May 1, 2025
00;00;00;00 - 00;00;35;10
Unknown
You're listening to the Oracle Maven podcast, where we bring people
together from the veteran affiliated community to highlight
employees, partners, organizations and those who are continuing the
mission to serve. Welcome to the Maven podcast. I'm your host,
Chris Mansour, and in this episode I'm joined by Jesse Durant,
Oracle senior site reliability developer and Army National Guard
officer. We caught up with Jesse in between his Army National Guard
duties to dive into a powerful conversation about ambition,
resilience, and the power of community.
00;00;35;11 - 00;00;59;08
Unknown
Jesse shares how his drive, vision and strong network helped him
navigate the unique challenges of balancing military service with
civilian life challenges many of us rarely consider in our everyday
career paths. We explore the behind the scenes planning,
reflection, and foresight. It takes to align personal goals with
professional responsibilities both in and out of uniform. Jesse
brings to light how we created opportunities through preparation,
perseverance, and a few tough life lessons.
00;00;59;08 - 00;01;15;19
Unknown
His upbeat, can-do mindset shines throughout, revealing why he
continues to earn a seat at the table wherever he goes. This
episode is a must listen for anyone looking to harness their
skills, rise to the occasion, and grow with gratitude for the
people who helped make it all possible. It's an inspiring and
energizing conversation you won't want to miss.
00;01;15;21 - 00;01;34;16
Unknown
We have all we need to become the person we want to be. So let's
remember how to connect with others with sincerity and genuine
intent. As we continue the mission to serve. Thanks for listening.
We hope you enjoyed this episode, and please remember to check in
on your buddies and family, Jesse's contact details in the podcast
description, and you can always find me on LinkedIn.
00;01;34;18 - 00;01;52;28
Unknown
Hey, Jesse, what's going on? Not too bad. Chris is here. Another
day in the office, you know. Excited to be here. Thank you for
having me on the podcast. Pretty impromptu, but I'm excited to be
here. Sometimes it is last minute, but you know how it is when
somebody has a good idea or what they believe to be a good
idea.
00;01;53;04 - 00;02;11;12
Unknown
We act on that. The worst that could happen is somebody says no and
you did not. So thanks for accommodating being flexible. Typically
where we start just a little bit about you and let's go with that.
All right. So let's start out with where I'm at now. Currently I've
been with Oracle for three years. Just hit my three year
anniversary this month, so I'm excited.
00;02;11;12 - 00;02;32;12
Unknown
I've been part of the team for three years now. I'm a senior site
reliability engineer and on tour ops. My manager and Scott Paper,
as you know him pretty well. Fantastic manager currently, as well
as working for Oracle, I serve in the Army National Guard and I'm a
tenant there for the engineer. So vehicle engineer is my main job
there.
00;02;32;15 - 00;02;51;07
Unknown
Anything that needs to be built from ground up. The guy Rhodes,
demolition. I'm the guy. And then I'm an avid runner. Like to run?
I'm part of several run club there in the Seattle area. So if you
want to get out and network and meet other tech people, Come
running. Got it. That's that's pretty good.
00;02;51;07 - 00;03;16;28
Unknown
So. So you're you're from are you originally from Seattle? So I'm
originally from Eastern Washington. I grew up in Tri-Cities,
Washington, mostly known for the Hanford nuclear site, back during
the Manhattan Project. So Pasco is a specific city. It's, I'd tell
a small town, population wise, it's growing. It's becoming bigger
and bigger. The main industry there is agricultural and, the
nuclear site, Washingtonian my entire life, though.
00;03;17;01 - 00;03;30;20
Unknown
Got it as you were growing up. What were some of the things that
you were doing out in Eastern Washington? What was, what was a kid
doing in a town like that? So there's a lot of, the Columbia River
runs right through the cities. It splits it up. So there's a lot of
swimming in the river.
00;03;30;23 - 00;03;50;15
Unknown
Even though was down, downstream from the nuclear site, you know,
it was deemed safe. So we swam there a lot. Worked a lot as a kid
growing up helping my dad with his lawn care business, as well as
just hanging out with friends. Played sports my entire life growing
up. Whether it's from, team sports like baseball, basketball.
00;03;50;15 - 00;04;10;22
Unknown
Later on in life, I got into cross-country and track. More
individualized, but still team aspect. So a lot of running, on the
on my own funds try to enjoy the summer heat that we have down
there compared to the West Coast. You know, 310 day, the sunshine.
So significantly different than the West Coast. Oh, yeah, I bet, I
bet, yeah.
00;04;10;22 - 00;04;31;15
Unknown
The it's a little bit of trust going in that river, I guess. I
mean, that's that's good. Yeah, definitely. So it was a lot of
trail run or, street distance. What type of running? A mix of both.
So, mostly street was in high school, and then later on I got into
trail running, especially now that I moved to the west side of the
state.
