Voice of the DBA

Tag: career

  • Data Sprawl

    When I was starting in the computer industry, it seemed that we had many choices for platforms, but once we had decided on a direction, the companies I worked for standardized on those systems. It seemed that there was less interoperability between vendors, or even subsets of products from those vendors.

    That’s changed and these days I see products from different hardware vendors, different OSes, different development languages, even different database platforms being co-mingled and mixed throughout all sizes of companies. I see developers moving from Windows to OSX to Unix without a blink and data professionals going from SQL Server to MySQL to Hadoop easily.

    Well, maybe not easily. Certainly there are challenges in learning how MySQL operates differently from SQL Server, which is a long way from the import and processing of data in NoSQL systems. However I do see some SQL Server professionals rising to the challenge and learning to work with these disparate technologies.

    It seems to me that many of us in the future will need to develop multiple skill sets with different technologies just to be effective. Many of our companies will continue to deal with more data sprawl as not only will data be stored in RDBMSs and Excel, but we’ll get cloud services, NoSQL systems, and more that contain sets of data our organizations want to combine together.

    We have seen XML and Hadoop integration in the SQL Server platform, with both R and JSON coming in SQL Server 2016. While I don’t know that any of these will come to dominate data analysis, I do think that it will behoove data professionals to be sure they keep their ability to learn sharp by experimenting with new technologies and growing their skills. Your company might not use Hadoop (or any new tech), but if you don’t learn about it, you won’t know if it meets a need you have.

    However, even if you don’t decide to use the technology, the effort spent learning about it will not be wasted. Your brain will be more flexible, and you’ll have less anxiety if you’re asked to take a look at a new technology, maybe graph databases, something that is probably wildly different from anything you’ve ever used.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcast

    Listen to the MP3 Audio ( 2.6MB) podcast or subscribe to the feed at iTunes and LibSyn. feed

  • Who’s a Good Developer?

    I hear people in all industries and careers say that all of us should hire the best person for the job. We should pick the most qualified person and engage their services. However what’s left out of most of this advice is the most important question: how do you measure the best?

    We talked about this recently in a DLM Workshop led by Ike Ellis. He asked the question: how do you tell who’s a good developer? Think about it for a few minutes. I’m sure you (think you) know who the best developer or DBA is in your company, but how do you know? What’s the measure?

    I suspect you’ll find it to be a very abstract idea. Perhaps it’s like pornography, where you know a good developer when you see them, but if so, then have you always been able to tell a good developer right away? In an interview?

    Embedded in the idea of determining who’s good and who’s not is the idea of ranking. Is there any way to rank one developer over another? I think you might be able to do so, but only in broad ranges. We (as a group) might feel Developer A is better than Developer B, but not necessarily better or worse than Developer C. However, do we have any way of ranking these two that would stand up to outside analysis?

    I don’t have any great ways of measuring one developer v another. A best I think you can trust a developer to get a particular project done, and to the satisfaction of the client. However the trust would be based on previous experience and not any objective measures.

    This isn’t likely to be a problem that we will solve anytime soon, in any industry. I think the best way to gain confidence in someone is to examine their body of work. See how it matches up with the work expected from an individual and then cross your fingers, trusting they continue to perform as expected.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcast

    Listen to the MP3 Audio ( 2.4MB) podcast or subscribe to the feed at iTunes and LibSyn. feed

  • Working with People

    Many DBAs have gotten the reputation of being difficult to work with. I think some of this is based on the impedance mismatch between developers and DBAs that seems to cause issues in many organizations. Many developers want their changes to be deployed quickly, while DBAs want extensive review and testing to be sure that no problems will occur. This prioritization of stability over enhancements by DBAs does make us seem difficult to managers, PMs, and no shortage of clients.

    As the job of data professional has morphed and matured, many of us that might have been strictly DBAs or developers in the past now often need to work with many other people. We find all types and ranges of personalities that we must deal with, and I would guess many of us find other people difficult to deal with.

    Learning to work with difficult people is a skill itself, and I ran across a piece that talks about a few ways that each of us might work with those we find difficult. Maybe more importantly, if we are perceived as difficult, perhaps we can learn a few things about ourselves and how we might adjust our own personality to work with others, or even perhaps we can give others ideas on how to best interact with us. The piece looks at emotional intelligence (EQ), which isn’t necessarily correlated to any other sort of intelligence, so don’t think a low EQ implies anyone is lacking technical talent.

    Our interpersonal interactions are important. As important as our technical skills, if not more so. Learning more about ourselves and learning how to better work with others are important skills for us that can help ensure we have an enjoyable, as well as successful, career.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcast

    Listen to the MP3 Audio ( 2.0MB) podcast or subscribe to the feed at iTunes and LibSyn.

  • Surfing

    How many of you have gotten up before dawn, driven to the coast, gotten on a long piece of fiberglass and paddled into the ocean before turning around to ride back to shore? It’s a great way to start your day, and I’ve been lucky enough to do this many times in my life. I look forward to getting back out there someday in the future.

    Surfing is an interesting sport, because you don’t really get to pick your path. You catch a wave, and begin riding it in, altering your course based on the speed of the water, the height and structure of the wave, and even the way the current is flowing. While you move in the direction you want, your choices are limited.

    This is unlike many other moving sports. While snowboarding you can stop or slow down. In many wheeled activities you can go in almost any direction. Much of the time you have more control over your motion, and can even take a break.

    However waves are unique. They’re few and far between. If you want to slow down, you end up really abandoning that journey, one you’ll never get again. If you paddle back, you’re hoping you’ll get the chance for another fun ride that day. That isn’t always the case.

    I saw someone post a note that working in technology is like surfing waves. As we learn and grow, we often feel that we can’t slow down, or change directions very much. If we’re a SQL Server DBA, we’re riding that wave. Trying to slow our career, or move to another technology means (often) abandoning some of what has worked well for us. We really follow the wave we’ve chosen as often as possible, usually resistant to change.

    You can change, however, and if you want to do so, make some plans and look for a new wave. It will take time; it will require some investment, but it’s possible. Always remember life is short, and we want to work in order to enjoy our lives with friends and family. We don’t want to get stuck working in ways that prevent us from enjoying our lives.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcast

    Listen to the MP3 Audio ( 2.5MB) podcast or subscribe to the feed at iTunes and LibSyn.