, and the number of customers they have that are from referrals (marked via referral checkbox in the customer record). Sales orders, and phone calls have the same checkbox, and you want to count these too. To add, you have another checkbox, that indicates if an upsell was offered. The checkbox appears in sales order, call, and task records. Then you'd also want to count each instance the checkbox is marked. Using NS_CONCAT(DISTINCT) will re...

"Coming up" could mean a foreshadowing of events, such as telling you right now that I have been really busy these past few months. "Coming up" could also literally mean an escalation of a phase in life, to which I'm also foreshadowing. So I haven't posted in a while. I've been busy. November through March had been really tough months for our team, especially since there were a lot of code changes that would impact specifically the product area I handled. There were also slow days, where I got to take more time to myself, not really trying to be a linchpin. I didn't help out others as much during those times, as it was not my responsibility, after all. Though I could have, and that would have made a difference. Sometimes I guess you just need some time to breathe. I guess these were also the thoughts of the technical lead, who resigned and left the company on January 1. This was troublesome for the team, as now several people would have to chip in ...