Originally Published December 17, 2017
In my previous two articles, the foundation for this series was set. Now I get to the fun part! We get to hear from people who are out in the world, making a difference, working with and implementing successful enterprise solutions. The first person that I get to introduce is Huey-Tien Tan (https://www.linkedin.com/in/hueytien/). Starting with Huey-Tien is an honor as she, to this day, still has a profound impact on my success. Let’s start with some background on how I know Huey-Tien.
March 1st, 1998, I was privileged to begin employment at J.D. Edwards (a company that was purchased by PeopleSoft in 2003 and within less than a week Oracle announced that it would take over PeopleSoft). This was when the OneWorld Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software was in it’s infancy. That product is now known as EnterpriseOne. Huey-Tien had already established herself as one of the first and best support staff for a new administrative role, coined by J.D. Edwards – Configurable Network Computing (CNC). Huey-Tien was among the first group of 4, who were the only ones in the world to be given the title of J.D. Edwards CNC Professional. This term of a J.D. Edwards CNC is far more than just a normal ERP System Administrator. A J.D. Edwards CNC professional needs to be able to perform Database Administrator (DBA), Operating System (OS) administration, WebLogic and/or WebSphere administration, network configuration and administration, and many other technical tasks required to ensure that the software is communicating with the database using the right ports while also working with the Java Application Server (JAS) interface, and ensure that the software middleware is properly configured to handle expected user load.
Fast-forward to December 2017 and Huey-Tien has mastered the J.D. Edwards CNC skills like few others have. She really is a solution architect and can troubleshoot EnterpriseOne problems with precision, speed, and accuracy.
The J.D. Edwards software is the enterprise solution that has provided Huey-Tien with an unparalleled measure of success. This is true for her personal career, and for those companies with which she has worked over the years. Having over 20 years’ experience with the product her experience vast.
Huey-Tien now calls Oshkosh her professional home and has been a Sr. Technical Analyst for Oshkosh (https://www.oshkoshcorp.com/) since August of this year.
When I asked Huey-Tien how she defines success, she shared that she thinks of success in two ways:
Becoming a subject matter expert (SME) to the point where +90% of any difficulty that may be experienced with the product is something that she can resolve without any assistance from the vendor (Oracle in this case). Over the years, as the EnterpriseOne software has been advanced by Oracle, to keep up with leading business technology, Huey-Tien has been able to keep up with how to implement the latest technology solutions (i.e. Internet of Things, Application Integration Service, Mobile Applications, etc.).
Before Huey-Tien was a Sr. Technical Analyst for Oshkosh, she did a lot of work as a consultant. In this role, the second way she defined success was when a client would seek her out for additional work after a successful project. She saw the biggest compliment that she could have as a consultant was that the client would hand her a project charter and goals (unsolicited), and give her the freedom to define the details of the scope and implementation timeline.
When asked if should could share who would be one mentor that she would attribute to having a huge influence on her success, she did not hesitate to point out Allen Jacot. Allen was her cohort at J.D. Edwards and was also among those first 4 to ever learn how to be a J.D. Edwards CNC Professional. Huey-Tien mentioned that when she decided to go out on her own as a consultant, Allen handed her the first engagement and coached her to success through the experience. Allen has always made himself available for Huey-Tien.
Consistent to what was mentioned in earlier articles, Huey-Tien wants to clarify that she does not see success as anything that is a final destination. It is the accomplishment of the next goal that you have set before you, and as you reach that goal it is time to set the next goal for growth.
Footnote:
To follow the author on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/toddrthomsen/
For more information on the GSI where Todd is a Sr. Client Success Manager - https://www.getgsi.com/