Voice of the DBA

Tag: career

  • Rising Pay for Certifications

    Certifications can pay off, at least in some areas. There’s a piece that talks about pay rising for some tech professionals when they have some credentials. Networking, architecture, and project management are mentioned in the report, as are database and data management.

    I haven’t seen the source report, and I’m not sure which certifications are getting higher pay rises, but I’d guess that newer data technologies, things related to cloud databases, and even anything related to AI is likely to get you a raise.

    Note, that I would guess that if you want a raise, you likely need to change employers, as those companies who have skills gaps in their teams are likely to overpay in the short term. There are certainly pockets of change in many organizations that are looking to move faster and adopt new technologies and might need training for existing staff as well as hiring new people to handle the workload.

    There are two interesting quotes in the article related to AI. The first is that companies are learning that the quality of their data impacts their use of AI, and I suspect they might want more people managing data, checking quality, cataloging it, and more to ensure they can use it to train a GenAI LLM.

    The other quote was that “…technologies like AI are forcing organizations to move with lightning speed to fill specific gaps in their job architectures — and too often, they are stumbling.” I read this as AI gives people code they don’t understand, so there is a need to hire someone experienced enough to review AI code. That’s good for experienced people as it creates opportunities, but I wonder if these are short term or this will be a lasting trend.

    This is a tough time in technology, in May 2025 as many companies are being cautious about hiring tech professionals. This might be the time to get a few certifications as companies start to put more weight on them along with experience. The cert doesn’t prove you can do the job, but with experience, it might give hiring managers a little more confidence you are a good choice.

    Steve Jones

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

    Note, podcasts are only available for a limited time online.

  • Interview Tips

    When is the last time you interviewed for a new position? It could have been at a new company, or maybe you had an interview was for a different position inside your existing company. Perhaps you needed to talk to a manager internally for a new project. I’ve tried to treat all my one-on-one meetings or reviews as interviews since I’m usually trying to impress someone enough to get a raise or promotion.

    Preparing for something you do rarely is hard. Most of us have interviews very infrequently, and we often aren’t prepared to impress others. If your partner or a close friend is also a business person, perhaps they can help you get ready, but I’ve found that most people struggle to help others prepare as they don’t know how themselves.

    I used to interview people periodically as part of my job. I spent time asking others how they evaluated others and reading up on how different companies do this. Over time, I built up a routine of how to run an interview, ask candidates probing questions, efficiently record notes, and evaluate my choices. I became good at running interviews. Not necessarily great at hiring people because that still felt hit and miss, but at least I had a process for evaluating others.

    When I was looking for jobs, which happened a bunch in my late 20s/early 30s, I also had a process and I think I did well. I got offered positions after most of my interviews, which was a luxury since that often gave me a choice of where to work. I saw this post on Linked In with a list of questions and answers for a job interview. These are certainly the type of questions I’ve been asked before, and I’ve prepared for. While this aren’t bad answers, they aren’t enough.

    Some of these might not be asked in internal interviews or reviews, but you ought to be able to give a short answer and then follow it up with an example from your career, give some details and practice delivering those smoothly. Know your own story, and don’t look like you’re fumbling for answers, trying to remember things you’ve done. It’s understandable that you might not remember details of some event from ten years ago, but it is also a sign you haven’t prepared for an interview.

    Getting a job these days is about having some relevant experience, having good soft skills, and standing out from the pack of other people who are applying for the same job. Blogging helps showcase experience, practicing communication helps soft skills, and great stories of things you’ve done help you remain memorable when the interviewer is talking about all the candidates with their peers.

    If you want a new and (hopefully) better job, put in some work and prepare.

    Steve Jones

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

    Note, podcasts are only available for a limited time online.

  • The Return to the Office Debate

    At the end of last year, I ran into a friend I hadn’t seen in a long time. We were chatting and this person mentioned that they were looking for a new job. They had been laid off and needed something. This is someone with a lot of experience and skill, so I wasn’t worried for their career or future. At the time, they mentioned they had gotten an introduction and interest from Amazon, but they weren’t interested in a position because of the return-to-the-office (RTO) mandate that Amazon was implementing.

    I was recently chatting with another friend at a different company. This person manages a tech team, and was looking to hire another data engineer, but was told they could only hire in a certain city (City A)  in the US. In this case, it was the city with their main office. They have offices in a few cities, and a large one in City B, but the organization has been thinking of their own RTO plans and has limited hiring. My friend is now wondering if they need to consider moving to City A (not likely) or find a new job. They don’t want to have to go to the office every day in City B.

    Over the last five years, we went through a pandemic where many people moved to remote work. As we’ve come out of that ordeal, lots of organizations have questioned how to structure their workforce moving forward. Some want to have their staff in the office, some want to remain remote, and there are lots of reasons behind each approach. There is evidence that people can be productive remotely, and there is evidence that groups can be productive when they are co-located together. Inside most companies, there are wide-ranging opinions and desires on office work, from both management and workers, and there is no consensus on what works best.

    Tech professionals certainly can work remotely. They can also see benefits from being in the same office. The efficiency of their work habits can vary depending on the day and situation, so it’s not easy to decide how remote or how in-person someone should be, even week to week. It might depend on the job and tasks. I enjoy my commute down the stairs each day, but I also find the office invigorating. I like going to the office, and I think I’d go every day if my job required it. I’d get less done for the company each week, but I’d do it.

    How do you feel about remote work vs in office work vs hybrid? Do you have mandates? Would you look for another job? These are questions I see many people asking themselves these days as executives start to make new rules about their workforce. I don’t know there’s any good answer, but I am curious what many of you think. Leave a comment in the discussion below.

    Steve Jones

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

    Note, podcasts are only available for a limited time online.

  • Staying Employed

    The revolution with GenAI has been quite the ride since 2023 and quite a few people have been concerned that their employment status might be in jeopardy. I can certainly understand that, especially in light of the tight budgets, widespread layoffs, and executive views on AI technologies.

    There was an article recently talking about AI taking over some jobs with a few tips on how to stay employed. While tech workers weren’t mentioned as being vulnerable, repetitive data-heavy jobs, such as data entry clerks, telemarketers, and cashiers were. That last one is interesting. Lots of companies have tried to use automated checkout stations, but this hasn’t necessarily eliminated cashiers. Maybe there are fewer, but lots of companies in the US have rolled back some of these efforts as fraud, mistakes, and slower checkouts have been an issue.

    The data-heavy group might include ETL developers for sure. I suspect this is an area AI is well suited to help build flows, map data, and handle updates more easily. This won’t eliminate the need for an ETL developer, but it might reduce the number needed and certainly reduce the skill level required to code data movement scripts.

    There are lots of jobs that might not be vulnerable, including tech people who work on AI, cybersecurity people, and others. I think DBAs aren’t likely to go, though perhaps we will need fewer DBAs and developers over time as AI models become more capable of repeating work.

    The tips for navigating this new world aren’t anything different than my advice for years. Improve your skills, both technical and soft. Learn new technologies, but more importantly, show that you add business value with your work. Don’t depend on someone else to tell you what to do. Learn what things are important to your boss and organization and tackle those things early and often. Work to be an effective and efficient worker wherever you can and learn about your business. Those skills and that knowledge make you more valuable than most AI models.

    Steve Jones

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

    Note, podcasts are only available for a limited time online.