Voice of the DBA

Category: Editorial

  • Life is Like a Manure Spreader

    Life can be like a manure spreader.
    Life can be like a manure spreader.

    Not in the way you think, but in the hookup process. When I shovel enough horse presents to fill up the device, I get to the point where I need to connect it to one of our farm vehicles and go a-spreadin’.

    My wife complained at one point that I was unhooking the spreader and resting the tongue on the ground. When it got full she had trouble lifting it up and getting it on the hitch. I understood that and since I didn’t want to be the permanent manure-speader-hooker-upper, we found a block to rest it on so that the hookup was easier. However you still want to jockey the ATV or tractor close enough that you can easily get one to meet the other and minimize the lifting.

    As I was performing this process one morning, it got me thinking about work and some of the conflicts I’ve seen with other people. To be fair, I’ve had a few conflicts at one of my companies and was struggling to budge from my position. I try to work with people, but I’ll admit I can be a bit stubborn and pig-headed at times, especially when I think I’m right.

    But I think you must bring things together to be effective. Even the most adamant leaders, while they mostly get their way, they have to find a way to get the other side to bridge the gaps between them. Unless people can find a way to bridge those gaps, I really think that any enterprise is doomed to much less success than they might otherwise have. It doesn’t matter if you’re the CEO of a billion dollar company or a development team of 2, you need to find ways to work together.

    That means compromise, and that means that you have to make an effort to find some common ground, to really examine your position and see if there is a way you can make changes that are acceptable to the other side.

    I see my kids sometimes unable to do this, neither side willing to budge or consider any position other than their own. I’m amazed at how often this also occurs in business as well. There is always a way to work together and modify our position or argument. Often it comes down to just communicating with the other side. You might be amazed at how often you find out that that thing each of you cares about the most is not only different for each of you, but it’s something the other side doesn’t even worry about.

    The next time you find yourself locked in a battle at work, think about me out there jockeying the manure spreader. Even if you can’t find a way to work together, you’ll probably end up smiling.

    Steve Jones

    If you want to see the process, check out the video podcast.

    The Voice of the DBA Podcasts

    Everyday Jones

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  • Impressive Accomplishments

    What things make you think a candidate is a superstar?
    What things make you think a candidate is a superstar?

    Most of us have had an interview or two in our lives. We’ve had to assemble a resume or CV, create cover letters, and practice answering questions in preparation for an interview. In all of these things, we are looking for ways to market our past work and present it in the best light as evidence that we will make a good employee in our next position.

    We each have our own experiences, successes, and failures, but we aren’t bound by what’s happened in our career so far. We have the ability to shape our brand for the future by making changes in the way we approach our career from this day forward. I have a talk and blog on this subject, but I certainly don’t have all the answers. I’m always looking for more ideas and suggestions to help people and wanted to ask for your ideas this week.

    What would impress you most about a job candidate?

    Is there something that you’ve seen or heard about in the past that impressed you? If a candidate had written a book, or created some software, would that make you look upon them favorably? I know that a candidate needs to present themselves well in an interview and be able to write SQL, or manage an instance, but when you are examining dozens of resumes, is there something that stands out?

    Take a moment and tell us what has impressed you in the past, and whether it was an indicator of a good employee or not.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcasts

    We publish three versions of the podcast each day for you to enjoy.

  • Bring Solutions

    Solutions are the most important thing you can develop at your job.
    Solutions are the most important thing you can develop at your job.

    What’s your job? Most of you will answer “DBA”, or “developer”, or “manager”, or something that corresponds to your title. That’s partially true, but for the most part if you are in Information Technology, I think your job is to solve problems. You should ensure that your systems, or your code, or whatever you work on, is running smoothly for the people that use them.

    That isn’t always possible. There will be times that things break, that bugs crop up or systems fail. When that happens, people don’t want to hear about the inherent problems, or even what went wrong. They might ask, and they might be curious, but really what they want to know is when will the system be fixed and what will it cost.

    I’ve never had a manager that was really interested in the problems that caused a failure when systems were down. I’ve rarely had managers interested in potential problems I’ve noticed in our organization. Managers might be curious about the issues, but they don’t want you to bring them problems. They want you to bring them solutions when you see a problem, multiple choices to fix things, and a recommendation for the option you feel is best. They want a solution that works well, doesn’t cost a lot, and can be implemented quickly.

    Competition for jobs gets more intense all the time and the employees that look for problems and provide solutions without being asked will be the most valuable. They will stand out from their peers and are more likely to not only keep their jobs during down times, but will get asked to solve the interesting and challenging problems.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcasts

    We publish three versions of the podcast each day for you to enjoy.

  • The Group Account

    We want to avoid anonymity as well as too rigid security. Delegation is something we need in all our systems.
    We want to avoid anonymity as well as too rigid security. Delegation is something we need in all our systems.

    Managing security for groups, allowing access is selective ways to different individuals is hard. However it’s also something that many DBAs do on a regular basis. We deal with the challenges of row level security and tying particular pieces of data to particular individuals, groups, or other pieces of data. We work to ensure security and systems are flexible, allowing for disparate requirements to be managed with rights, schemas, and other mechanisms. And many of us do it well.

    I was reminded of the hard work we do with security when I read this piece on family accounts and the lack of support from Amazon and Apple. There are any number of comments and criticisms of the idea from people that ecosystems are bad ideas, or supporters of this idea have trust issues. Those are valid criticisms of the process, but that doesn’t change the fact that as our digital world has grown more closely linked, and many of us do want ways to share some of our digital assets with others, while retaining our privacy.

    This isn’t just a family concern, as many vendors don’t manage customer accounts well with all kinds of software. I’ve encountered many situations where an employee registers software under their email account and subsequently leaves for a new job. Finding licenses or being notified of patches becomes a problem, especially when the new administrator is often searching for information in some sort of disaster situation.

    I don’t have a great solution, but I do know that we want the ability to share assets, in much the same we could lend a book or wrench, or car to someone else in the physical world. At some point our cars, other secure application software, maybe even our databases will be authenticated in more secure ways. The future digital software that doesn’t allow for the re-assignment or information or rights to other individuals in an easy and secure manner will fail us.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcasts

    We publish three versions of the podcast each day for you to enjoy.