00;04;31;18 - 00;04;50;12
Unknown
Been in the west side Seattle Bremerton area for the, since 2016.
So that's where I fell in love with trail running. And, I really
enjoyed that a lot easier on the body and, definitely more scenic.
Yeah, I bet the scenery over there, I mean, I imagine both sides of
the state is beautiful, but,
00;04;50;14 - 00;05;14;00
Unknown
Yeah, very different on on the, Seattle side. Yeah, yeah, the east
side. I like to say there's more tumbleweeds and there is trees.
Oh. Got it. Yeah. All right. At least at least in the southeast
part where I grew up. All right, so growing up in a town like that,
at some point, did you did you get an itch and to feel like you
were going to want to try to find something, something new to
do?
00;05;14;02 - 00;05;35;01
Unknown
Definitely. It being a bigger city population wise, it still didn't
have the attractions and the job market that, you would be in for
such a city population wise. And so I, I knew if I wanted to grow,
expand my horizons, I would have to venture outside of the tri
cities. Early on in life, I wanted to join a military.
00;05;35;02 - 00;05;53;19
Unknown
I was like, at some point it wasn't a question if I was gonna join,
but when and what branch? So senior year started talking to a
recruiter, maybe recruiter, and start talking me out about the the
Navy Seals training program they have. And, I was really excited
about that. So senior year, like a month in or so.
00;05;53;20 - 00;06;13;20
Unknown
I'm still 17, graduated early for, my age. I graduated 17, so speak
to my parents. Hey, can you sign this waiver? It's a training
program for, like, three months. Basically my entire senior year.
And from there, they allowed me to go into maybe, maybe basic
training and then into buds with an opportunity to, you know, try
out for the seals.
00;06;13;22 - 00;06;32;22
Unknown
And they said, no way. There's we're not going to put our son in
danger. Right. So kind of put that on the backburner in high school
as part of Deca, which is a business organization that's nationwide
through high school and the collegiate level. And it learned a lot
about business. So I was like, well, I can go to college,
right?
00;06;32;23 - 00;06;50;23
Unknown
I mean, that's a goal of mine as well, besides serving in the
military. So I was awarded a one year scholarship from a
construction class that was in high school my entire three years,
where we did, we built a house every year from the ground up. So we
fell back on my plan B for the moment, which was go to college.
00;06;50;29 - 00;07;08;20
Unknown
After that first year of college, I realized how expensive college
was, right? So I was like, ooh, how am I going to pay for this? I
didn't come from, a very wealthy family, so I had to find a way to
support myself through college. And I started thinking again about
joining the military. How how can I get in?
00;07;08;23 - 00;07;25;23
Unknown
How can I still join and serve my country? As patriotism was one of
the main reasons for joining. And then later in life, I saw the
benefits that came with it as well. So I decided to reach out to
recruiters again. NASA. I had a buddy, one of my best friends in
elementary school, all the way through high school.
00;07;25;24 - 00;07;44;26
Unknown
His dad was a recruiter for the Oregon National Guard. He told me,
you know, some tricks on how to get in to the military. Back in
2010, I did get approved by the my civilian doctors saying, hey, it
should be fine because, I don't I had a longboarding accident my
senior year right there in the middle of the year.
00;07;44;29 - 00;08;08;11
Unknown
Had to overcome quite a bit. Was out of school for a little bit
over a month. After that, my base was paralyzed for almost three
months after that. So, that's kind of what made me put the military
on the backburner again after that first time. The lieutenant's
denying me, the approval to join. So that solidified my plan to
backtrack and live by my plan to go to college for that year.
00;08;08;14 - 00;08;35;05
Unknown
But after I found that, you know, I need some more funds. So from
there, fast forward, I got a basic training and job, advanced
individual training, which is your MOS. And so I was, the
maintenance guy for a couple of years. And then as soon as I got
back, I was like, back to school. And the guards, that's the
benefit of the guard is being able to do serve your community and
your nation as well as going to school.
00;08;35;08 - 00;09;01;26
Unknown
Nice. What what part of maintenance were you? So the quartermaster,
chemical repair, water pumps. I was part of a burn unit where our
main mission within Washington state was the decontamination of any
nuclear, any Cbrn, events or situations that happened within the
state, like a train derailment or, or any sort of chemical spill.
So I was the basically anything that was related to water pumps and
water heaters.
00;09;01;29 - 00;09;22;21
Unknown
I was the guy, but got roped into maintenance since I was the only
one within my unit. So I hung out a lot with the mechanics. Got it.
Yeah, I was a mechanic also, and so very familiar with with that
team, where where I was stationed. Okay. Very nice. Any correlation
between where you grew up and the fact that it was in that
particular field?
