Voice of the DBA

Category: Blog

  • Why I Write

    I have a great job. Actually it’s a fantastic job for me. I have flexible hours, I can work almost anywhere, which means that I can do things like go with my kids to events, even trips out of town and still work. I get to express myself, and talk about interesting things.
    However there are hassles, it can be a grind, and there is pressure to come up with something interesting on a regular basis. I do enjoy it, but I have had times where I thought about going to be a DBA somewhere and letting someone else point out work for me to do.
    Then I get notes like this:
    I’ve been in this business since 1980, starting with CDC punch cards, so you can see how much ‘experience’ has accumulated in what seems like the wink of an eye. I don’t get the chance to read all your editorials, but from the ones I have read, you have the gift ( because it is a gift ) of seeing the whole picture!
    … Your insight and knowledge of not just ‘work’ but of people and careers is the best, more so than any other I’ve read. Don’t lose that deep appreciation of life/work, care and intelligence your editorials have come to be.
    That’s cool. It arrived in my Inbox recently and made my day.

  • Settling or Pushing On

    I read a blog recently that was titled: Time to Stop Settling. I think that the author (a friend) was intending to motivate you to move forward, and try to change things when you see a way to make them better instead of living with them.

    I agree, but….

    My caveat here is that you also need to find balance in your life. One of my favorite quotes is “God grant me the strength to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” I think that quote is telling you to strive for balance, and realize that you cannot change everything, but you can change some things and you ought to think about those that you can.

    We all have tough times in our lives, especially at work. Even though I have the best job in the world, I have bad days, I have things I don’t like, things that I can’t change. I strive to balance the stress and workload with the good things, and while I try to move forward, I move forward in different ways. Some periods might involve more time with my wife, some more vacation with family, some more speaking, some more writing, but they all are a part of life.

    Don’t settle when you don’t need to, but don’t try to change everything. Pick your battles and look to make headway, make things better, not “fix” everything.

  • Sunday Morning Work

    Up early, the only one in the house, so I made coffee, sat down to check on SSC and the news of the world, and got caught up answering questions.

    A few interesting threads caught my eye:

    Went back and forth on a few threads, making the day get started in an enjoyable day. I just enjoy the SQL stuff.

  • Another Update on Goals

    I was querying the SQLServerCentral database for something else today, and I decided to take a minute and double check on my posting goal. I didn’t check a few weeks ago when I wrote the update post, but I had been paying attention and noticing my 30 day running average, which seemed to be always above 300.

    But was it?

    So I did, and got these results:

    Month Posts

    7     72
    6     377
    5     352
    4     442
    3     277
    2     372
    1     280

    Pretty good for me, lower than last year, but a nice average.

    310.2857

    Just enough to be sure that I’m meeting my goal, and I have a bunch of time in July to be sure that I’m there.