Voice of the DBA

Category: Editorial

  • Estimates

    Estimating the time it takes to build a piece of software is quite a difficult task. As many of us have seen over the years, most estimates can wildly differ from the actual time it takes to complete a project. There are lots of reasons for this, but I was surprised to find this post explaining some of the problems in a very interesting way.

    I realize that many software projects are very different in scale and scope, but I hadn’t ever considered the spectrum to be quite as wide as explained in the post. Just as in other industries, there are times that your software project needs to create its own technologies and techniques in order to be successful. While software might not be as complex as curing a disease, it might not be that far off at times.

    However it’s not just that the body of knowledge about software development techniques is so vast, it’s also the problem that each of us might have a very limited amount of knowledge about building specific types of projects. What might seem simple and easy to some developers feels complex to others. A simple example I’ll give you is with version control. I know version control isn’t the same as building software, but it’s a tool that many developers use.

    I think version control is fairly trivial to implement and use. It can be a pain to use with T-SQL code and scripts without some tooling, but it’s easy to learn how to use a version control system (VCS). However as I’ve spent two years talking about version control at various events to lots of people, and I still meet lots of people and organizations that see a VCS as an impediment to getting work done. Hint, it’s not.

    I think we share so much knowledge in the SQL Server community, but it still seems that we don’t seem to be educating people as well as I’d like, and as quickly as I’d hoped. Our Stairway Series were designed to try and organize information, but I’m sure there are other, better ways to do so. I’m open to suggestions, and other efforts to help raise the level of knowledge for SQL Server professionals. I’d like to find ways to help people learn more, write higher quality code, at a faster pace.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcast

    Listen to the MP3 Audio ( 2.8MB) podcast or subscribe to the feed at iTunes and LibSyn. feed

    The Voice of the DBA podcast features music by Everyday Jones. No relation, but I stumbled on to them and really like the music.

  • The Real Scary DBAs

    I ran into someone recently that told me they were scared at their job. This person had built a number of ETL jobs to move data around between systems. They were trained as a developer, but had a little experience, got sucked into working with SQL Server, and had made a career without really considering themselves a DBA. They seemed a bit bewildered that they hadn’t messed up the data in any of their employer’s systems.

    I’ve met quite a few people like that, who seem amazed to be trusted to accomplish the work they do on a regular basis. It’s good that many people can go through a career in SQL Server and successfully accomplish the things their employer needs done. However there’s no shortage of “scary DBAs” out there that are in over their heads and do cause damage to data and systems.

    I see questions at SQLServerCentral on a regular basis that scare me. Not because the question is particularly hard, but because the person asking the question seems to be trusted with way more responsibility than they are capable of handling. I’m glad they’re asking questions, but often the additional questions they ask, or the lack of understanding they display about the answers have me worried. It’s not that these people are stupid, but often they don’t have the experience to do the job they’re assigned.

    All of us have things to learn. Many of us continue to learn on the job, often as we’re getting work done. I think that’s a valid way of going through your technology career and I hope most of you continue to improve your skills on a regular basis. However there are quite a few people that have little aptitude for their chosen field, learn the barest minimum to get by, and often implement code and configurations without understanding what they are doing.

    Those are the really scary DBAs and I’m amazed that so many of them are trusted by their employers to actively manage organizational data.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcast

    Listen to the MP3 Audio ( 2.2MB) podcast or subscribe to the feed at iTunes and LibSyn. feed

    The Voice of the DBA podcast features music by Everyday Jones. No relation, but I stumbled on to them and really like the music.

  • Advice for Steve Jones

    I was tagged by Mike Walsh in a blog post entitled: 4 Attitudes I Wish I Had Earlier as a DBA. It’s a look back at Mike’s career and a few things that he wishes he’d known earlier in his career. These are four mental ways of viewing the world, soft skills that might have made more successful, or successful faster. Mike asked a few people to share their thoughts, and there are some good ones from Brent Ozar, Erin Stellato, and my favorite Aunt Kathi.

    I’ve got lots of advice for the young Steve Jones. I’ve had a successful career, with few regrets, and I think a small number of decisions I would undo. However I have some advice for myself, based on things I’ve learned, or things I’m still learning.

    There is no Plan
    There is no master business plan, and the people making decisions don’t necessarily make the best decisions. They’re not right, but they are in charge. Argue your position, give your professional opinion, and when the decision is made, support it and make it work.

    Take a breath
    Before you rush into decisions or actions, especially in a crisis, take a breath. It’s better to be a little slower than compound one mistake with another.

    We’re not saving babies
    Most of us don’t work on systems that affect human life. If you do, that’s fine, but for most of us our jobs aren’t that critical. Learn to keep things in perspective, and try to help your boss remember that as well.

    Be your own person
    Be honest with yourself. What do you like, and more importantly, what do you not like. It’s easy to get caught up in what others think. It’s easy to let yourself get drawn into a path that is not your own. Choose your own path, but more importantly, learn where your path really leads.

    I’ve written a bit more, a slightly longer post on my blog with a few more items. However these are the pieces of advice I’d have liked to have learned earlier in my career. Perhaps hearing one of these items will help one of consider yourself a success a bit sooner in career.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcast

    Listen to the MP3 Audio ( 2.7MB) podcast or subscribe to the feed at iTunes and LibSyn. feed

    The Voice of the DBA podcast features music by Everyday Jones. No relation, but I stumbled on to them and really like the music.

     

  • Happy Labor Day 2014

    Happy Labor Day to everyone. It’s a holiday in the US, so a break from labor for many of us, but those of you outside the US are probably hard at work, so I hope you have a very productive, stress-free day.

    Labor Day was conceived as a workingman’s holiday, and should celebrate the efforts of workers at their crafts. It was an attempt to heal relations between railroad workers and companies in the wake of the Pullman Strike, but has also come to mark the end of summer and beginning of school for many in the US, though many educational institutions have already started the new year in August.

    With that in mind, I’d like you to stop and think for a minute about the things you build or work on. Think of something that you are proud of having worked on. I hope that you have a few fond memories of work that has gone well in your career.

    I’ve built lots of software, and there are quite a few systems I’m proud of. I worked to rewrite an inventory application for an import business, a data center management application for one large company, and even a few reports that I thought were very useful and valuable to my employers. I didn’t build most of the software running this site, but I do think that SQLServerCentral as a total entity is the thing I’m most proud of. I’m not sure if my fellow founders, Andy Warren and Brian Knight, feel the same way, but I’m quite pleased that I’ve been able to help many SQL Server professionals get better at their jobs.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcast

    Listen to the MP3 Audio ( 2.0MB) podcast or subscribe to the feed at iTunes and LibSyn. feed

    The Voice of the DBA podcast features music by Everyday Jones. No relation, but I stumbled on to them and really like the music.