00;09;22;24 - 00;09;43;23
Unknown
It was, within a city about 30 minutes from the Hanford site. At
the time, I never thought about it, if that, you know,
strategically placed there in case of an incident. But, in
hindsight, it looks like, it may have been for sure. Got it. It's a
plan. It's always plan. Family. Yeah, there's always a bigger
plan.
00;09;43;25 - 00;10;12;22
Unknown
So that was what, 2010, 2011? 1111? Yep, yep. Okay, so then that
you started out enlisted or was it because of college? Did you get
in to be an officer? No, I started I enlisted, spent ten years
enlisted. Okay. My military career has been, it's been a unique, a
unique one, for sure. After basic training and I, I, I came back to
college and I was like, well, maybe I'll look into being an
officer.
00;10;12;22 - 00;10;33;03
Unknown
Right? So I joined ROTC for a semester at the Washington State
University in Pullman. And while I was there, I realized I'd been
in at this point two years. And the program is self is basically
self led among students. Students are all leadership. So we police
each other with the advice and guidance from the active duty
personnel.
00;10;33;06 - 00;10;58;21
Unknown
And at that time, 2000, this is 2012. Now, the got phase was was
big. If you're in the Army, you do have a patch. We used to call
them just like fleets. You didn't have a patch. You were frowned
upon, especially if you were an officer. So I decided I can't be
one of those officers. Right. I I've been in two years when I got a
deployment or need my belt before I contract in ROTC.
00;10;58;24 - 00;11;19;06
Unknown
But college don't pause for the second time and decided to find a
unit deploy with and of course my buddy Thad, who gave me the gold
and answered, how do I know? I had friends in the Oregon National
Guard were about to deploy mobilize in the Middle East. So he gave
me some contact information, reached out to them fast.
00;11;19;08 - 00;11;41;07
Unknown
For five months I had gone through my three class school. So now
I'm a plumber. Pipefitter in a vertical contracting team, and I'm
in the Middle East. So you were intentional. I like it taking
initiative, doing all those things that we're known for. So how did
that go? I mean, was it was it as you expected? Definitely. I
learned a lot.
00;11;41;10 - 00;12;05;28
Unknown
It was an experience for sure. The first month that I finally it's
the interstate transfer is, when you move from state to state in
the guard. So asked is the abbreviation. I said Oregon. At first,
you already had to face adversity. The company commander was like,
hey, deployment is canceled. I was like, hold up. I spent three
months trying to get here.
00;12;06;04 - 00;12;23;23
Unknown
Now that I'm here, and I put school on pause, I've been out of
school also for three months. You're telling me it's canceled so
that long? It was an eight hour drive. No drilling on the Oregon
coast, seaside area. Camp Alia and I was going to school in
Pullman, Washington. So that whole eight hours back home, me and my
buddy, and he was making no money because of the commute.
00;12;23;26 - 00;12;46;22
Unknown
We were just disbelief. It was be quite as right that I've ever had
experience. So I was like, what? What do I what I do now, like my
plan is gone, right? So one of my E-4 buddies at the time from the
Oregon National Guard, organic, his dad was lieutenant colonel
within the Engineer Battalion. He shot me a message a week later
and say, hey, my dad said, relax, something's coming down the
pipeline.
00;12;46;25 - 00;13;10;06
Unknown
I was like, what are you talking about? The original mission was to
go into Afghanistan and help, you know, a downgrade and, close up
some bases. So within a month, we have a new mission. We're going
to Kuwait to help the process, reconstructing and building more
transient billeting. So I was like, well, not the deployment I
wanted, not a true combat experience.
00;13;10;09 - 00;13;31;23
Unknown
I took it for what it was. Again, I tell people all the time,
deployment isn't all about combat. It's about how you can adapt to
the adversity and the problems you faced while on deployment. So I
was like that. This is a good second job. You know, option. And
fast forward, I'm in Kuwait three months later in November, I'm in
Iraq.
00;13;31;24 - 00;13;59;28
Unknown
I'm one of the first hundred soldiers back into Iraq to help combat
ISIS in 2014. So that was, that experience definitely learned a lot
being the first hundred in compared to deployments nowadays where
there's sirens and warm towers, allowing you to, you know, find
deep cover, there's nothing of that. When I was there the first
time, right, it was just, oh, I think that was, that was
incoming.
00;14;00;02 - 00;14;25;09
Unknown
Learned a lot. I was just Lauren listed E-4 at the time. The
detachment I got pushed into Iraq, we were supporting the active
duty training. The, local Iraqis to help fight ISIS. So we built
everything from building, places for soldiers to live, like many
soldiers as well of ourselves. Offices, shoot houses, silhouettes
where they practice a train on, as well as anything that they can
think of.
00;14;25;16 - 00;14;42;24
Unknown
We were we were working as much as we could as long as we had
daylight. We had a warehouse. We're able to build things, prefab
things, because the easiest way to do, a lot of the operations. And
how long do you end up staying? Total deployment was nine months. I
spent about four months of it in Iraq.
