Blogging is a great way to give potential employers some insight into who you are. My view is this can only help you find a better job that’s a good fit for you. If you work at it and to it well.
This editorial was originally published on Oct 22, 2010. It is being re-run as Steve is away on vacation.
There was a debate recently about older IT workers and the fact that there is some age discrimination going on in this industry. While that’s probably true, it happens in other fields as well. Especially blue collar fields where the amount of work done often relates to some physical activity. Older workers might make less, or be paid less, because they do the job differently.
Without getting into the debate about age discrimination, I wanted to get a feel for how you feel about your career progressing. I’m sure those of you in your 20s can’t conceive of being 60 and programming any differently than you do now, but times will change for you.
One of my feelings is that there is a lot of value in experience. The latest .NET changes aren’t harder to use or understand than the previous ones, and the changes to T-SQL bring about new things to learn, but they aren’t really any more complex than previous features, commands, and constructs. For this Friday, I wanted to ask this:
Are you becoming more efficient as you progress in you career?
Maybe you can answer how you are getting more efficient. Are you developing skills that allow you to produce higher quality code in less time?
I hope that most of you are, and the explosion of blogs, books, and events like SQLSaturday mean that you have more chances than ever to learn how to become more efficient in whatever type of technology you work with in your career.
I wrote the other day about measuring your career, and I gave some general advice, but I wanted to give you some thoughts to take away about how you might rate your career.
These are some suggested areas, with a note or two in there. I’m not saying any of these, and certainly not all of these, should be important to you. Or that they are important to me. Some of these matter, some don’t.
Pick and choose what matters to you and think about the relative importance. These are presented in no particular order.
Salary – We need to pay the bills, but don’t let this overwhelm other areas. However also understand you can use this to get other benefits. If I make 10k more, but keep my budget the same, I could use that 10k to take unpaid time off, or pay for other things.
Vacation days – time off matters. However, taking time off matters more. If you can’t, or don’t, use it, then does this matter? As I get older, I think of this more. One thing I love about Red Gate is the sabbatical. I really enjoyed it, and it makes me think about just taking time off again in a few years. If salary is high enough, you can create your own time off, unpaid, of course.
Medical benefits – Again, as I get older, I think about this. The US is different than other places, so you might not care. However you might care about leave here with the birth of a child. Think about where you are.
Education benefits – This mattered when I was younger, but for most of my career, I haven’t had time to use these, so they essentially aren’t benefits. However I have had friend get degrees under these programs. I’d be sure, however, this matches what matters to you. Some companies only reimburse if it’s a field of study related to your job.
Retirement assistance/401k/matching/etc. – I hope you live a long time. Far, far too many of us don’t plan well for the future, when we may not work as much, we may make less, or just change our lives. What does your employer help you with here.
Commute – Time is the most valuable resource I have as I get older. Spending time in the car just to move to a job is something I dislike. What does this mean for you?
Equipment – Perhaps you want the perk of upgrading equipment regularly, or just having some control. Brent Ozar Unlimited offers this, does your employer? Mine does.
On-call – I once worked in a company where we had 20 operations people. We shared on call, one week of 20. My week I got over 40 calls when the sun was on the other side of the world. That really, really sucked. Think about what on-call does to your life. Some companies offer compensation time when you work more. Some don’t. Think about what you consider to be fair.
Side Projects – The famous Google 20% time, or the Red Gate Down Tools Week. Maybe you care.
Travel – Maybe you like to travel, maybe you don’t. Earlier in life I didn’t. I’m better at it now and enjoy some of the experiences. Get a firm grasp of how you feel before you commit to traveling, or get stuck in an office.
Kudos – Do you care if you get recognized for doing well? Most of the time I don’t, but if I never get a thank you or any acknowledgement of my efforts, it bothers me.
Training/conferences – We need to improve ourselves in technology, no matter what. Do you want help? Will you get support or even time to improve your skills?
Hours in the office – Does your company allow remote work? I’m not sure I need 100% remote (or my 98% now), but I’m not willing to work at 0% remote time. However I also have family commitments, so the core hours I need to be in a place matter.
Flexibility of Schedule – Required for me. Some of you might want a rigid schedule you can plan around. Choose what matters to you.
Promotion – What are your chances for advancement? How does the company review you and raise your salary or title? How do they move people into new positions?
Google benefits – Large companies have more overhead in working there. Parking, commutes, lots of stuff eat up time. However many large companies try to help you here. Google has published quite a few of their benefits, but I’ve worked in large companies that offered massages on site, oil changes, child care, gyms, cafeterias, and more. Ask, or suggest, things here. These concierge services can be helpful in life.
Charity – Some companies match donations, some give time off for volunteer efforts.
