Voice of the DBA

Tag: career

  • Can You Ask for a Raise?

    I mean, you can ask for a raise. It’s always an option, but is now the time to ask for a raise in this economic climate, where businesses can be unsettled and there are a lot of tech workers looking for jobs. I even saw a piece that noted many computer science graduates are struggling to get hired at the top tech firms. While that’s not where most people work, it seems that often other CIOs/CTOs look to the big tech firms for guidance, and they may choose to hire fewer new staffers as well.

    This is on my mind at work after reading an article on asking for a raise that I added to the newsletter. It’s a response in the advice column where a reader asks how to go about asking for a raise when they think they deserve one. It is unclear in which industry or level this person works, so I am not sure if I think the advice is good.

    The gist of the response is that anyone wanting a raise needs to make a business case about why they deserve more money. I agree with that, but the piece goes on to talk about cost of replacement and loss of knowledge. To me, those start to delve into the area of a stick over a carrot approach to asking for a raise. I have used those techniques, but only when I am truly ready to look for another job if they don’t agree. While you might think you know your manager, you never know when they (or their boss/HR) might take offense to you bringing up the losses from you leaving.

    I’d also say that if you are successful with this, it might be a one-time thing, and it might affect future bonus/raise amounts as the company thinks you’ve already gotten extra compensation.

    That’s not to say that you can’t ask for a raise. I’ve been successful making a business case that’s based on my salary compared to peers doing similar work. Experience matters a bit, but the job I do and my responsibilities matter more. Of course, if I’m near the top of a range, then I’m really asking for a promotion and a raise. That might make sense, or it might not. Ask yourself as you build a case if you’d respond well if you owned the company and this was presented to you.

    Maybe the most important thing to evaluate is the situation in which your business finds itself right now. Is it doing well? Sales/revenue/profits increasing? Are they lean on staff and need to hire more? Or is that not the case? Does your management seem to value experience and the work you do or are most of the staff pressed to do more work over time, with your coworkers in similar situations?

    Maybe most importantly, do you trust your manager?

    If you don’t feel confident in positive answers to these questions, proceed cautiously. Asking for a raise is something I’d be very careful of, at least in the US in mid-2025, as it seems to be the hope of executives to use more AI to replace people. Couple that with the large number of people looking for jobs and this environment might cause a reasonable request to be denied or could create lingering ill will. That might not be worth a short-term raise.

    Steve Jones

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

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

  • T-SQL Tuesday #189–AI and your Career

    I’m late to the party this month. Taiob Ali has a great invite for a topic that is likely on most people’s minds: AI and your career. I constantly hear people asking about this (well not lately, I’ve been on sabbatical).

    I love the T-SQL Tuesday blog party and hope more people participate. Spread the word, ask others to write, and help promote this on socials.

    AI and My Career

    I’ve been a bit skeptical that AI would really help me. For the last 15-20 months I’ve been using AI in different ways, experimenting with things and seeing where it might be useful. A lot of my use has been in VS Code and Copilot, where I do some coding, and a lot of markdown/HTML management. Across that time I’ve found AI to be more and more useful with reformatting or suggestions completions.

    More importantly, I’ve learned to “see” the hints and suggestions quicker and have AI save me time in little ways. None of the items are big, and it hasn’t built me a big piece of code, but I have found it to be very useful in saving minutes. Saving minutes multiple times a day starts to add up in the week and months.

    My Outlook

    I think AI will help me in my career in two big ways. First, there is the time saving and assistance it gives me that lets me be more productive. I look forward to more agents that can be configured to handle some tasks for me and just get things done. I haven’t been a big Siri/Hey Google person with setting appointments and small tasks, but I can see some of this starting to be more useful over time. I bet I can get some services and agents to do some work for me with natural language that eases my job.

    I also think this GenAI tech (and other AI) will help me learn new skills and techniques. I’ve seen some people talking about using an AI to help them learn and I need to do some experimenting here. I tried to get it to build some web apps for me and it didn’t go as smoothly as I’d like, but I’m anxious to see if I can get it to help me learn how to better code in new ways as well as generate code for me.

    It’s important to be able to judge if the AI is making good decisions, and that requires knowledge. In some cases, I have that knowledge. In others I don’t, but maybe AI can help me learn.

  • Carrots and Sticks

    Often,  we work on projects that might span a significant amount of time. Weeks, months, even years can be devoted to working on one system, or the same system. We may find that our motivation rises and wanes at different times. We get excited and motivated to get things done, and also become discouraged or distracted when challenges arise. Not all of us, or not all the time, but it is hard to maintain a high level of productivity and motivation over time.

    For managers, it can be a challenge to keep a team moving over time and focused on achieving goals. Life gets in the way, people take vacations, staff changes, and other things are all issues that can distract a team. Keeping a team focused and productive can be a challenge for many managers. Perhaps especially challenging when someone hasn’t received enough training on how to manage and motivate others.

    As tech workers, we could be motivated in a few ways. Perhaps there are goals, achievements, or rewards that spur us on to work harder. There could also be penalties or consequences if we don’t get enough done. There is always the threat of termination, but in practice, I see this as a last resort. More likely are subtle punishments such as boring assignments, more on-call work, or perhaps difficulties in getting vacation approved.

    As a worker, do you want more carrots or sticks? Is the possibility of a reward or the threat of punishment a bigger motivator?

    I’d like to say that carrots motivate me more, but as I think about it, I’m not sure. The carrot has to be significant to get me to change how I work. I think the stick also has to be fairly severe to force a change, but I think I’m often more motivated by the negative side of things than the positive. I’m sure that’s somehow from my childhood, but if I’m honest with myself, that’s what gets me moving more quickly. Though if there is too much of a stick, I’m quick to look elsewhere.

    What about you? Carrots or sticks?

    Steve Jones

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

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

  • IT Unionization

    I’ve been reading an interesting book that looks at some of the ways that we can better build software in enterprises. One of the side notes in the book is that the tech companies have the funding and the ability to disrupt many other types of businesses, not just technology. Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and others have delved into other types of industries, potentially pushing others out.

    We see Amazon becoming as much a shipping and logistics company as they are a retailer. There was a unionization vote, which passed in 2022. Recently, another one failed. Amazon continues to fight these efforts, trying to prevent workers from collectively negotiating the terms of their employment.

    I’ve wondered in the past if tech workers would ever unionize. In general, we are paid well and have lots of options for work. There has often been no shortage of opportunities for talented workers, though this year is proving tough for our industry. There are lots of people out of work and struggling to find new jobs. While I’m sure some would prefer a union that might better protect them from layoffs, many tech workers are against the idea.

    There is a growing number of tech workers looking to unionize. Inside Google, there is a union for some workers, but not all. That’s unusual, as often all workers in a category are part of a union at a company. To gain employment, you need to join the union.

    I don’t know if I’d want to join a union. I’ve had lots of success and haven’t seen the need, but I do know that I’ve also seen lots of other tech workers pressured and pushed to work long hours, to skip vacations, and other practices that are good for the employer, but not so good for the employee. I’ve seen many people not know how to negotiate with employers, and perhaps a union would benefit most people.

    Would you want to be part of a data professionals’ union? It might give some security and more benefits for many, though not quite as much pay as you might otherwise receive. Maybe more than you get now, as it depends on where you sit in the salary scale at your company. Let me know what you think about unions today.

    Steve Jones

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

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