00;14;42;26 - 00;15;06;15
Unknown
We were able to reopen the airstrip. We bring in the Apaches and
and drones to help out with the surveillance. So it was, great,
great mission work there. A lot of great people, active duty and
guard, met one of my future mentors on that deployment was actually
an IPL. Now we're both officers and, we're essentially equals out
and I seek them.
00;15;06;21 - 00;15;24;25
Unknown
His name is Mark Mallow. A lot for for advice on how to progress my
military career and, and his guidance in general. So then after
that, you come back. That had to have been an ordeal, I would
imagine. Then if you're if you're going from Washington to Oregon,
try to find fulfill your goal that you're trying to achieve.
00;15;24;26 - 00;15;47;02
Unknown
You know, it's nice to have the acquaintances. So how important was
the networking? I mean, it was clear to me when you were talking
about it, but did that give you an idea of how important networking
really is? Yes. And of military civilian career just in your
civilian life in general, networking is vital to being
successful.
00;15;47;05 - 00;16;08;15
Unknown
Just those opportunities that I've had all the opportunities and
had throughout my military career has been due to networking. I
tell people all the time, especially in the National Guard, since
we are, I'd say, part time, right? For the most part, it's about
driving your own career. No one's gonna help you meet the goals
that you want as much as you are right?
00;16;08;18 - 00;16;32;05
Unknown
If you want to transfer to a new unit, you want a different MOS,
seek out those opportunities. Sometimes if your your lowest level
is not helping you out, networking with the right people. Find a
way to find those people right. Use that network that's built in
the military and try to seek those opportunities, and then present
a plan to your your team leader, to your leadership saying, hey,
this is my goal.
00;16;32;05 - 00;17;07;21
Unknown
This is where I want to go. And here's the contact information. I
write down some of those first steps versus leaving it all in the
hands of your leadership. Yeah, that's that's super sound advice.
And I like how you weaved in. It's applicable anywhere, you know,
not just in service but in life in general. The more that you can
do on your own with diligence and, the research and the effort you
put into it to help people not have to do it all, that's important
because it can be, you know, we we often look at ourselves trying
to help everybody, but we don't have enough time to be able to do
that.
00;17;07;21 - 00;17;25;13
Unknown
So it's it's it's critical that we can think about how we can nudge
it along and do some of that pre-work ahead of time. So I like I
like how you're setting that up. Did you stay with that unit as you
came back or did you now switch? I did, so I'd stay with the unit
for probably another six months.
00;17;25;13 - 00;17;55;00
Unknown
That's where I finally, my, I became, a sergeant in the Army after
Charlie. After that, the unit disbanded. They did a big reorg. So
the reorg happened. We went from 150 plus soldiers down to 52. So
we became a detachment, a utility detachment. So they gave me the
option. Hey, did you want to, you know, go ahead and stay here
during on the, on the Oregon coast, the commute was really long and
I was like, oh, I'll hang out for a little bit.
00;17;55;03 - 00;18;20;29
Unknown
But then they the opportunity arose for me to go to infantry
school. So I was like, infantry. Oh, man. This this is it. All
right. I'm I'm taking the opportunity. So now that follow me
August. So about a year after I came back from that deployment, I
went to the infantry school and then found a unit again, my
readiness NCO at that time say, hey, here's a list of every
infantry unit in Oregon.
00;18;21;01 - 00;18;41;25
Unknown
Find a unit that has an opening and I'll facilitate the rest. So
again, kind of did the legwork myself to find a unit that I felt
comfortable with besides me, and thrown in to a random unit. And
then at the right I replaced, I became an infantry man. How long
that take that took the switching units within within the
state?
00;18;41;25 - 00;18;58;14
Unknown
It's relatively quick. It was about a month. Sometimes with the
paperwork hasn't completed yet, you can simply just start drilling
with them on the year. One week in a month. And, you're still on
the books of your organic unit, but they allow you to split. Train
is what they call it. The training was a different unit. I'm
assuming.
00;18;58;14 - 00;19;20;22
Unknown
Did you go? You didn't go back to boot camp. You went, but you went
to ITE for infantry school. Yeah, so slightly different in the
guard we have for class. We have our own, schoolhouses with some
within the state, some, we had to go to other states. So Oregon
actually has its own infantry school. It's an accelerated program
for like, most MOS is, it's usually about two weeks long.
00;19;20;24 - 00;19;41;27
Unknown
So I went to Eastern Oregon real close to home. And you went to LA
or, until Oregon with the old Chemical depot, down in that area.
Spent two weeks there in the middle of August, 100 plus degrees,
walk in the lanes, surviving the heat, sweating constantly. Had
people heat carry carrying regularly just because of the heat.
