Voice of the DBA

Category: Editorial

  • Do You Have a Mentor?

    It’s partway through the year 2020 and I’m wonder if many of you are continuing with your resolutions at this point? I know that the yoga classes at my gym were already thinning before the COVID-19 crisis as people that started out coming regularly at the beginning of the new year slowly started coming less often or dropping out. I see that every year as resolutions start to fade in importance.

    Goals are good drivers, but also stern taskmasters, especially for those of us that are more type-A and driven. I sometimes avoid putting down goals because I’ve struggled to accept my inability to attain them. I’m working to accept the fact I miss some goals, but it’s a hard balance to strive. The goal has to mean something to work towards it, and it should be hard enough to stretch me, but I can’t be upset for not making it. I also can’t just accept not trying. I am never quite sure how to best tackle this.

    Earlier this year I was reading the sqlSkills newsletter and saw an editorial from Paul Randal. In it he talked about improving yourself, the different things you might try, and also the need to post-mortem your previous efforts. One other thing he mentioned was the value of having a mentor.

    I wonder how many of you have a mentor that you can call on. I know I’ve tried to help in the past with The Mentoring Experiment, Paul does some mentoring, and there other efforts out there. I think it’s valuable to get some mentoring at different times in your life, and from different people.

    I have a couple people that I know I can ask things of with regards to my career and personal growth. I’ve leaned on them at times, asking for advice or feedback on different ways to change my life. My wife is one, but there are a few others that have had quite a bit of influence on how I move forward.

    If you don’t have a mentor, I’d advise you to seek one out. Or maybe more than one. Ask someone you like, you trust, that isn’t directly supervising you (spouses excepted here), and that you think can give you honest and supportive feedback on your career, life, or something else. It’s a valuable tool to help you cope with the world and assist you in achieving your goals.

    Steve Jones

    Listen to the podcast at Libsyn, Stitcher or iTunes.

  • More Time to Certify

    With all of the shutdowns and quarantines with the COVID-19 pandemic, Microsoft has extended their deadline to finish the MCSA, MCSD, and MCSE certfifications. Previously old certification exams were due to expire on June 30, 2020. You had until then to complete your work. Now the timeline has been extended to January 31, 2021. This gives you more time to earn the cert you started.

    I haven’t held an active certification for years. I found them useful for studying and focusing my learning early in my career, but less so now. Working towards a test is also a time sink for me, when I often don’t quite have as much time as I’d like to get other things done. Life is busy, and I haven’t been as focused in a single area in a long time.

    However, I do think that certifications can be helpful in a few ways to many people, in addition to focusing your learning. Scheduling an exam puts pressure on you and will drive you to learn more. The semi-vague requirements will force you to learn more things than you might otherwise work on, which broadens your knowledge. I’ve found that to be particularly helpful in my career, when I have a wide variety of skills in different areas. I can often solve more complex problems.

    Maybe the one area that you can use to further your career and open doors is to point to the certification not as a measure of knowledge and skill, but of desire. It takes active effort to learn and pass a certification exam, and employers need people that are hungry to learn and grow, and most importantly, willing to do this on their own time. It’s a good point to make if you talk about your work in an interview or write something on your blog.

    In addition to extending the deadline, Microsoft has changed the fees for rescheduling and cancellation, which is good. They’re also working for more remote proctoring of exams, which will allow more people to take these tests from work or home instead of having to drive to a facility. They are also extending out voucher and discount dates.

    If you’re interested in pursuing something, let us know today. I’m considering some of the Azure role based certifications, mostly because they may focus my learning. Now I just need to find time and make the decision to actually move in that direction.

    Steve Jones

    Listen to the podcast at Libsyn, Stitcher or iTunes.

  • Encryption Libraries

    One of the ways we work to implement better security is through the use of encryption. I remember the early days of PGP, VPNs adding end to end encryption, IPSec becoming available, and more. I was excited to see column level encryption come in SQL Server 2005, but it was a bit complex to implement and had issues. The evolution over time with TDE and Always Encrypted were welcome additions, but we can do better.

    Handling encryption in the database can provide some protection, but really, we’d like to see an end to end solution, that ensures data is protected on the wire as well as in the db. Microsoft does a lot of research, and released a Simple Encrypted Arithmetic Library (SEAL) as open source code. This is a C++ library that developers can use to protect their communications. Last year they also released a .NET wrapper to make it easier for a wide variety of developers to use.

    There is a lot more to deal with when handling encrypted at scale. Indexing and search operations are difficult and complex, and can require lots of resources. I think that the Always Encrypted in SQL Server 2019 with Secure Enclaves is a good evolution, but it’s complex to set up, tooling is poor, and maybe more disconcerting, there are potential vulnerabilities with secure enclaves on Intel chips.

    Certainly a combination of developers being able to use something like SEAL and a linkage with a secure enclave on the server for set-based operations might be something we can look forward to in the future. I hope so, as security continues to be a challenge for many of us.

    I’d also like to see more software that is built to ensure users can’t access huge amounts of data, and perhaps easier ways to control the export of large amounts of data. We do need this capability, but we also want very few people, or no people and only a process, with rights to do so.

    Steve Jones

    Listen to the podcast at Libsyn, Stitcher or iTunes.

  • Have You Made a Difference?

    On New Year’s Eve, I was reminiscing about the past decade. I started posting some pictures on Twitter from the past decade, which were really memories for me of what had happened in life. Later, I saw this tweet from the Pittsburgh Pirates, quoting the late Roberto Clemente, a renowned humanitarian. The quote is:

    “Any time you have an opportunity to make a difference in this world and you don’t, then you are wasting your time on Earth.”

    The world is in a crisis. Whether you think we are over- or under-reacting, making good or bad choices, or anything else. The reality is that we are fighting a pandemic throughout most of the world, many of us are isolated at home with limited contact with others. Many people are struggling with health concerns, financial issues, job security, and other issues. It’s not just their own personal struggles, but the struggles of others can affect us. Loneliness is certainly a big issue for many, even those living with others and missing their routine.

    Have you made a difference during this time to others?

    It’s a simple question, but it’s one that weighs on my mind. I wish I were a medical professional and could volunteer. I wish I were trained as a first responder and could do something. I’d be happy to go move boxes or otherwise help people working long hours to help others. I’m somewhat upset and guilty because inaction and reducing the spread is more important than my feelings.

    I’ve tried to make a difference in a few ways, with the daily coping in the newsletter and my own blogging for the things I’m trying. I’ve hosted some video calls at T-SQL Tuesday live, just providing a space to touch base with friends and the rest of #sqlfamily. I’m proud my company is trying some things and reaching out the community, without an ulterior motive. Our CEO passionately asked that we do things for the community without regard to sales, customers, or any Redgate purpose other than giving back.

    This is a time to pull together and help others. Many are scared, many are worried, many are dismissive, but even more are struggling. What can you do to help someone else this week?

    Steve Jones

    Listen to the podcast at Libsyn, Stitcher or iTunes.