Voice of the DBA

Category: Editorial

  • Manners

    This editorial was originally published on Apr 6, 2009 and is being re-run as Steve is away on the SQL in the City 2013 tour.

    I’m not entirely sure of what to call this rant, but I settled on “Manners” and am going with that. This was inspired after some recent events both on SQLServerCentral and other sites around the Internet.

    We have “The Thread” on the site. I won’t link it in here since if you haven’t heard of it, I see no reason to disturb it with lots of extra reads. It might be the longest thread on the Internet, and certainly is the longest one here at SQLServerCentral. It’s got thousands of replies and tens of thousands of reads. The thread started when someone asked the regular contributers on the site if it seemed that the questions being asked were getting worse. The first poster wondered if people were trying less, unable or unwilling to search, and unwilling to try and help themselves before posting a question.

    There have been a lot of people who are regular contributors here, Gilamonster, Jeff Moden, RBarryYoung, LynnPettis, Bob Hobvious, Grant Fritchey, and more (apologies if I’ve missed people that post a lot), have been going through this thread, often venting and complaining about the way questions are asked, joking with each other, and providing examples of problems they see. It’s been a fun ride for those participating in the thread, or at least I think it has.

    None of these people are paid for their time and efforts, at least not directly. I guess I get paid, but I don’t have to be in the forums helping people as much as I am. Most of us do it because we want to help others, teach them something, and give back to the community that helped us grow and learn earlier in our careers. That was the reason I started this site with Andy and Brian: to help others.

    What’s amazing to me is how often I feel that I’m babysitting someone on this site in trying to lead them to an answer. I feel like I’m trying to teach 5 year olds about SQL Server some days.

    I know that people don’t like it when I don’t just give them the answer. I get frustrated sometimes when I post on other subjects, but I also understand I’m getting free help, and as long as I get “help”, I can deal with the hints and links given. I expect I might have to do a little more research or reading to figure things out. That’s what I try to do, give people hints, references, and links, to help them learn. I expect them to do a little work as well. I’m happy to help, but I don’t think I should be giving out free consulting to people.

    Why the rant today? I had someone post offensive language in a thread that I removed. I posted to say that we don’t like unprofessional language or personal attacks, but I also added I felt that the person responding to the thread hadn’t really provided enough information. The person got upset with me, which is fine, but they also frustrated me a bit in that they refused to acknowledge that they might be in the wrong, especially after multiple others agreed.

    The bottom line is that you should treat other people the way you want to be treated. You may get into an argument with someone and that’s OK. Keep it professional and respectful. However if 3 or 4 people tell you that you’re approaching something wrong, or behaving badly, perhaps you ought to stop and consider if you are in the wrong, or acting inappropriately.

    Steve Jones

    Note: I started this rant as a podcast, and then wrote the editorial from that, so to see the raw footage, watch the podcast. It’s why this rant goes a little off-course.

    The Voice of the DBA Podcasts

    Everyday Jones

    The podcast feeds are available atsqlservercentral.mevio.com. Comments are definitely appreciated and wanted, and you can get feeds from there.

    You can also follow Steve Jones on Twitter:

    Overall RSS Feed:  or now on iTunes! 

    Today’s podcast features music by Everyday Jones. No relation, but I stumbled on to them and really like the music. Support this great duo at www.everydayjones.com.

    I really appreciate and value feedback on the podcasts. Let us know what you like, don’t like, or even send in ideas for the show. If you’d like to comment, post something here. The boss will be sure to read it.

  • Letting People Go Securely

    This editorial was originally published on Mar 15, 2009. It is being re-run as Steve is away on the 2013 SQL in the City tour.

    The world economy appears to be in shambles, with many companies cutting back in all facets of their business. We hear regularly in the US that people are being let go from their jobs as positions are trimmed and companies look to save money.

    When someone is let go, typically they are asked to leave the premises on the day. I’ve seen escorts that walked people out or watched them pack up. In some extreme cases I’ve seen people escorted out the door while another employer packed their things and brought them out. For IT workers, it’s a little different since they often have privileged access to systems. In addition to removing their personal belongings, having  an IT worker leave means that passwords and possibly accounts need to be changed to ensure that the company is safe.

    However when someone resigns and gives their two weeks’ notice, I often see that many people are expected to work their final two weeks, brain dump their knowledge to others, perform documentation, or even continue doing their job. In all of the positions I’ve resigned from I’ve worked out my time, even doing some last minute SQL Server development on a Friday afternoon, my final day of work, with plans to leave town the next morning for a new job.

    There was only one place that I worked with a different policy. In that company, if someone with above normal privileges, which included upper management and IT administrators, they were escorted out of the building immediately if they gave notice to terminate their employment. That surprised me, but I understood it. People were paid for their two weeks notice, but management didn’t want anyone to have access to company funds or systems if they planned on leaving. I saw an article recently that provides some justification for this, with a survey showing 59% of people leaving a company steal data.