00;19;41;29 - 00;20;05;05
Unknown
They weren't used to it. So because we not only do they train
National Guard, but those National Guard school houses also had the
ability to train Active-duty personnel as well. So we had a slight
mix of in-state, out of state and active duty personnel going to
that school house. Got it with yours that that puts me at 20 right
around 2016 2016.
00;20;05;08 - 00;20;33;11
Unknown
Okay. Yeah. From from there. So now you've got basically three or
more choices that you've been in. Correct. And so how does that
work now that you've got those skills developed. And then what what
do you what do you do with that as an E-5. So I think not in just
not just in the military, but being well-rounded and knowing
different aspects of the organization on how they all, intertwine
and work together is a huge benefit.
00;20;33;14 - 00;21;09;17
Unknown
If you look at most leaders throughout any corporation, they
weren't siloed into one department the entire time rank. They were
those who saw the opportunities in different aspects, right?
Whether it be, you know, med suite with Oracle or OCI with Oracle.
Right. They they or the medical side now, they branched out.
They've learned a lot. So that benefited me a lot within, you know,
being a new E-5 because when it comes to planning things, not only
do you have the mindset or did I have the mindset of infantrymen,
but I also had the mindset of, okay, if something breaks down
right, how do we fix it?
00;21;09;17 - 00;21;32;17
Unknown
How do I get the maintenance people here? I already know kind of
what the main insight is thinking about how to do that when on a
construction side, we need, I think, Bill, I'm your guy. I can help
you build whatever you need built or I know people because within
the state we all work together. So when it comes to annual
training, there will be times that we have the engineers embedded
with us or multiple different maintenance platoons embedded with
us.
00;21;32;17 - 00;22;04;15
Unknown
So again, tying back in that networking, networking is huge. In the
guard. I've been in so many units in the Oregon Guard that every
time I go to a big gathering, I was like, oh my gosh, I haven't
seen this guy in four years. But here we are again. It's it's been,
it's very beneficial. And I say not just military but civilian side
as well to, to keep that network open and to if you have the
opportunity to try different fields out within, within your
organization, be open to new opportunities.
00;22;04;18 - 00;22;26;06
Unknown
Yeah. Well said. And you're right. And that is the nice thing about
it also is the camaraderie. It's developed over the years. And so
you you have those connections and relationships from the past. And
to see somebody that you haven't seen in a while, it's a good
feeling. Right? Definitely. And, the main reason why I've been in
for so long, some people are jaded, even the National Guard.
00;22;26;06 - 00;22;43;10
Unknown
It's when we get them on two weeks a year. They say two weeks a
year. It's never two weeks a year. It's usually more than that,
with schooling and progression, career progression. But the main
reason I say is to the people, every, every unit I go, I meet
someone that I know I will probably be in contact with the rest of
my life.
00;22;43;13 - 00;23;07;00
Unknown
That's awesome. At which point now at 2016, you're in E-5, you got
a couple of mosses, you got the network down, you're going around
to different units. What happens the next several years that get
that gets you to I don't know, come to Oracle. Let's backtrack just
slightly. I was, after that first placement went back to Scott
College right about a year and a half left.
00;23;07;02 - 00;23;30;05
Unknown
Due to that ROTC down lineup, graduation wise. You know, I
graduated early from ROTC or graduate early from the university. I
was like, well, I would just but after, if I still have the urge to
become an officer of the OCS. So 2016, I graduate, I get my first
civilian career working for the Department Navy there in key, Port
Washington, just next to the Bangor Naval Base.
00;23;30;07 - 00;23;49;15
Unknown
The database administrator there, went to school for management,
for making systems. So sorry. Working there. I seem to have pride
myself in both my student career and military career towards a
bigger cause which is supporting the military in some sort of
facet. Or the government even at Oracle and part of answer ops,
which is the government cloud.
00;23;49;15 - 00;24;14;21
Unknown
So, you know, always looking to support the bigger cause. So do
that for a couple of years. Enjoy my time there. But there's a
saying the government work can be slow depending on what department
you're in. Right. And that was true. I was on a project. It was
where it's basically their justification site for the Navy and
Marines, specifically aviation, but expanded to other facets of the
Navy and Marines.
00;24;14;24 - 00;24;35;25
Unknown
I was there and we were just sustainment. We weren't developing
anything new. So database administrator, just maintaining that
human eye going. And I graduated college wanting to change the
world. I was like, well, this isn't what I, you know, expected, but
it's a good career we're now. They had perks as well, being
government. They assisted my, progression into getting my
masters.
00;24;35;25 - 00;25;00;05
Unknown
So I got my MBA while working for them. And then other right
between the MBA period when I got accepted to the program, I
thought about becoming an officer and the Oregon National Guard
again, so that that urge to serve in a at a greater aspect was
reinvested into my life and decided to look at my options. And OCS
was the quickest way to commission.
