Voice of the DBA

Category: Editorial

  • Unprofessional Employers

    Professional SQL SErver
    Would your employer pay for this book?

    Is your employer unprofessional?

    It’s Friday, and that’s the poll question based on this blog post. In the post, Mark Rendle talks about the fact that  we are all responsible for our professional development and career, but a professional employer understands they should also be making an investment in their developers. He disagrees with Uncle Bob Martin who says that we are solely and completely responsible for our own learning and education.

    My view is similar to Mark’s in that I think we are ultimately responsible, but that employers should bear some burden of investment in their staff, especially as they evolve and change their technology platforms. If you are hired to be a SQL Server 2008 DBA, the company can’t expect you to be skilled in SQL Server 2012 and handle deployments as soon as the product is released. A company can expect you to put some effort into learning the new platform, and perhaps over time understand how it differs from previous versions, but if the company wants you to gain that knowledge quicker, they need to invest in your knowledge themselves.

    A professional employer understands that, and is willing to put some investment into you, usually if you show some initiative and effort to learn on your own, or make your own investment (time and/or money) into improving your skills.

    I’ve been fairly lucky in that most of my employers in the past were willing to invest in me. Even the ones with very limited training budgets would provide some supplemental help if I showed them my own plan for increasing my skills. It might have been reimbursement for a book, a spare computer, or even just some time at work to spend learning something new. My current employer is one of the best, offering lots of training. Now if I could just find the time to take advantage of it ….

    Let us know this week if you have a professional employer.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcasts

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

  • Windows Server 2012 and Hyper-V

    hyper-v
    Hyper-V looks like a great candidate for almost any SQL Server with the enhancements in Windows Server 2012.

    I recently went to a Microsoft event in Denver on Windows Server 2012 and Hyper-V improvements. A bunch of the information was presented by Harold Wong (b | t) and there’s a number of demos and notes from the talks on his blog.

    I haven’t looked much at the Windows server OS’s in years and not much at Hyper-V. I have preferred VMWare for my demo/research environments, especially as I move between Windows and OSX regularly. However I’ve thought Hyper-V was rapidly improving and on the right track. I was surprised to find the new limits in Hyper-V under Windows Server 2012 to be quite high for both the host OS and the guests. You can have up to

    • 64 virtual processors
    • 1TB RAM
    • 64TB (vhdx format)
    • 4 virtual Fibre Channel adapters
    • much more

    With 320 logical processors and 4TB of ram on the host, it seems as though Hyper-V is on par with VmWare ESX 5. There’s a lot more to look at than software cost, but at this time, it appears all new virtualization projects using Windows ought to consider Hyper-V.

    There were interesting demos on replicas, live migration, improvements in file transfers and more. They were designed to make things look good, and there’s a good marketing presentation on the capabilities. I’m sure the actual implementation isn’t as easy or smooth as in the talks, but it did make me think there’s no reason virtualization shouldn’t be considered for SQL Servers, especially as you move to newer hardware.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcasts

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

  • I’m Not a Rock Star

    nickelback rockstar
    I’m not sure I would have enjoyed playing the same songs over and over, night after night.

    I used to play in a band in high school. I stood in front of crowds in bars and restaurants, dreaming of being a Rock Star. It never happened, and I’m not sure any of us had that much musical talent, but we had a lot of fun. As with most dreams, it was revived a few times in college, but eventually I let go of it, moving on to more practical, and less risky, career choices. However there are still times I’ve thought, “What if I’d tried harder….”

    I’ve had a great career and wonderful life and have no regrets. I’m lucky enough to work for a great company, and I get to spend my days at home, doing something I really enjoy. I get to travel as well, doing talks and meeting lots of data professionals all over. Both of those bring a smile to my face. Over the last couple weeks I participated in the SQL in the City tour, and while it was a tough schedule to follow, I really enjoyed the chance to meet so many DBAs and developers all around the country. We’ve still got one more event, on Monday, Nov 5, in Seattle, the week of the PASS Summit. Come by if you’ll be in town. It’s free, just register.

    Our tour covered five cities across eleven days, fortunately circling around Denver so I was able to go home a few times for a day or two. It’s much less grueling a schedule than many athletes or musicians follow, but it did teach me one thing: I wouldn’t have done well as a rock start. Delivering the same talks every two or three days was harder than I expected, and I didn’t love that part of the events. I would have preferred a little more variety of presentations, and it’s something I want to consider for future tour events.

    One very important thing I’ve learned across the last decade or so is that I need to understand who I am and what I like to do. I realized that often in my career I was willing to bend and flex to meet the demands of various employers. However when the bending and flexing was too far from my comfort zone, or occurred too regularly, I haven’t enjoyed the jobs.

    It’s important to know what you like, what you don’t, and what you are good at accomplishing and then finding the job that fits you. I might do another tour, but I won’t do them constantly. It’s not something I like or want to become a large part of my job.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcasts

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

  • Questioning the Interviewer

    John Cleese
    Hopefully you never have an interview like this.

    When you are in a job interview, it’s almost inevitable that near the end the interviewer will ask you what questions you have. As noted in this post, a large number of people have no questions. It’s certainly possible that the interview covered all the questions you would want to have answered, but do you have a list of questions before the interview starts?

    You should. I think it’s important that you ask questions in an interview, especially questions that are important to you. Many times each of us wants a job, needs to get a job, and don’t want to do anything that might jeopardize our chances. However taking a job that’s a bad fit, or has some aspect that will bother you every day is a bad idea. You spend a lot of time at work and a poor work environment can make your life miserable.

    In the piece, the person makes a good point that your questions reflect your priorities and can result in an unfavorable impression. I think you can ask about topics like telecommuting, but do so in a way that shows you are interested and excited about the job. I’ve noted long commutes and the time they take in an interview, asking if I can better use that time to solve problems by working at home a day or two. The way you bring topics up can matter, so make sure that you word your questions in a way that shows you are interested in doing a good job.

    I do think that asking questions which show your enthusiasm or interest in the position are good questions to ask. However you should think about those questions before you go to the interview and determine if what impression they make. Write down your questions, and if they are answered during the interview, mark them off and ask any remaining questions at the end.

    The interview is your best chance to determine if the position is a good fit for you and the company, so take advantage of that.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcasts

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