    On the surface this makes sense, but does this help prevent data loss? I don’t think so. What happens is that employees that are likely to steal data will just take the data before they give their notice. You haven’t changed their behavior, but by not allowing them to work out their notice, you punish the remaining employees who have to suddenly pick up work from their ex-colleague.

    There isn’t a good way to protect data from employees that want to steal it. But you can put in place auditing, and smarter systems that allow monitoring and auditing of your systems. They won’t prevent issues, but hopefully they’ll allow you to detect and respond to them.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcasts

    Everyday Jones

    The podcast feeds are now available atsqlservercentral.mevio.comto get better bandwidth and maybe a little more exposure :). Comments are definitely appreciated and wanted, and you can get feeds from there.

    Overall RSS Feed:  or now on iTunes! 

    Today’s podcast features music by Everyday Jones. No relation, but I stumbled on to them and really like the music. Support this great duo at www.everydayjones.com.

    I really appreciate and value feedback on the podcasts. Let us know what you like, don’t like, or even send in ideas for the show. If you’d like to comment, post something here. The boss will be sure to read it.

  • The 2013 SQL in the City Tour

    The 2013 SQL in the City tour kicks off today for me. I’m flying to LA this morning, early, in order to ensure the venue is ready and perform our last 3-4 keynote practice sessions in real time. We’ve been practicing remotely, but in order to ensure things run smoothly, we want some last minute practice at the podium, with all three of the speakers together. I think we have a fun, informative, and not-too-long keynote you’ll enjoy.

    Then it’s off to the pool. I’ve been swimming more this year with a sore knee, and I’ve got pools lined up for the all the stops on our tour: Pasadena, Atlanta, and Charlotte. I’ve even searched out a few places in Charleston, where I’ll be SQL Saturday #227 in between the Atlanta and Charlotte events. I’m not sure of my schedule, but if you want to put in some laps, send me a note on twitter and I’ll let you know when and where I’m going.

    These events are free, one day events sponsored by Red Gate Software. Our intention with the events is to support the community, help you learn more about SQL Server, and give you some tips, tricks, and hints for using our tools. You don’t need to use our tools to learn something at the events, but we do think you’ll see that our tools make your job much, much easier. We think we provide a lot of value, and it’s worth the price of the tools to make you more productive.

    This year we were much more organized than the previous years and we’ve broken up our days and sessions into DBA and developer tracks. Our goal is to teach both groups, and tailor sessions for each side of the SQL Server community to help you get better at your job. We started in London earlier this year, and with additional practice by Grant and myself at our smaller seminar events, we think we’ve got some great sessions for you to see.

    If you’re in one of the cities, register and come by. We’ve heard great feedback from people and most think the information and inspiration you get is worth a day away from the office.

    Steve Jones

    Video and Audio versions

    Today’s podcast features music by Everyday Jones. No relation, but I stumbled on to them and really like the music. Support this great duo at www.everydayjones.com.

    Follow Steve Jones on Twitter to find links and database related items and announcements.
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  • Beginner, Expert, or Both?

    It seems that there’s no shortage of interviewers complaining about the lack of qualified candidates for open positions. It seems to me that the best thing you could do to get a better job is work through all the articles and lots of forum posts from SQLServerCentral, complete all the exercises in your favorite SQL Server book, and improve your skills so that you shine in an interview. If most candidates are really that bad, it can’t be that hard to make yourself stand out with a little work.

    However it seems few people do that. In fact, it seems that quite often we find people that have 5 years of experience with SQL Server really have 2-4 months of experience repeated 15-30 times. What’s more disconcerting is that they don’t realize how much knowledge they lack.

    This article might provide some of the reasons why people think they’re more experienced than they are. They’re expert beginners, and since they can accomplish the things they’re asked to do at their jobs, they think they’re complacent. They have success because they’re not asked to do more, perhaps because their employer only needs a small fraction of SQL Server knowledge to keep their systems running along.

    I think this is a hard trend to break. Employers don’t want to pay you to learn skills that aren’t important to them, and they certainly don’t want to pay you to learn things that will move you to a new job. However that doesn’t mean you should have the same attitude.

    I think you should continue to expand your skills, grow your knowledge, and try new techniques. The best people in all professions continually question their current skills and techniques, looking for better ways to accomplish tasks. It’s good to use what works and ensure stability in your systems, but always be prepared to evolve if you find something that works better.

    And keep looking for ways to do better.

    Steve Jones

    Video and Audio versions

    Today’s podcast features music by Everyday Jones. No relation, but I stumbled on to them and really like the music. Support this great duo at www.everydayjones.com.

    Follow Steve Jones on Twitter to find links and database related items and announcements.
    Steve Jones Windows Media Video ( 18.9MB) feed

    MP4 iPod Video ( 16.2MB) feed

    MP3 Audio ( 3.4MB) feed

    Feeds are available at iTunes and Mevio

    To submit an article, rant or editorial,
    log in to the Contribution Center