Voice of the DBA

Author: way0utwest

  • Welcome to 2011

    It seems amazing that it is already 2011, and we’re ten years past the point when I expected there to be a manned mission to Jupiter. Or at least hoped it would have happened. We look forward to 2011, with many people expecting a new version of SQL Server to be released, along with many other technological advancements likely coming.

    The new year is a few days old, and I suspect a few of you have set some new years resolutions. Those are always hard to stick with, and it almost seems like failing to keep them is as much a tradition as making them.

    I read quite a few blogs last week talking about goals for 2011, and this is a good time to think about what you would like to accomplish in your career this year. I am trying to work through this myself, thinking about where I would like to take my life over the next year. Like many of you, I have to blend a busy family life, a job working for someone else, and professional goals into some strategy that fits into that ever limiting 24 hours we are stuck with each day.

    I think that putting these goals down is important. It helps to focus you, and regular review or reminders to check them can ensure that you will work on them. It’s easy to forget in which direction you want to go, because we get busy and are pulled in many different directions each day.

    This next year I am not sure what will be on my list, or even if I will have a list of goals for the year. The pace of change seems to almost dictate a shorter term set of goals, perhaps quarterly. I do think, however, that it’s important to have a list of things that you would like to accomplish in your career, and make an effort to progress through them on a regular basis.

    Steve Jones

    (originally published at http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Editorial/72059/)

  • MVP 2011

    Microsoft_MVP_logo I was awarded the MVP status from Microsoft for 2011 on Jan 1, 2011. This is my fourth consecutive award and I am honored to be recognized for my efforts in the SQL Server community.
    When I opened the email last Saturday morning, I had mixed feelings. On one hand I think I deserve the award for my efforts in the community in speaking, writing, and promoting SQL Server. I think I do a lot, and while it’s my job, it’s also a bit of a passion for me.
    On the other hand, I always think “what was Microsoft thinking” when I consider the deep technical knowledge that so many of the MVPs display. I know a lot about SQL Server, but it’s in a fairly shallow, general knowledge area, though I do have a lot of experience in the past. I don’t do any earth-shaking work, and I certainly don’t impress many of the experts in various areas of SQL Server work. So in some sense I didn’t really contribute a lot to the growth of the knowledge base of SQL Server in 2010.
    The award, however, is very much a community award, and it is for the contributions in sharing knowledge and helping others work with SQL Server. Without the award, I wouldn’t do anything different. This doesn’t drive me, and if I lose it, it won’t change the way I approach the community.

  • Back to Work

    It’s actually nice to be back to work. It’s been a great holiday season for me, lots of family time and un-wired time, but I’m ready to get back to my routine and learning some SQL. There was a severe lack of studying over the last week, however with relatives in town, that’s the way it goes.

    Time to get back on my MCM prep schedule.

  • Building Better Communication Skills

    The most valuable skill for your career.

    I think that one of the most valuable skills that someone in technology can have is the ability to communicate with others. It doesn’t matter whether you write code, rack servers, or sit in meetings with business people, it is important that you find a way to express clearly what you want, need, or would expect from someone else. If you can’t, you will find that you often struggle to get anything accomplished in an efficient manner.

    It’s possible that you can get by with verbal communications in many instances, but it seems that so much gets done by written communications of some sort. Especially these days where it seems that so much of the interaction between people takes place through email, IM, or even Twitter. We are constantly using some form of written text to convey information between each other.

    However it seems that many people don’t place a premium on building better writing skills. When I talk to many people at SQL Saturdays, most of them are hesitant to try something like blogging. The most common complaint: I hate writing.

    But we have to do it constantly at work and working on your writing skills will not only help you to communicate better, but it will also help you learn to better organize your own thoughts. You will have a better understanding of the logical thought process, which might even help you build better code.

    Steve Jones

    (originally published at http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Editorial/72122/