00;25;00;08 - 00;25;23;03
Unknown
So commission. And then a year later, I'm at I'm still at the I'm
in the Navy working there for me on that. See, that's underneath
the department Navy and decided I'm a master's now looking into
managerial positions both in my civilian career and my military
career. How do I line those so that I'm in management in both of
aspects?
00;25;23;06 - 00;25;42;27
Unknown
And I looked at my career trajectory within the DoD and the
Department Navy and realized that it's a slow process, especially
on the West Coast. We don't have the benefit of, you know, an
enormous amount the managerial positions, as they do on the East
Coast. So I was like, well, let me see what the public sector
has.
00;25;43;00 - 00;26;00;19
Unknown
And I'm at this point about five years in to working for the
department, Navy. And, you know, you got the pension lined up, you
have everything lined up ready and all your ducks in a row looking
at potential retirement and the benefits of it. And I was like,
well, civilian life seems okay. Let me, let me like it.
00;26;00;20 - 00;26;19;24
Unknown
Let me reach out to some recruiters. And in that process, one of
the managers from Oracle reached out to me. But hey, your your
resume, your LinkedIn profile seems to see what we're looking for.
Would you be interested in interviewing at this point? I'd been
through a lot of interviews, turned down a few offers, just that it
wasn't what I was looking for.
00;26;19;26 - 00;26;37;11
Unknown
And, talking more to the Oracle recruiter and the manager and
learning about the the part of Oracle that was going to be working
for, which was on tour ops, and supporting the military and the
government in some facet say, okay, this is kind of closely aligned
to what I do now. I think I can behind this mission.
00;26;37;11 - 00;27;00;20
Unknown
So I understood the mission little bit and, and how, I impacted
that and allowed troops and government personnel and entities to
still do their, their job full time. It's like I think I think I
can do this. Then I interviewed with some of the employees that
were there still are Oracle, and a lot of them came from military
background, which I know was another perk for me.
00;27;00;20 - 00;27;23;12
Unknown
Right. Having that, similar mindset and similar experience creates
those bonds. And the transfer. I figured the transfer would not be
as drastic going from, you know, the DoD Department, Navy and
military experience to the corporate world. If a lot of my
coworkers had a similar experience, so on through UPS was a really
good fit for me. And a good home.
00;27;23;14 - 00;27;48;19
Unknown
And that's when I joined to in 20th April 2022, as I finally made
it to our goal site Reliability engineer. That's a good story. You
did a lot in between 2016 and 2022. Yeah, I again, I try to take
advantage of everything. I've always been pretty strategic with my
my progression. While at the Department of Navy, I also was in a
one year long leadership program for next generation
leadership.
00;27;48;21 - 00;28;11;24
Unknown
Just trying to advance myself and gain those skills, put those
skills in my, my, my toolbox. But that day that I do become a
manager, that I am ready to to lead and serve those that are part
of my team well. And that tracks because early on, that's what you
were you were trying to do is, is commit to something that's going
to give you the opportunity for growth and career development and
things, those types of things.
00;28;11;24 - 00;28;31;23
Unknown
And so I think at this point, if I'm doing the math right, so over
the course of a good ten years, give or take years, probably more
close to 11, you were sniffing out the opportunities early on. Not
only what was in front of you, but you were trying to identify a
pathway that allows you to see a couple moves ahead that you can
grow into.
00;28;31;24 - 00;28;58;23
Unknown
Is that pretty accurate? Definitely. Yep. Every every time I made
it to that next, the next step where I met my next goal, I was
looking forward to the next time. Some people say 2020. The Covid
year was a really bad year for a lot of people. I like to say
that's probably one of my favorite years because I was tackling
working full time, 40 hours plus a week, doing that, extensive
leadership program through work, and graduated from OCS all at the
same time.
00;28;58;25 - 00;29;15;28
Unknown
So to me, December of 2020 was one of the best moments of my life.
I had my freedom back. I was able to relax, something to do things
on the weekends, the limited things that we were able to do because
of the Covid. Yeah, it was it was a good year for me and then it
opened up a lot of doors after that.
00;29;16;01 - 00;29;41;24
Unknown
Yeah, it sounds like it. And congratulations on that, man. I, I
appreciate the tenacity that you have in the drive and then putting
it into action. I mean, that's obviously is one of the qualities
that is common amongst, our community. But it you still appreciate
it when you see it. Thank you. Yeah, you bet up to that point and,
you know, maybe a couple weeks or a couple months inside of Oracle,
you know, I'm making an assumption.
00;29;41;24 - 00;30;03;28
Unknown
But did anything appear to be uniquely different than any place
that you've been before? And as you, as you started to to learn
more about the team you were on here, definitely coming over to
Oracle the first few months, there's a lot of new technologies that
I had to learn. I had been with the department maybe for quite some
time and nothing real cutting edge at that time.