All of these items are things you should consider. They aren’t ranked here, but just listed. You might want these as benefits, or not want them. You might want more or less of them. It’s really up to you, but it’s important for you to determine how important each of these items is for your career.
The best advice I can give you here is to ask for what matters to you. Negotiate. You might not get what you want, but that shouldn’t discourage you, nor should you feel you’ve failed. Negotiation is give and take, with you and your employer compromising.
Whether you’re looking for a new position or want changes in your current arrangement, ask and discuss.
I’m going to do a shorter editorial on this, but really I think this deserves more treatment here.
I saw Brent Ozar write a post on measuring your career. In it, he talks about the fact that many people measure their career as a function of their salary. He points out that that’s a poor measure, as it’s really based on something in the past, not the current position or situation in which we are engaged.
I agree, plus I think salary is a poor way to measure success. It’s a crude, gross way to compare the value of one job to another, based on someone else’s view of your job. Your employer decides what constitutes a fair salary, which may have nothing to do with you, your work, the responsibilities, or the total work you accomplish.
Boiling It Down
Pegging the needle
I’ve been asked many questions in my life, often something like “how would you rate xx?” or “on a scale of 1-10, what do you think of yy?”
In all those cases, I’ve struggled to do much more than peg the needle in my rating. It’s all the way left, all the way right, or dead center.
The reality is that so much of our views of anything, whether it’s our career, our car, our laptop, or anything else can’t be boiled down to a single number. It’s silly to try, and I’ve given up. I’m not going to rate things along one axis when there are many ways to view anything, along different sets of criteria.
It’s one reason I really have started to discard all speaking feedback other than comments. The 1-5 scale means nothing to me. If you can’t express a positive or negative criticism or praise to me, then I don’t gain anything from the evaluation.
My Career
My career has been great. Not all an upward rise, nor all an unbroken series of successes. I’ve had setbacks, and at times, I’m a little disconcerted by the number of jobs I’ve had. However overall, my career is a success.
Why?
For one thing, I’ve been able to make a difference in many jobs. I’ve written software, a report, documentation, or produced something that was useful to others. They’ve told me it saved time, it saved money, or just that they appreciated it. That’s a success.
My income has gone up over the years, but it’s also gone down. If I were to look at my salary, it has a few nice dips in it. However the important thing is that at most every stage, it’s been enough money to take care of the needs of my family. Sometimes we’ve also needed my wife’s income, but that’s OK. The reality is that my salary doesn’t stand alone. It goes hand in hand with my wife’s and together the numbers have to make sense. I can make less if she makes more, or vice versa.
Or we fix our budget. That’s an area that some people don’t consider. If I can change my budget, take a lower salary at a position I like better for some reason, then it’s still a growth in my career.
I’ve also thought that my career flexed and changed to fit my life. When my kids were younger, I really valued having a job that kept me at home and limited travel. My current position at Red Gate wouldn’t have been a good fit then, but it is now, with teenagers and adult-aged children.
What’s Important?
Every job’s a job at some point.
If I were to measure my career right now, in the context of my current situation at home and my position with Red Gate, it’s the best job I’ve ever had and it’s a huge success as I view it. It’s not perfect, but it’s like my tractor.
When I first got a tractor for the ranch, I thought it was so cool. It’s a big, powerful piece of equipment and it gives you a sense of power to drive it around. I can move snow, pick up huge objects like hay bales that I could never move alone, and drill holes in the ground with an ease I never thought possible. Driving a tractor around to plow snow or cut grass is always cool.
For 15 minutes. Sometimes 5 minutes. Then it’s work. Often it’s tedious or really annoying to do something over and over. However I’m always thrilled when I first get going on the tractor.
I have this view of jobs. No matter how amazing the position is, whether it’s rock star, professional athlete, journalist, or DBA, at some point you’re going to have to do something you don’t enjoy or want to do. You’re going to have tedious moments. You’re going to get bored.
Hopefully you get energized with the next project, day, or city you tackle next in your job.
My job is hard. The travel wears me out at times. Video calls can be maddening when people are late, or they don’t speak into the microphone, or any of the things Scott Hanselman ranted about. The tedious nature of administering the site, or editing poorly written articles, and more can wear on me. The stress of putting out daily information tightens the muscles in my neck and fills my stomach with butterflies at times.
I put up with those things because I love writing, speaking, and teaching people about SQL Server. I like learning new things, I like working for a company that values me and gives me opportunities. I like working from home on a flexible schedule. I like the challenge of trying to help the community and improving other’s careers and success at work.
I guess that you have to start rating the importance of things in your career in the ways that are important to you. What matters in your life? When you find the position meets more of your needs than it doesn’t, when you have more positives than negatives, when you have more good days than bad, I think you’re succeeding.
Good luck, remember you get one life to live, so take advantage of it while you can, and always, always, work to live rather than living to work.
Voice of the DBA 