Voice of the DBA

Tag: career

  • Networking at the PASS Summit

    The 2014 PASS Summit is coming up in a few weeks and thousands of SQL Server professionals will be coming to Seattle for the event. Many will arrive early, and many will be there for the first or second time in their careers.

    Many of them will be that guy (or girl).

    Don’t start the week off by yourself, or with a few friends. Come network a bit and meet your fellow SQL Server professionals and #sqlfamily. If you live in Seattle, you’re welcome as well, whether you’re attending the Summit or not. It’s free and everyone is welcome.

    The last few years have had Andy Warren and I holding a Networking Dinner on Monday night. It’s been a large success, which by our standards, means that lots of people come and meet each other. We meet new people, and they have a good time. That’s it.

    Anyone can come, just register so we have some idea of how many people to expect. Andy has written a short post, but I wanted to add a bit more detail and spread the word.

    This is a self-funded event, meaning everyone buys their own food and drinks. Or buy something for a friend. We really built this event with the idea that we wanted to organize something for people to come to and meet each other. No pressure, and no expectation of costs or expenses. The first few years we packed a restaurant on the Seattle waterfront and heard from many people that they really enjoyed it.

    Since then, we’ve tried to look for more open environments where people can talk and enjoy some SQL Server talk in a casual atmosphere. We try for a venue that’s not more than 3-4 blocks from the convention center, and we should have a venue soon.

    Our goal is to get people to meet each other. Whether its your first Summit or 14th, whether you started working with SQL Server in the last decade or yesterday, this is just a chance and an organized event to meet others.

    Come join us, tell friends, and be prepared to introduce yourself and have a conversation with someone else. That’s networking, and it’s the most valuable thing you can do for your career.

    We’ve organized a time (and place to be disclosed soon). You can do the same thing. Lots is happening in Seattle, and if you know 20 people, think about creating your own event, dinner, or just casual get together. Pick a time and place, and let PASS know so others can attend.

    Register today and I’ll see you in a couple Mondays.

  • Mercenary

    I was listening to a few people talk at an event about the software they were working on. For some of them, there was a true passion in solving the problems they faced. However these weren’t applications that eased poverty with cleaner water, or more efficient transportation. These weren’t applications that dealt with medical issues impacting human health. In many cases these were simple, consumer applications that entertained people, but these developers were quite proud of the applications they worked on.

    However the challenge of practicing their craft well elicited quite a bit of passion from these developers. They not only took a lot of pride in building an efficient set of methods in Java or C# quickly, they really enjoyed the process of taking a development task, writing code and tests, and delivering software that worked. They would even find pleasure in receiving a bug report, finding the issue, and delivering a corrected version of code. Most of all, however, they believed their software was making the world better in some way.

    There were also plenty of developers that didn’t really care what they worked on. They didn’t find anything special about software development, and were happy to get assigned a task, write some code, and deliver it. They weren’t looking to produce shoddy applications quickly, and many of them were talented developers. They just didn’t much care where they worked or what the function the software performed.

    Is this you? Are you willing to work on whatever application comes your way? Or do you have a passion to build something in particular, to work on projects that have some meaning to you? I think I’ve usually been one of the former, willing to work on any application. I’ve always been more concerned about the coworkers I have than the project we work on, but there are times I’ve felt our applications were a little special, and made a difference in some way.

    Without a doubt I think most of us would prefer to work in an area that means something to us, an area that elicits some passion. I just wonder how many of us actively seek out such positions or projects.

    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.

  • Challenge Yourself

    I am a proponent of blogging as a way to build your brand. Your work showcases your knowledge, thought process, and interests. It provides a way for potential employers to perform due diligence and determine if you are a good fit for their team and position. Blogging can also help you to learn more about your craft and focus your learning. After all, it’s been said that if you can’t explain something to others, perhaps you don’t really understand it.

    As I meet people, and talk to them about blogging, I often get asked “what should I write about?”. The easy answer is to write about the things that you do on a regular basis, the problems you solve at work, and the solutions you implement. However, what do you write about if you don’t do much at work and are looking to learn new topics. If you want to show that you are building experience with SQL Server in a way that isn’t required at your current position?

    I think it’s easy, and I’ll give you a few ideas. First, build a lab at home. These days it’s easy (and free) with VirtualBox and a little memory, both of which can be had for relatively small investments. Next, start following the #tsql2sday tag on Twitter and challenge yourself to get a post written every month. However don’t stop there. I keep a list of previous topics and you can go back and write a post for every one of those topics. Your effort won’t be in the recap, but you’ll force yourself to learn, or at least explain, your thoughts in those areas.

    If you want additional challenges, read a question like this one on splitting strings. Don’t read the replies, but try to answer the question on your own by writing a blog that explains your solution. You can link to the post and show how you would solve the issue if you encountered it. If you want to press yourself further, go through my list of article requests and pick one. It doesn’t matter if the article has been written and published or not. Write your own solution on your own blog, as I saw Jason Carter do here for this request on exporting XML files. Feel free to submit your post as an article, and maybe we’ll publish your solution as well.

    There are so many ways to challenge yourself and learn more about SQL Server that it could be a full time endeavor by itself. Please don’t make it one, and remember to balance your career growth with the rest of your life. However, do continue to work regularly on your career, and showcase your knowledge. It’s good practice for your communication skills, and you never know when you might count on the wide breadth of knowledge you’ve documented to help you land that dream job.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcast

    Listen to the MP3 Audio ( 3.1MB) podcast or subscribe to the feed at iTunes and LibSyn.

  • The Mentoring Experiment – Closing Thoughts

    Andy wrote a post today called The End of the Mentoring Experiment, which is something we’ve talked about for some time. In fitting with the decision, and perhaps justifying it further, we decided to do this a few months back, but as with many things, we haven’t gotten to it until today.

    I remember when we started this, and we were very excited and interested. The first cycle of matches, using 8 people we hand picked, consumed a lot of time, and while it was successful, it was difficult to scale. We continued on a couple other cycles, trying to tweak to process a bit, but never found a way to manage this effectively, given other parts of our lives, and were never quite comfortable with automating too much of the experiment away.

    We also struggled with the idea of accidently making some mistake, breaking someone’s privacy, or causing harm to another’s career or life. Andy wrote a few things about this, and it made sense to us.

    We do believe in mentoring, and I hope that those of you looking to grow your careers take time to look for mentors. If you need advice or want help, ask. There are lots of people that will probably give you a little time. It’s not a sign of weakness to need or want a mentor. It’s a sign of maturity.

    For those of you with some experience, keep an eye out for someone that might ask for help, or maybe just seem to be lost. Tread lightly, and carefully, but offer to be a sounding board if they’d like one. You can really make a difference in someone’s career with a little effort.