Steve Miranda wants to hire smart people to work with him at Oracle Corp.
Obvious, right? But Miranda’s explanation of what he means by that is one of several insights into how Oracle will aim to staff its $1.2 billion waterfront tech campus coming to Nashville, which could have 8,500 jobs or more within a decade.
Miranda, speaking downtown at the annual meeting of the Greater Nashville Technology Council, opened a window into Oracle’s recruiting strategy while revealing that software coding skills aren’t necessarily his most-desired characteristic of a successful hire or employee.
“There’s this perception of, ‘We need to learn about databases and learn about Java and things that Oracle traditionally uses.’ Not from my perspective, actually. I just want smart people, because at the rate of change that we see in technology … a given skill set, in our world, doesn’t last very long,” said Miranda, executive vice president of Oracle Applications product development and a direct report to co-founder Larry Ellison.
“You can teach them something right now, some programming language, and in three years or four years — in a short period of time — it’s probably going to be obsolete,” Miranda said. “We’re looking for more people who are quick to adapt … willing to learn new things and willing to adapt and willing to change quickly.”
When asked about his advice for people looking to make a career change and get into technology, Miranda replied: “I wouldn’t feel that intimidated. You’ve got to know that for everybody in the industry, most of the things we’re working on are kind of new — so you’re not that far off.”
Recruiting, early and often
The area’s college campuses will be fertile ground for Oracle’s recruiters. Miranda said the company already is pursuing partnerships with Tennessee State University and Vanderbilt University, among others.
Oracle won’t wait until students are upperclassmen. Oracle prefers to offer summer internships following a student’s freshman year or their sophomore year. At the end of that first summer, Oracle likes to offer for an internship in the following summer on the spot.
“As they come into their senior year, if they like us and we like them, we’re issuing full-time job offers for the subsequent year, before they graduate,” Miranda said. “The reason we’re doing that is, again, there’s this battle for talent. It’s a good way for us to find talent early.”
The jobs available at Oracle’s Nashville campus will represent the spread of opportunities within the company, Miranda said, from software developers and sales to human resources and finance. Internally, employees are able to shift from consulting to development to sales.
The pandemic-induced shift to remote work likely will enhance the variety of jobs available in Nashville.
“Now, there are no limits to what job can be done in what area, and I think the last 18 months have shown us all that,” Miranda said. “The opportunities are broad. … Oracle’s a big place.”
Oracle also will be importing people to Nashville to take some of its jobs, whether they’re new recruits or existing employees wanting to transfer. Miranda said he’s seen entire teams decide to move to Oracle’s Austin campus, now designated as its corporate headquarters, for work-life balance or because it puts them closer to family.
“We’ve already gotten demand from existing staff: ‘When is the [Nashville] building going to open and when can we move?’ ” he said.
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