00;30;03;28 - 00;30;27;23
Unknown
So I had a lot. Is is the big learning curve technically,
especially with migrating to the cloud. When I first graduated
college, the cloud was still relatively new. I've heard it at AWS,
but at that point, Oracle Cloud was in a in its infancy. So it was
a good learning curve. But I came in, I try to network with all my
colleagues, had been there for a while.
00;30;27;26 - 00;30;46;16
Unknown
I'd come in and, I got the moment I got access to the skiff. I was
in there trying to learn what they're doing, looking like looking
over the shoulder, just trying to grasp as much as I can grasp.
Become a sponge, as they say. I just want to know how everything
work and what I can do to get to be better and more prepared.
00;30;46;16 - 00;31;09;01
Unknown
Once my clearance was fully approved and I can get hands on
keyboard, was there, was there any concerns from your side on going
into a full time role here and still serving in the guard a little
bit? I did some research. Of course. That's one of the big things I
did when I was looking to go into the surveying world is the
military benefits.
00;31;09;03 - 00;31;37;00
Unknown
And surprisingly, Oracle has one of the better programs for
military personnel that are currently serving in the guard reserve.
They allow us to do our annual training. Downy hiccup I've been
since my time with Oracle. I've actually been away quite a bit for
the military. I had to go to Basic Ops, the leadership course for
the engineers, which was roughly six months, as well as some
additional training, and they've been more than accepting and
willing to work with me.
00;31;37;03 - 00;32;15;05
Unknown
They understand the difficulties. And again, being part of on tour
ops, where most people are, most managers are prior service. So
I've worked with people for fire service. They know the the
process, right. They know that sometimes they're called upon to do
something greater than yourself. That you have no control over. You
know, they're always there to help facilitate that and help me out
with any of the HR issues that I that that arise from being, you
know, acclimated to put on to the bench and then coming back in and
being reintegrated into the corporation more than willing to work
with me, around my schedule within the military.
00;32;15;08 - 00;32;53;16
Unknown
And again, I just let them know ahead of time what, what my
yearbooks like and if any of those dates will impact my my time in
office. Yeah. I mean, sounds like a strong team that that not only
is aware through. Well, one understanding what, what, the, the
support that's in place that Oracle provides, but also just the,
the firsthand understanding of what it's like to to hold the
obligation of service and then merging the two together, the
knowledge of the processes and the policies as well as the, the the
process of what it's what what happens when a unit is needing to
call you, either for your training or any other
00;32;53;16 - 00;33;11;00
Unknown
deployments that may come up. That's that's great to hear. So after
that, because now it's, it's three years still the same. You still
have the same feeling as when you started. Do you talk a little bit
about being activated and, then short notice of things right within
the military that, everyone who served is familiar with.
00;33;11;03 - 00;33;27;24
Unknown
I wanted to give Scott a shout out the first. You know, I broke the
bad news to him. Hey, there's some training that's coming up that I
have to go away for a little bit. I was just informed, you know,
with less than a month notice, and the first thing wasn't. Hey,
out, like, man, it's a bummer.
00;33;27;24 - 00;33;49;04
Unknown
We're going to. We really need you here. It was. Hey, how's how's
the family taking it? Right? He empathize with the situation and as
good leaders do, I really appreciated that. And I just wanted to
thank him for that. And then we kind of talked about how that's
going to affect my time at Oracle. And then, what the next steps
are for me coming back.
00;33;49;06 - 00;34;07;20
Unknown
That's solid. I mean, that should be, you know, you'd like to
believe that everybody's going to be able to have that type of
response where puts the concern back on you and, and the care that
needs to happen from that. Get your mind right, taking care of the
the priorities in your life. And of course, the company is a
concern.
00;34;07;20 - 00;34;34;11
Unknown
And the obviously the customers and what we have to do here. But
there's a balance in the prioritization comes through the the
initial response. And so I'm glad to hear that that was the case.
Yeah. And then to touch back to do I still have the same billing I
do. Oracle's been very helpful throughout this process, allowing me
to serve both sides and progress in both my career, military and
civilian, with Oracle.
00;34;34;13 - 00;34;55;21
Unknown
And, yeah, I still get Scott reaching out occasionally. Hey, does
want to make sure everything's going good with the service as well
as here at Oracle and making sure that I have a plan to progress.
And three years and still loving it. And you're listening. I know
you can't see it, but he's got a smile, Jesse smiling when he says
this.
00;34;55;21 - 00;35;21;16
Unknown
You can kind of just you can feel it as you're as you're listening
to it. So I believe it. What now? You're three years in, you're
always looking ahead for something else that allows you to know
what are you going to be on for growth? What what aspirations do
you have at this point? So within Oracle, the goal would be
eventually to land a managerial position.
