Follow-Up: Oracle/OnDemand CRM: Software Development Manager

It looks like Oracle is still looking (or looking again) for a Software Development Manager for their OnDemand CRM product line.  I posted this last April, almost a year ago, and I haven’t seen it very often in the interim.  So if you do end up inquiring, I might want to find out if someone took the job and left quickly, or if, in fact, they stopped looking for a while.  Either way, there may be a story there that you want to hear.

In any case, the posting isn’t so bad, although the location’s pretty far north for  many of you.  There’s mention of Agile.  The posting has changed somewhat, the the fundamentals are still pretty similar.

Oracle: Senior Director of Enterprise Development

Oracle is looking for a Senior Director of Enterprise Development:

Oracle’s Communications Global Business Unit (CGBU) is looking for a Senior Director of Software Development for its Communications Platform organization. This position will report to the VP of Communications Platform and Technology and reside in Toronto, Canada. This position will be responsible for delivering and supporting a robust platform of architectures, software, standards and services that enable the rapid delivery of innovative, high-quality business applications for the CGBU based upon the Oracle Fusion vision and strategy. The ideal candidate will apply their leadership, knowledge, vision, experience, innovation and drive working with key stakeholders to translate critical CGBU business objectives, needs and requirements into results.

The Good
Oracle is a pretty big and successful organization, and this is a pretty senior position within Oracle.  They’re looking for you to recommend process change, manage management, manage development teams.  Oracle seems to be doing well enough on the markets, and is probably a relatively stable employer in tougher economic times.  For that matter, the sector this part of Oracle services, telecom, is another sector that seems to be weathering the crisis well enough.

The Bad
For a position this senior, there’s a lot of information missing, which means you’re going to have to start the conversation with them before you really get a sense for whether or not this is something of interest to you.  The posting on the Oracle iRecruitment site doesn’t add anything significant to the posting on Workopolis. 

What’s Missing
Although Oracle says “local candidate to the Mississauga area”, it would be nice if they made reference to a particular location.  I’m guessing that you’d be working near the 403/401 at Hurontario and Brittania.  Having some sense of the compensation would be nice.  It would be nice to understand a lot more about the Communications Global Business Unit, what they do, what products they offer.  It sounds like they offer solutions for the telecom industry (OSS, etc.) via the product lines they acquired from Portal Software and Metasolv.  It would also be good to understand a lot more about the management structure you’d be working on – what are the multiple layers of management you’d need to manage, and what are the number, size, location and composition of the teams under them?  Why is this position open, and what are the challenges and goals you’d be facing?  Some of that kind of information are things they probably don’t want to publish, but there’s a lot of room for information that they should be happy to publish.

YMMV
Your mileage may vary when it comes to working with remote and off-shore development teams.  But then, if you want to be in technology management for a big organization, I think that’s probably something you’re going to need to come to terms with anyway. 

I’m going to assume that this isn’t likely to be a role that’s very hands-on with technology.  But I’m assuming that if you’re interested in being a Senior Director of Enterprise Development for Oracle, you’re ok with that.

In Summary
If you’ve got experience with management in a technology organization and you’re in the Mississauga area, this could be an interesting opportunity to pursue.  It’s probably best if you have telecom experience and/or good experience with Oracle’s product line.

Oracle/OnDemand CRM: Software Development Manager

Oracle is looking for a software development manager to work with their OnDemand CRM team:

We are looking for an experienced, energetic manager to lead our applications team (approximately 12 developers). This person should share our passion about creating industry changing applications that are focused on our end users.  This position will entail responsibility for end to end application development and delivery including development, QA, PSR, & Operations. This role will also require close coordination with many other groups in Oracle including Product Management, Customer Care, Legal, etc.

The Good
From the sounds of things, it’s a senior role in a good-sized team of people working on relatively modern technology to deliver large-scale products that people are interested in, that the large company that owns this team supports, using agile methods.

There’s a lot to be impressed by, in that list.

The Bad
First of all, there’s not a ton of detail.  What’s the team like, what are the projects, are people really interested in them, and does Oracle really support them.  What’s it like to work at this location, is it really a small-company feel with big-company resources, or a big-company feel with small-company resources?  What’s the compensation?

And to the specifics — there’s a reference about multiple time zones.  If you’ve got a team of twelve and you’re managing them in an agile fashion, why are time-zones a requirement?  Is this agile team of twelve spread about the globe?

YMMV
First and foremost, the location is steeles and the 404, which is well outside of Toronto, and depending where you live, either convenient, or ludicrous.  For me, it’d be the latter.

Well, although your immediate connection is with the local team, the overall company is Oracle.  For some people, that might sound just-about-perfect: the resources of the big company when you need it, and a small place to hang your hat and make a mark.  To others, that might sound like the sort of place where your office is too small to offer daycare and free meals, but there’s thirty-sheets of paperwork to fill out any time you want to shift one developer from one project to another.  One of you is likely more right than the other, but I can’t tell you which one.

Finally, Flex: it’s an interesting technology, and I expect we’re all going to see more of it, but it’s a bit of a bear to work with in automated testing, which could be a problem for an agile team.

Summary
This looks tailor-made for someone who’s uptown already (or at least mid-town) when they start their day, and is willing to work for a company that sounds like Oracle.