Voice of the DBA

Category: Editorial

  • The Certification Debate

    MCITPro Logo
    Is certification worth it? I think it can be.

    Today’s editorial was originally published on Aug 7, 2007. It is being re-run as Steve is on holiday.

    Is it worth getting certified? What do you get out of it? I’ve noticed a few debates on the site, and many threads asking about the exams, preparation, and even requirements for certification. Since we’re primarily a learning site, publishing new information for you on a daily basis, the whole certified v real world experience question is interesting to me.

    I read this interview with the CEO of New Horizons and it kind of annoyed me since the guy has an inherent bias towards certifications. Most of the New Horizon’s classes are “official” classes from Microsoft designed and built to move you along the path to certification, not really to do your job.

    And make both Microsoft and the training company money.

    I have to admit that I have a bias here since I used to own part of a training company that delivers custom training in Orlando. However our intention in starting the training company was to help those with a need for SQL Server training that would teach them things needed in the real world, not just things needed to pass some test. There’s a difference and I might not feel quite the same way if Microsoft offered an SSIS certification, an HA certification, a replication certification and more. Heck, I write the QODs, granted sometimes badly , but I know there’s enough stuff to test people on in each of those areas.

    I think the idea of certification is a good one and it has the potential to really help differentiate those with the ability to perform well in a job and those that won’t do as well. However the testing has to be geared towards that and we need ways to differentiate the skills and abilities. Without some type of internships, residencies, and focus on some specialty, attaining some certification doesn’t really help. And I’m not sure that many of us know what we want to do and are willing to invest 5 years in training in one area.

    Most employers now realize that a certification, or at least most certifications, in the IT industry is one small measure of an employee’s skills. It shows a commitment for someone with experience and shows a desire to work, but not necessarily skill, for those new to an area. It’s usually a filter these days, and a low one at that, with no guarantee of employment.

    I still argue that certification exams are a good thing IF you have experience. You can use them to bolster your claim of skills and show that you care something about your profession.

    That’s if you pass.

    Steve Jones

  • Technology Guilt

    Guiltless Gourmet Bean Dip
    Do you feel guilty or not?

    I was reading a piece recently about the problems many new college graduates will face as they enter the workforce. There are less and less jobs available in many industries and a large reason for this is the advances in technology that have eliminated many jobs. Technology has made people more efficient, allowing companies to hire less staff. Or at least management thinks less staff is needed. New applications and devices have allowed self service operations for many types of tasks that might have required an employee in the past. This is a trend that is likely to continue.

    Do we just need less people working in the world? I don’t think so. For every job we eliminate, there are new opportunities that come about. Unfortunately the new openings often require different skills from the position eliminated, which means that often the person who lost the job can’t take advantage of the new opening without some re-tooling of their skills.

    Those of us in technology find ourselves moving from place to place, learning new skills and technologies easily because that’s the nature of the business. However in many other fields, it’s not as easy for individuals to gain new skills. This Friday I wanted to ask those in technology if they think about the impact their work has on others.

    Do you feel guilty about the jobs that technology eliminates?

    I used to feel that it was up to everyone to ensure they could find a new job if they lost their current one. It seemed to be a capitalist market idea that change will occur, new industries will arise as old ones die, and everyone ought to be prepared to transition to a new career. However technology seems to hasten the process, and so many people do not seem to be able to make the change quickly to a new field or a new industry.

    Or perhaps they are too slow to embrace the idea of change.

    I feel that technology has made the world better overall, and the tremendous amount of data that we capture, analyze, and use to make decisions allows the world to function better. We have room for improvement, and we certainly have security and privacy concerns, but we do need to find solutions to those problems and prepare for change in the future. We also need to make sure the next generation also understands that they will need to be more flexible and better trained then in the past.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcasts

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

  • After X Years

     

    Dave Winer
    Dave Winer has the right views on programming.

    Dave Winer has been programming a long time. He’s not done, not ready to be done, and he has more creative work to be done in his career. After 37 years programming, it’s refreshing to see someone still excited about building software and looking forward to doing it for years to come.

    Dave also sees himself as an a movie director, but one that people don’t believe it. He makes an analogy to other directors, who are older, who have had success and failure, but are still encouraged to make more movies. If we have developers and programmers that have had success and failure, why wouldn’t we encourage them to keep making more software? It’s a great question, and one that I with more people would think about. Managers should consider it, but we should consider it ourselves. Why do we think that older programmers aren’t as valuable as younger ones?

    I like the analogies that Dave makes later in the post. He stops to admire his work, he thinks about it more, and he’s not in a rush anymore. Too often I think younger programmers, and immature managers, want to rush into producing actual work. They want to get code written and something executing on the screen rather than stopping to spend a little time architecting and planning.

    I heard a great quote recently from Abraham Lincoln that I think applies. He said “If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend six hours sharpening the ax.” We should stop and consider problems when we encounter them, and think about all the tools and techniques we’ve learned in the past, bringing our experience to bear before embarking on a solution. The wise developers I know tend to do this, knowing they have time to write the code and will make fewer mistakes if they think a little before they start typing.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcasts

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

  • We Need to Learn Encryption

    encryption
    We need better encryption and better tools for the future.

    More than learning encryption, we need to demand better encryption tools inside SQL Server. After reading about the issues from the STUXNET worm, it makes me worried that we will see more disruptive attacks, not just from hackers and criminals, but from the virtual vandals and bored teenagers that have more time than morals or sense. The issues from the STUXNET worm spread far beyond any territorial or national issues, and run into all sorts of industrial control systems that may receive more attention from hackers in the future. With some of the brightest hackers in the US and Israeli governments providing a template for compromising those system, I’m sure there will be no shortage of future attacks.

    That doesn’t necessarily mean there are going to be more and more database attacks in the near future, but I’m sure there is research going on into new ways to attack database or applications, either from governments, criminals, or even graduate students. At some point there will be new attacks that come out, and these vulnerabilities may result in zero-day, or even forever-day vulnerabilities.

    We can’t change the way SQL Server, or other vendor technologies, work at a base level, but we can reduce the amount of damage that’s done by not being the easy prey for attackers. In my mind, that means we should be securing our data as best we can, including encrypting communications and limiting access rights, as well as encrypting the actual data we store.

    I’m hoping that Microsoft makes PKI much easier when they release the updated Certificate Services in Windows 2012, and that we also find better private solutions for individuals that allows us to better secure our systems and make it difficult for the casual attacker to compromise our systems. I don’t know if we’ll see viable products and solutions soon, but as we distribute our systems, data, and backups to wider and wider systems, including tablets and mobile devices, we need better security more than ever.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcasts

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