00;35;21;18 - 00;35;39;21
Unknown
And that's that's been kind of my dream for the last couple of
years on the human side. Got my MBA thinking about how the system,
you know, the progression naturally there's there may be some
opportunities in the near future. I do express my, you know, my
wants. So I know it's been it's been heard and people are
listening.
00;35;39;21 - 00;36;03;22
Unknown
So one day I'll be there. And then on the military side, I'm
looking at company command here within the next year. So that's
that's another big step. And any officers, especially army officers
time is, leading an entire company, planning the future for that
company. What what training looks like, if there's any missions
coming up, as in the guard we have, you know, we serve two
missions.
00;36;03;22 - 00;36;30;17
Unknown
We serve our state and our and our nation. And, we are frequently
called upon for both. So making sure that we're ready to assist in
both facets, whether it's national level, overseas deployment or
within the state, because the Oregon and Washington, whatever
island fires. So that comes about every year yet to maintain that
certification and, and, make sure you're ready to answer any sort
of natural disaster or any state need.
00;36;30;20 - 00;36;51;27
Unknown
And so which state is the unit in that you're serving now? So I'm
still in the Oregon National Guard. Again, I touched a base earlier
about people right. Me being in the Oregon Guard for that
deployment, I met a lot of people. And after we were dismantled, we
we all went in different ways, different units. And I come back to
running into them occasionally.
00;36;52;00 - 00;37;11;12
Unknown
They're all the other units that I've been a part of. And the
reason I'm still in the Oregon garden, commuting up to six hours
once a month for drill is the people you know, I've made those
bonds, and that's why I'm still driving to get down there and to
work with those people and, good rapport. So I'm out of Oregon.
00;37;11;14 - 00;37;38;20
Unknown
Got it solid team. Right team. Yes. Devin. All right. Jesse, any
any final thoughts for anybody listening that you want anybody to
hear if you're a service member and you're not part of Maven, come
join Maven. Maven doing great things. Just, one big thing that I
love Maven does. I love being physical. Physical activity is one of
my hobbies.
00;37;38;23 - 00;37;59;03
Unknown
So the Travis Manning Foundation right to the 29 was the chat as
many and what I was, a gym host here recently. So I got a bunch of
my military buddies, over the weekend, and, we had a good turnout,
and we supported the Manning Foundation also back in, for 911, they
did. The Rock also had a group of military people, and I, we can do
that.
00;37;59;03 - 00;38;26;00
Unknown
So, there's a lot of opportunities within Maven at Oracle to
progress the career network. Again. Networking. Right. It's been
the underlying theme of this, this interview. So consider network
whether it's within Maven or just in Oracle itself, if you're a
reservist in the National Guard and you're worried about your
career progression, both, an oracle and a military, I'd say don't
be too, too worried about it.
00;38;26;02 - 00;38;49;11
Unknown
Oracle has a good program in place to assist us to move forward in
both sides. Just make sure you talk to both leadership, military
and civilian, to get a better understanding of how that looks so
they can assist you in any way that's needed. And if you're a
veteran who is no longer serving here at in Oracle and part of
Maven, and you're interested in joining the Oregon National Guard,
let me know.
00;38;49;14 - 00;39;09;09
Unknown
We have, low recruitment numbers at this time, but we do this cool
of being called guard for a day where you come out and relive your
experience as a service member. And usually we make sure those days
are when you do something fun, like white wine, helicopter style.
All right. I'm not even mad at you. That was that was not shameless
at all.
00;39;09;09 - 00;39;25;24
Unknown
And for for the Maven plug. I didn't ask him to do it. He did it on
his own. And then again, he's smiling. You can. You can feel the
smile through years as you're listening. All right, Jesse, well
appreciate you. Thanks for taking a minute. I know it was last
minute and you made it happen. Very grateful for you and your
service.
00;39;25;24 - 00;39;47;16
Unknown
And I speak on behalf of all of us. We are thankful for everything
that you're doing and anybody else that's out there in the reserve
guard serving and going on your temporary duty, whatever. It's a
deployment or training or anything like that, you know, always keep
moving forward. So appreciate you. We'll look forward to seeing you
soon. And next time we're in Seattle, we'll get together and have
some coffee and maybe go for a run.
00;39;47;18 - 00;40;08;04
Unknown
Definitely, yeah. Do you have any? If anyone has questions about
how the, you know, being activated and working at Oracle, you know,
feel free to reach out to me on, on the Oracle email and then,
LinkedIn, if they want to talk about how reservists and guard life
interacts with Oracle. Absolutely. So I'll put their contact
information for our LinkedIn.
00;40;08;04 - 00;40;23;15
Unknown
And then any other information you want to share offline, you can
send it over and I'll put it in the podcast description so they can
reach out if there's any more questions Chris. All righty one. Keep
moving forward.