Onboarding Remote Employees

Posted on June 22, 2022 by way0utwest

I guess that I was a remote employee that needed to onboard at a new company at one point. When Redgate Software bought SQL Server Central, I lived in Colorado and the company was (mostly) in Cambridge, UK. However, I was hired mostly to continue the same work I did at SQL Server Central, so I didn’t really on board with the company. I signed a contract, and set up payroll paperwork, and that was it. I used my same workstation and laptop, albeit with a new account, password, and VPN, but almost everything was the same for me.

Over the last two years, we’ve hired many people at Redgate, with most of them being brought onboard remotely. Plenty of them have never seen any of our offices, and quite a few didn’t meet any other employee in person for months. Our blog posted a couple of stories from people we’ve hired in the last year about the remote onboarding process.

The stories are a bit light on details, but I know that we send out packets of info and boxes of equipment to people, and we use Zoom and Slack extensively to help people get themselves configured and set up for work. I also know that our managers are good about regularly reaching out to people and connecting them with resources if they need assistance.

For many technical people, I think getting a pre-configured machine and then credentials would allow us to get working easily. A URL or path to source code and server names ensure we can work on a database or a set of code. Asking a few questions of current employees should solve any minor issues with connecting to development resources.

I don’t envy anyone that starts a new job without being able to see or talk to someone in person at a new company, doing new work. However, I do think this is a process that is likely to continue for some time. Even those companies that have open offices and employees available likely have learned how to send someone packages and get them productive quickly without needing to schedule everything face to face. Even most signatures can be handled electronically these days.

I do think we miss something by not getting together, at least periodically. I know I enjoy traveling to the Redgate offices, and I think most people would gain something from being in the same room as their co-workers some of the time.

Steve Jones

Listen to the podcast at Libsyn, Stitcher, Spotify, or iTunes.

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Daily Coping 22 Jun 2022

Posted on June 22, 2022 by way0utwest

I started to add a daily coping tip to the SQLServerCentral newsletter and to the Community Circle, which is helping me deal with the issues in the world. I’m adding my responses for each day here. All my coping tips are under this tag.

Today’s tip is to take time to notice things you find beautiful.

This probably doesn’t look like much:

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It’s a new manure spreader. It’s a work of engineering and art, at least compared to the old one. We’ve had the same one for 15 years, and it was small, the bottom rusting out, the wire cables that operate it were frayed a bit and I’ve had no shortage of scratches and cuts while using it.

I didn’t use it often, but each time I did, I wished we had a new one. Or that I’d have time to take things apart and replace them. I never did, but it eventually rusted the bottom and we bought a new one.

Seeing this in action is beautiful, and while I don’t relish the chore of spreading manure, I am think it will be more enjoyable when I do need to use this device.

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Daily Coping 21 June 2022

Posted on June 21, 2022 by way0utwest

I started to add a daily coping tip to the SQLServerCentral newsletter and to the Community Circle, which is helping me deal with the issues in the world. I’m adding my responses for each day here. All my coping tips are under this tag.

Today’s tip is to speak to others in a warm and friendly way.

I’ve been traveling a lot lately. This means I’m running into lots of people I’ve never met, and a few I have. Last week I started this tip while at VSLive in Austin.

I do remember that many people can be introverted and shy, and others are ignored. I usually try to be polite and welcoming to people, even when I’m introverted and tired. Specifically, I made it a point to be polite (please, thank you, excuse) me to staffers at the hotel. I’ve done those jobs, and I appreciate how they can be stressful.

I also made an effort across just two days to greet, smile, and be polite to other attendees. Hopefully setting a good example of what I like to see from others at events, where they have opportunities to network.

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Better Communication of Information

Posted on June 20, 2022 by way0utwest

Many of us work with data in some way that helps a customer better understand data, use it to make a decision, or support a some conclusion. The way we present data (or help others present data) can impact how well a consumer understands the information represented by the data. There are people whose job it is to design visualizations and ensure the final product communicates well, but often I find a developer or DBA is the person that gets asked for help.

What do we recommend when looking at a set of data and deciding how to format it? A few posts I saw recently help with decisions (when should I use a map) or basic knowledge (what is a square chart). I’ve seen presentations that help me understand the impact of my decisions and how to better design my informative reports for more people. In fact, I hope more people produce content on how and why they have built reports. It’s helpful for many of us that would like to do a better job.

The other side of this is actually producing some report and then getting feedback on it. I’ve been working on a report for the kids I coach and need to write some blogs on the way I’ve built report and how I think others might use it. I certainly could use some feedback and I know someone will have suggestions on how to better structure a report, color it, choose a different style, or something else.

I might even get some better feedback on how I chose to store the data. That certainly isn’t a set or known thing, and I would guess that there are some things I haven’t thought about in building a structure.

Ultimately there is information to be gleaned from the data we capture, store, and manage. While it might not be our job to help convey that information, we are a part of the process and the more we know about it, the more we might do our jobs better, or help others do theirs better. I do hope that I see more posts on not only how to query information and solve problems but how to better present the data from those queries.

I’m looking forward to some blog posts, articles, or maybe even someone hosting a T-SQL Tuesday on this topic.

Steve Jones

Listen to the podcast at Libsyn, Stitcher, Spotify, or iTunes.

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