The process began with a phone screen with an acquaintance, followed by a trip to the product headquarters in Southern California. I spent a day talking with staff; there was no formal presentation or quiz.

I didn't know my referrer well, but we had some common acquaintances. There weren't many technical questions. Having many years of experience, I mostly described how I dealt with specific situations, such as:

• Turning around an unhappy customer.
• Detailing the integration of two different product types.

Do you think you can deal with a bureaucratic company like Oracle?

The rest is something of a blur -- basically, conversations with a dozen or so people, including lunch.