Voice of the DBA

Category: Editorial

  • No Cloud for Stack Exchange

    Stack Exchange administrators love computers

    One very large and successful site in the technology world is the Stack Exchange collection of sites. They’ve grown and scales with relatively few people, and they have chosen to host thier own systems as opposed to moving to the cloud? Why? One of the administrators talks about it in this blog post. The short answer: they love computers.

    That’s pretty cool from my perspective. They have a passion for their jobs, they like the different aspects of it, and they aren’t going to change that to save a few dollars or make their jobs easier. They don’t want to avoid responsibility for parts of their jobs, they want to embrace all of their jobs, as something they enjoy doing.

    That’s very cool, and it makes sense for a small company. However I’d hope that even at larger companies there were people that enjoyed their job. I know some DBAs love hardware, and enjoy digging into the specs and enjoying going over the configuration of every new server they procure. Me? I’d like to have three drops downs, with options for CPU, RAM, and disk, and be done with it, letting the people that do love hardware pick the actual configuration. Hopefully all of us love our jobs working with data.

    Life is short, and while there will always be things we don’t enjoy about our jobs, there should be plenty of things we do. If there aren’t, I’d hope we’d all be looking for some other job that we do enjoy.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcasts

  • Back to Vegas

    Back to Vegas for SQL Server Connections in 2012

    I enjoy Las Vegas and am glad to be heading back to present at the Spring SQL Server Connections conference in March. If you wear a number of hats at your job, and deal with a variety of platforms in the Microsoft technology stack, this is a great event to attend. There are nine conferences taking place at the same time, in the same place, and you get the chance to see sessions from Mark Minasi on Windows, Scott Hillier on Sharepoint, Miguel Castro on Visual Studio, and more along with your SQL Server sessions.

    I know you can’t attend every session, and you can’t see all the content that week, but the sessions are recorded and attendees can get DVDs of the content. I love that, and it means I can pop in and out of sessions, checking out the content and topics, and mark those in a program that I want to watch later. It also means that I can focus on the important parts of the conference: meeting people.

    When I’m looking to learn, I try to make time to talk to the people that can teach me something or answer a question I have. I can always email someone later, but the chance to have a meaningful conversation is worth the time spent at events.

    I like going to Las Vegas, but not for the reasons that many people go. I don’t gamble, having bet exactly $0 on my last two trips. I don’t stay out too late, or attend the shows. I go because the weather is great, it’s close to home, and I get the chance to network and bond with people in this amazing SQL Server community.

    Ask your boss for some training money, and come join me this March in Las Vegas.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcasts

  • Jiggly Code

     

    jiggly, jiggly, jiggly

    This discussion is a little funny, an exchange on a Linux board in which Linus Torvalds writes: “This kind of “I broke things, so now I will jiggle things randomly until they unbreak” is not acceptable.”

    I’d hope that most people would not attempt to write code in this method, but I’ve seen many developers do just that. They start trying other solutions until one works, often implementing the solution without understanding how it works. The fact that it works, even in a limited way, is often good enough for most people.

    I like that the people in the discussion do not get too distracted and instead dive further into understanding the problem. Not enough people dig into the root cause analysis of issues to fully understand the issues. I know time is tight, and I’ve often been too busy to spend much time uncovering every issue. I also think that often subsequent issues, or chronic problems, are often the result of the lack of understanding of the root causes.

    The software we write gets more and more complex. We incorporate new technologies like virtualization, and some of us will even work with distributed applications that might make use of calls to other systems through messaging or even with communications with cloud databases. Learning to trace the data flows, troubleshoot communications,and thoroughly understand the mechanics of how our applications interact becomes more and more important. Especially as our applications seem to reach wider and wider client bases, with high expectations that things “just work”.

    Many people in our SQL Server community preach a continuous improvement of one’s skills and the goal of writing better and better code over time. It takes some effort, but we all ought to be putting forth that effort to improve regularly, at whatever rate we can sustain in our lives. As long as it’s some effort to get better each month.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcasts

  • Better Than Batman

    I’ve always been a fan of Bill Gates. He changed the way we look at personal computing and provided an environment in which software development was widely encouraged. He didn’t create a perfect environment, and Microsoft has made a few mis-steps at times, but they certainly changed the world. Mr. Gates is also a great speaker, and I had the chance to see him live twice, where he delivered a fascinating keynote that entertained and inspired me.

    He left Microsoft as a full time employee in 2008, and has moved on to working with the Gates Foundation. His missions there, along with his wife, Melinda, is to improve people’s lives. The foundation has primarily focused on ending disease and hunger in developing countries, and to date has done some very good work for millions around the globe. I ran across an infographic recently that talks about philanthropy and have reprinted a portion here:

    The Gates Foundation has made an impact on the world.

    The title of the graphic is “Bill Gates is Better Than Batman” and it shows a impact of the charitable donations that Bill Gates, and many other billionaires, are making or pledging. It’s mind-boggling to look at the sums involved, and at the amounts that will be available in the future. There are a number of wealthy individuals that are trying to make a difference in the world, and it’s inspiring. Especially after fiascos like Enron, Worldcom, and other scandals where it seems greed has been the goal.

    As I get older, I view the world differently. I find myself with more understanding, more compassion, and more of a desire to help others. I suspect as many of these billionaires start to understand their own mortality, they feel the same way. It should be easy to give away money when you have more than you’ll ever spend, but it doesn’t always seem to be something people do. I am proud that so many rich tech people are looking beyond themselves, trying to make the world a better place.

    One more person I applaud is Alexis Ohanian, founder of Reddit, fellow UVA alum, and founder of Breadpig. He’s not a billionaire, but he’s trying to make a difference. He gave a great talk at the 2011 Business of Software conference, asking for more of us to do the same, even if we’re not billionaires

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcasts

    .