Voice of the DBA

Category: Blog

  • Goal Progress–Wrapping up 2020

    This is the final look at my goals for 2020 and how I did. I am writing this a few days after the end of the year, and examining what I accomplished for myself.

    Rating for the year: C

    Details below, but really, I let the pandemic get me down, I didn’t focus, and I took lots of opportunities to get away from work and technical topics when I could.

    That being said, I didn’t take advantage of the lack of travel to focus more on myself. I could have improved more skills in a focused way, especially around my goals. I also think that my goals were more of the “this would be fun” nature than carefully tailored around my career and the things that are helpful.

    In short, I don’t think I thought enough about myself and where I am in my life when I started planning 2020, thinking about the practical aspects of moving my career forward, but in an evolutionary, not revolutionary way.

    I’ll have to do better next year trying to set and work on goals.

    Reading Goals

    Here were my goals for the year.

    • 3 technical books
    • 2 non-technical books – done

    Books I’ve tackled:

    I didn’t finish one technical book. I had a few ones I was looking at, but never really dug into any of them. They were easy to put off, with my constantly citing current work and the pandemic. To be fair, I did also read 70+ fiction books, which helped me cope with the year.

    All in all, I am happy with my reading progress here, getting away from fun fiction or literature and doing some reading in areas that will help my career.

    Project Goals

    Here were my project goals, working with software

    • A Power BI report that updates from a database – 30%
    • A mobile app reading data from somewhere
    • A website that showcases changes and data from a database – 20%

    I did manage to get Power BI hooked to a database, and some minor visuals, but nothing like I wanted.

    I did build a few websites, using data from a database, but as static sites. It was simpler to just get things working like this, and I was worried about costs and value. The whole PASS failing thing also threw me at the end of the year when I anted to focus more on goals.

    Nothing done on the mobile app. I think this was an aspirational goal at the beginning of the year, a chance to just try something, and I never took the chance.

  • Daily Coping 8 Jan 2021

    I started to add a daily coping tip to the SQLServerCentral newsletter and to the Community Circle, which is helping me deal with the issues in the world. I’m adding my responses for each day here. All my coping tips are under this tag. 

    Today’s tip is to make time to do something kind for yourself.

    For me, I do little things for myself, but not enough. I’m more interested in doing things for other most of the time. Often those dovetail, and so I’m doing that today.

    While it won’t be actually today, I have some time this weekend, so I’m going to set aside a few hours and get back into the wood shop and start a project there. I’ve been wanting to make something, so I’m going to do that. I’ve had a plan to do something for my daughter and I haven’t made time.

    I will this weekend. It will be good for my soul to spend some time making sawdust.

  • Speaking at C# Corner’s Virtual Conference

    C# Corner is holding a virtual SQL Server conference on Jan 29-30, 2021. This is a charitable event, aimed at raising money for children affected by COVID-19.

    I’ll be speaking on databases and DevOps, so if you want to kick off some learning, join me for a session or ten at this event.

    You can register, and donate to help raise money for children.

  • Daily Coping 7 Jan 2021

    I started to add a daily coping tip to the SQLServerCentral newsletter and to the Community Circle, which is helping me deal with the issues in the world. I’m adding my responses for each day here. All my coping tips are under this tag. 

    Today’s tip is to let someone know how much you appreciate them and why.

    This is probably easiest with family, but I wanted to step outside my comfort zone here. I decided to take a minute and chat with someone that has taught me a lot and enriched my life the last few years.

    I coached my kids when they were young, but I stopped at some point. As my daughter became a competitive volleyball player, I enjoyed watching and supporting her. It brought back memories of all the times I’d enjoyed the game as a young man. At some point she become more independent, and I was less involved in her activities. I decided to start coaching at a competitive level.

    The director of the club where she spent her last 4 years is someone whose company I’ve enjoyed over the years with lots of conversations and shared memories. I spent a year apprenticing with him and then assisted a few others before getting my own team.

    In the time I’ve know him, he’s taught me a lot about a game that changed from my youth. He helped me learn how to coach, with all the tricks to push, inspire, motivate, comfort, and more, outside of teaching skills. He’s challenged my thinking and helped me to grow as a more well rounded person that has to work with and influence others.

    I’ve really appreciated my time with him, and hopefully will get more as the world returns to a more normal pace in the future.