What is your response when someone asks you what you do for a living? Perhaps you simply say you work "in IT" or "with Oracle databases." It's very unlikely that you say something like, "Well, it's interesting you should ask. Today, I diagnosed a very complex Oracle database system. And you know what? I discovered that 75% of all the Oracle session wait time was because of latching issues. Upon closer inspection, I found the latch in question was the CBC latch! It makes sense, you know, because the server was completely CPU-bound, and there were two SQL statements generating tons of logical IO..."

Most of us would guess at just how familiar the person asking the question is with IT, and more specifically with Oracle systems, and then make our first shot at explaining what we do. I usually start at a high level with something like, "I work with computers." If the person seems interested, I slowly work my way into more detail until I can tell I've reached his technical limit or he simply doesn't care to know more.

My point is that to effectively communicate technical topics, we must understand our audience and our objectives. And all this must occur without misleading or being condescending.