As an ETL developer, I cut my teeth on Microsoft Data Transformation Services (DTS) in 1999. This experience led to engagements in Cognos DecisionStream, and later Microsoft SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS), Cognos Data Manager and more recently IBM InfoSphere DataStage. I also have experience in Oracle SQL Loader and Unix scripting for data loading purposes. In all, I have been working in ETL for more than 12 years.

But never mind all that. When it comes to contract opportunities, tools rule.

If truck drivers were hired the way ETL developers are, they would have ads like this:

Wanted: Truck Driver – must have 5 years experience driving a Ford

Most ads read X number of years in Y tool, usually at least 2 to 5 years. When you are new to a tool, even with a decade of experience in others, you can be dropped from consideration. This approach is very limiting, both to me as a contractor and to clients who are hiring. Their pool of applicants is limited, and they eliminate an excellent resource like me!

Being a self-taught computer techie in Delphi, VB.Net, Crystal Reports, Gupta databases and to a certain extent SQL Server itself (I am formally trained in Cognos and Oracle), I am capable of ramping up on new products and technologies and delivering professional-grade, quality results in a short amount of time. But I often find myself pigeon-holed into a small group of tools, and recent experience in new products is often heavily discounted if not written off completely.

ETL development itself is very conceptual. It is more than the tool, the database, or even how the tool and database work together. I recently reduced the runtime of an ETL process by 80% by using database techniques that were completely unrelated to the ETL tool in question. This technique could have worked with almost any database or ETL tool. As such ETL solutions are not as tool driven as managers or procurement might have you believe.

This is not to say that ETL tools do not have differences, sometimes even major ones. But at the end of the day, like a truck, they get your data from point A to point B. And just like any quality, experienced truck driver, ETL developers should be able to change their vehicle of choice and drive it home.