Voice of the DBA

Category: Editorial

  • Innovation

    apple II
    As a kid, I thought this was the coolest invention around.

    Computers are so cool. I remember thinking that as a kid, thinking about how I could tell a computer to do something for me with a little programming. Some of my programs weren’t that impressive, such as the ones that helped me perform chemistry lab calculations on an Apple II, but they were helpful. I remember having so many ideas about what I could make a computer do that I couldn’t even find time to work on a fraction of them.

    I think many of us have a similar excitement by computers, but the seemingly limitless number of things they can do. We love to be creative, and innovative, in how we get computers and applications to work together. Even administrators have some very creative ways they are using technology to manage or work with groups of computers.

    This Friday, as you have your morning coffee (or tea, as Brian Kelleyprefers), I’m wondering if that creativity is important in your company. When you think about the way management views Information Technology, the jobs of you and your peers, how would you answer this?

    Does innovation matter much at your organization?

    There’s a good management article that talks about the ways in which innovation and creativity can be fostered. Some of this is important in all companies, but not in all jobs. Sometimes management just wants a job to do a job well. Is that the case for you?  While I’d like to see more managers fostering innovation at all positions, do you think it matters for your job?

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcasts

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

  • Potential

    I love sports, and every year I’m amazed to see how many highly touted athletes, those picked early by their teams, fail to perform at a high level. Many of them go on to average careers, but quite a few fail out of sports within a few years, becoming just another person that didn’t live up to their potential. I thought this was mostly a sports-type phenomenon, but that might not be true.

    Are employers and managers looking at potential as well? Do they see high scores in school, or glowing recommendations as reasons to hire a technologies? I think this was definitely the case a ten or fifteen years ago when there were few candidates and many open positions. Managers tended to view anyone with a certification as having the potential to solve any problem with their computing systems. That still might be the case in some areas today, but as business people become more technology savvy, they realize that there’s a substantial different between different platforms. We can’t assume someone talented in one area is an expert in others.

    I think we are drawn to potential, often because many of us are optimists. We see the best in new ideas and people and want to believe they will succeed. I think this is also one of our problems in security because we see the potential benefits and don’t bother to look deeply enough into possible flaws. However as we are burned, and employment decisions burn many managers, we learn to look deeper at candidates and consider their past experiences, successes and failures, with an eye towards choosing someone that has a record of achievement.

    Then there’s a cloud hype. That might turn all of these ideas upside down and bring potential back to the forefront. Maybe doing a little project on Azure or AWS will convince your next interviewer that you have the potential to build an application that scales like the Netflix video delivery systems.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcasts

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

  • Outsourcing Security

    firewall
    Are security services like this going to be outsourced in the future?

    Security is becoming more of an issue for many companies. Increased regulation, more scrutiny from the media, and customers that are more concerned about their data handling and privacy are forcing companies to spend more resources to ensure better security. However building secure systems takes skill and experience, something many companies lack. Acquiring those skills can be hard, and I think as an industry, we do not disperse information on secure coding well. If we could get developers and administrators to read about security with the same level of interest they show in the iPhone 5 v the Galaxy S3 v the Lumia 920 debate, perhaps things would be different.

    One vendor is betting that companies will look to outsource security needs. Webroot has moved to a hosted service, confident that customers will move to the new service for its ease of implementation and arguably better protection. By controlling the software themselves, and updating it as quickly as possible to meet new threats, Webroot can do a much better job of ensuring security than most companies can by managing the service themselves.

    That’s an interesting idea, and it’s similar to the idea of threat detection that Bruce Schneier wrote about a decade ago. This doesn’t solve application issues, but it can improve security for threats that attack your network. That’s if the vendor actually does their job correctly.

    There are any number of issues with this model, but as more companies get comfortable with the idea of renting services and platforms, moving to the “cloud”, I can see this idea growing. For us in the data world, this means that we have another group to interface with, potentially audit to ensure they are not violating any data protection. As far as your actions if you find issues? That can be complicated, but it certainly will require that your communication skills are strong.

    The Voice of the DBA Podcasts

    We normally publish three versions of the podcast each day for you to enjoy. Today there is no podcast due to Steve being ill. Hope to have the podcasts return tomorrow.

  • Pair Programming

    pair programming with cat
    I could probably handle some pair programming with this little one.

    I’ve never pair programmed, but I’m not sure I’d like it. As much as I like collaborating, I prefer alone time to work on problems, or think things through and experiment a bit on my own. I prefer brainstorming and discussion sessions to be limited in nature, with the chance to then go work on my own pieces along.

    However pair programming has been touted as a way to improve software quality by many people. It’s not as popular as some other methodologies, but it still exists out there. I ran across a programmer’s reflections on nine months of pair programming that made for a thought provoking read. He looks back at the experience and lists some pros and cons. Better code, more productivity, and lots of knowledge transfer were some of the positives, and would lead many managers to try and push developers into working in pairs.

    However there were downsides. As someone that speaks regularly, I think that the strain on my vocal chords would be hard if I had to speak constantly to someone else. The fact that the environment needs to be consistent for both people would also be a problems as I often find strong opinions from  developers in technology as to how they want an environment configured for their tasks. I know that watching someone else control a browser drives me a little crazy. I think I’d definitely need to have a separate machine for many tasks.

    As with anything, pair programming makes sense at times. I know that I’d like to have senior T-SQL coders work with junior ones when developing complex queries and explaining how and why they solve problems with certain techniques. Doing this in real time might slow down the senior person, but I think the evolution of one’s thoughts as they solve a problem is as important to learn as the inner workings of the actual code.

    The Voice of the DBA Podcasts

    We normally publish three versions of the podcast each day for you to enjoy. Today there is no podcast due to Steve being ill. Hope to have the podcasts return tomorrow.