Voice of the DBA

Author: way0utwest

  • Hot Skills

    What are the hot skills to work on in 2011? I found this article that gives you a list of some of the things that companies will be looking for according to a survey in Computerworld. It’s a fairly standard list of generic skills that companies are looking for, but it ended with something that I think that people often overlook: business acumen and communication skills.

    How many of us have to work with someone regularly that is not a technologist? How many times do you have to explain something to a business person in a way that is devoid of technical jargon? I would bet that most of us have to do that. However  it seems that too many technology professionals still want business people to better understand what we provide with our computer hardware and software. Instead of us learning more about the business, we want the business to tell us what we should do.

    Building your soft skills, especially  your communication skills, is important, but too often technology professionals give lip service to any effort. We tend to write poorly, we struggle to explain concepts like disaster recovery in a way that those outside of technology can understand.

    I like to write, but I also learned early in my career that there was a huge advantage to being able to express myself clearly to everyone that I had to work with. I talk about this at The Modern Resume, but there really is no substitute for making some type of effort to learn to write better. It’s a great skill that I’m sure will provide benefits in 2011, and every year after.

    Steve Jones

  • People are talking about you

    I was listening to a friend give a presentation on getting a job recently. In the presentation, Chris Shaw, the speaker, mentioned my Modern Resume presentation, which was cool, but he also said something interesting in his talk.

    He said that social networking is huge, and you can choose not to participate, but even if you don’t, people will talk about you.

    I think that’s very true, and I caution people to be aware of what others might be saying about you. You never know when a coworker, a friend, or maybe a no-a-friend-at-all might post something about you. You never know when a particular person asks about you, your job habits, attitude, skills, or something else in their network.

    People will talk about you, and not necessarily online. It might be offline, and the best way that you can help ensure that you are aware of what people say is to be involved in networks. It could be social networks, but maybe you just want to touch base with your own network, trying to keep in regular contact with 10-20 people that could let you know if they hear anything about you.

    You won’t know everything that is said about you, but the more you participate in some type of networking, the more likely you are to hear what is being said publically.

  • Food Drive

    Don’t forget the food drive tomorrow for SQL Saturday #52 in Colorado. Please bring food, or even clothing/blankets, that can be donated to local people.

    I’ll be taking a portion back to the food back for my local area, and we have a number of people from Boulder looking to do the same. Give back and help your local community.

  • A day of rest

    Not quite a day of rest, likely some chores in advance of another busy weekend at the ranch.

    I’m taking today off for a few reasons. Originally I had planned it as my kids were out of school and we had booked a trip to the Denver Mint. That’s exciting enough, and I was glad this was scheduled.

    However as this week has grown closer, I’ve been stressed. Life is busy, one of the busiest times my wife and I have had in a long time with work, kids, various sports, scouts, etc. It’s a little overwhelming, and we still have a number of chores that we need to get done before winter. We’re also having a few people over this weekend, so I’m slightly worried about cleaning up as well.

    So I need a day off.

    I’ll be building some fence in the morning, and then taking the kids to the Mint, and perhaps a movie before the Friday night speaker’s dinner.