Voice of the DBA

Author: way0utwest

  • The Shortage of Programmers

    The fellas
    Is there a shortage of talent?

    This editorial was originally published on May 12, 2008. It is being re-run as Steve is on vacation.

    At least at the top. I was reading the Joel on Software latest entry the other day about architecture astronauts and it seemed to make some sense in terms of developers building things they only think people will need, but the tone of the article was quite a rant. It actually sounds very different and a little angry compared to other things he’s written in the past.

    It was at the end of the rant that I saw this: “Why I really care is that Microsoft is vacuuming up way too many programmers.” and “…between Microsoft and Google the starting salary for a smart CS grad is inching dangerously close to six figures and these smart kids, the cream of our universities, are working on hopeless and useless architecture astronomy…”

    That last paragraphs (there’s more ranting I left out), seem to sum up why Joel is angry. Whether he should be or not is another story. I tend to believe that if someone can pay more and someone wants to work for more and accept the environment, they should be allowed to do so. It might not seem fair and seem to give an advantage to a larger company, but I think we should all be allowed to choose for whom we work and why we go there.

    The top graduates in any field are always in demand, really the top people in any field, and they will end up getting bigger salaries, and help to drive up the cost of labor. It happens in movies, in sports, and many other fields, and the top people get the headlines. But for every baseball or basketball player making $10 million a year, there are dozens getting $200k or $300k and that’s not reported quite as widely.

    The same thing happens here. Or at least I think it is happening here with the top graduates getting close to 6 figures. While that might push up the cost of the second tier and other CS grads (and other people changing jobs), I’m not sure it means that all programmers will cost this much. I think the salaries might rise a little over time, but overall it takes time for those averages to filter through to the HR departments and raise salaries. So most of us don’t benefit and it’s not worth getting upset about.

    In smaller companies this might happen quicker as managers or even owners have the flexibility to quickly decide to pay more for a particular person, but I’m not sure how many companies want to match the larger salaries or perks of a Microsoft or Google. Or even can match that environment. If someone wants to go to work at a large company, with a big budget, lots of resources, the prestige of being in the news, etc., why is that a bad thing?

    I guarantee you that for every 10 people that want to work at Microsoft or Google, there are some other very talented people that want to work in a smaller environment, avoid bureaucracy, have a larger impact on the company, or just live in a different place. I’m a good example of this.

    A lot of people have mentioned they think I have some talent in the database area and I think it would be cool to work for Microsoft, especially in the SQL Server group, but unless I can work from Denver, there probably isn’t an offer they can make to get me to move to Redmond. There’s a lot more to my career than money or perks.

    ‘Course I wouldn’t mind them making an offer. Being the “Voice of Microsoft” has a nice ring to it :P.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcasts

    Everyday Jones

    The podcast feeds are now available at sqlservercentral.podshow.com to get better bandwidth and maybe a little more exposure :). Comments are definitely appreciated and wanted, and you can get feeds from there.

    Overall RSS Feed: or now on iTunes!

    Today’s podcast features music by Everyday Jones. No relation, but I stumbled on to them and really like the music. Support this great duo at www.everydayjones.com.

    I really appreciate and value feedback on the podcasts. Let us know what you like, don’t like, or even send in ideas for the show. If you’d like to comment, post something here. The boss will be sure to read it.

  • Merry Christmas 2012

    Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone in the SQLServerCentral community.

    I hope very, very few of you are working on this holiday Tuesday. I’m off, spending the holidays in the mountains with my family, including my oldest back from Seattle for a week. It’s a tradition for us to spend either Christmas or New Years skiing, and this year we’ve decided to spend a week in Steamboat Springs.

    I’ve left you with some holiday bloopers to enjoy and I’ll be back with some end of year thoughts later this week.

    Bloopers

    Download the WMV – 37.9MB

    Download the MP4 (iPod) – 33.2MB

  • It’s the Bits

    This was a very interesting book years ago to read.
    This was a very interesting book years ago to read.

    This editorial was originally published on Mar 3, 2008. It is being re-run as Steve is traveling.

    Years ago I read Being Digital by Nicholas Negroponte and while I enjoyed the book, there was one very interesting story in there. Dr. Negroponte was crossing the border from the US to Canada and customs stopped him, checked his computer, and asked what the value was. He responded with “$2,000,000”, which is a lot of money. The customs person seemed taken aback and had expected some sort of value closer to $2000-5000. He responded that the bits inside, meaning his writings and other data, were way more valuable than the hardware.

    That’s how I feel about my laptop and why I love my 1GB and 2GB flash drives. I rarely travel, but I back up my documents, which are mostly text documents, before I go and keep the flash drive separate from my laptop in case of problems. I can always buy a new laptop if I need it, but I can’t easily replace the data.

    Some of you might have seen this article where a woman is suing Best Buy for US$54M because they lied about her stolen laptop and deceived her. Now I think this is an outrageous amount and it’s like the woman that received millions from McDonalds for being burned by their coffee. both ladies deserve compensation, but it should be in line with what happened. You can make the point without suing for an outrageous amount. Even $1M would make the point, and that would be too high. Sue them for $100,001 if you want attention. That might be more in line with the cover up that occurred.

    This really brings to mind two different things to me. First, keep good backups of your important data. I try to organize my stuff into a few areas and then get that to fit onto media that I can physically separate from my first machine. My wife used to go so far as to keep a 2nd laptop hard drive in her suitcase that contained copies of everything. That way if her laptop was stolen or damaged, she should plug the second drive in another laptop and be off and running.

    It’s easy to think of the physical device as being valuable, but I think for most of us the digital information inside is way more valuable than the hardware. And I think this is a trend that will continue over time, with the bits value dwarfing the electronics.

    And if you haven’t backed up your data recently, you might want to stop and make a quick copy of the important stuff.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcasts

    Everyday Jones

    The podcast feeds are now available at sqlservercentral.podshow.com to get better bandwidth and maybe a little more exposure :). Comments are definitely appreciated and wanted, and you can get feeds from there.

    Overall RSS Feed: or now on iTunes!

    Today’s podcast features music by Everyday Jones. No relation, but I stumbled on to them and really like the music. Support this great duo at www.everydayjones.com.

    I really appreciate and value feedback on the podcasts. Let us know what you like, don’t like, or even send in ideas for the show. If you’d like to comment, post something here. The boss will be sure to read it.

  • Recharging Again

    I’m off again, taking a week in Steamboat Springs with my family for the Christmas holiday. We’re spending a week up there, including my oldest son who came back from Seattle to see us.

    It seems like I’ve been gone a lot, with guest editorials and re-publishing old pieces in 2012. That’s good as it means I’m taking most of my vacation. At least I think so. When I look back I see:

    • a few days with my wife in the spring
    • a couple days to work around the house on projects
    • four days for camping
    • seven days of skiing around the holidays
    • four ski days in the spring
    • two other ski days this fall

    That’s not quite all my vacation, but it’s close.

    I wanted to get through all my vacation this year, and really make sure I took time away from work. It’s easy to get sucked into work, especially when you work at home and work on a flexible schedule. However I truly believe that getting away from work and spending time enjoying the rest of your life.

    If you haven’t taken your vacation this year, make that a goal for next year.