Voice of the DBA

Tag: career

  • The Powershell Challenge

    indexI’ve been wanting to do more with Powershell (PoSh). I’ve seen Allen White present on it for years, and I’ve dabbled in various ways, using it to handle small tasks. However I haven’t really committed to learning a bunch of PoSh.

    Last month I was with Grant Fritchey on the 2013 SQL in the City tour and in one of his sessions, he uses some Powershell to audit his SQL Server instance. I thought that was pretty cool, and it made me want to dig in further. At the end of his talk, he mentioned a book, and I decided to grab it.

    It’s Learn Windows Powershell 3 in a Month of Lunches from Don Jones. The name alone made me want to grab it, and it has a catchy title.

    My plan is to take time every day or two and read a chapter and work through exercises in the book. I really want to get more comfort in PoSh because I do believe in it and I think it’s a fantastic way to get things done. I don’t work at scale, but I suspect with a little practice I’ll be using PoSh more often for simple things and saving those scripts.

    I’ll blog along the way and see how things are going. Once I get through, I expect that I’ll be digging into more with other articles and books that deal specifically with SQL Server.

    The days in the Challenge:

  • Becoming an MVP

    I see a lot written about the Microsoft MVP program and the various impressions the MVPs leave in the community. It seems that the view of MVPs is mostly positive in the community, and I hope that I do my part to further that feeling with my actions.

    However, one shouldn’t work to become an MVP. Personally I think it’s not a goal for anyone to make or work towards. The MVP award is a recognition of your community service from Microsoft. It does consider what contributions you make technically to help others, but this isn’t a test to pass or an evaluation of your skills.
    I view the MVP as a side effect of the work I do. I enjoy writing about SQL Server and speaking at events to try and help people get better at their jobs, inspire them to try something new or solve a problem in a different way. I enjoy helping others, and being a part of this amazing SQL Server community.
    You can read articles on becoming an MVP, Microsoft gives guidance, and there’s even a Wiki article on it. However I’d say you shouldn’t even worry about this. Do the things you enjoy, the things that give meaning to your job. If Microsoft things those things are worth of the award, great. If they don’t, you should still feel a sense of accomplishment over what you’ve done.
    Steve Jones

  • Image is Everything

    This editorial was originally published on Feb 13, 2009. It is being re-run as Steve is on vacation.

    Image is everything.

    Or is it?

    I received an email recently from someone that said they liked the editorials and newsletter, but that my T-shirt was unprofessional and I should wear something else. This was from an HR professional, and they mentioned that image matters.

    In some sense I agree. When I interview, speak, present, I want to put forth a good image, but I don’t necessarily agree that the clothes I wear need to be more formal to do that. I wear clean, neat clothes (for the most part), but I don’t adhere to a suit, shirt-and-tie,  or any other formal business attire.

    So for a Friday poll, with one of my beloved SQLServerCentral Friday shirts:

    How much does your attire matter?

    Now I have worn a suit to work before. One of my early programming and DBA jobs was at a small company where suits were required. So I wore a clean, pressed shirt, tie, and suit coat, not sport coat, every day. And every day at lunch I’d go to the gym and come back with my tie undone, or at least loose. And most days my boss would remind me to tighten it up by 2:00.

    After a year of making arguments and lobbying, we progressed from casual Fridays with jeans to khakis and polos every day. Productivity didn’t fall, our customers weren’t offended, and the business prospered. And I was happier at work.

    Attire does mean something to me, but it’s not an image that I want, it’s comfort. I want to be comfortable and not feel restricted or bound up by my clothes. It’s a little immature perhaps, but it’s something that matters to me and it’s something I ask on every phone interview. I am not against a company that requires a tie to be worn, but I’m not working there.

    I’ve seen people work with clients, present on stage, and handle all aspects of their business wearing any sort of clothing you can imagine. From jeans and a t-shirt to three piece suits. The effectiveness of the person has never seemed to be related to the attire, and while I agree you can go too far, clean, un-torn clothing of any sort works for me.

    But I’m curious about the rest of you. How much does attire matter in your business?

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcasts

    Everyday Jones

    The podcast feeds are now available atsqlservercentral.mevio.com to get better bandwidth and maybe a little more exposure :). Comments are definitely appreciated and wanted, and you can get feeds from there.

    Overall RSS Feed:  or now on iTunes! 

    Today’s podcast features music by Everyday Jones. No relation, but I stumbled on to them and really like the music. Support this great duo at www.everydayjones.com.

  • Up Your Value

    This editorial was originally published on Mar 5, 2009. It is being re-run as Steve is on vacation.

    I have a presentation that I give to a number of user groups on how to better brand yourself in these modern times. It’s based on my experiences over the last decade as I’ve grown my brand and been successful doing so based on the number of jobs I’ve been offered. I’ve drawn upon a lot of my experiences, as well as conversations I’ve had with others about what’s worked for them as well as what hasn’t.

    I noticed that I’m not the only person thinking about this and read a great blog by Kendal Van Dyke on Showing Your Value that covers some similar ideas. He talks about showing your value to your employer, which is something that I bring up in my presentation, and I think is important in these turbulent times.

    I’m not sure what the outlook is for DBAs and developers in 2009. I keep seeing information that shows things are going well for IT employees interspaced with all the announcements of cost-cutting and layoffs. I’ve talked with people that have a number of open positions and are hiring. I’ve talked to some that are reducing staff through attrition and have no plans to lay people off, and I’ve talked with people that have been told their company will downsize. I think it really depends on your company’s particular situation, and you should try to learn as much as you can about that.

    Regardless of whether you need to look for a job or not, I do think that it pays to look for ways to bring value to your employer, and your own career as well. And I think that you should document those things. You should know what you’ve accomplished over the last xxx months and be ready to bring that to the attention of your management during review time.

    Part of being a professional, in my opinion, is helping others do their jobs better. It might be passing along knowledge, it might be making a suggestion or giving someone a tool they can use, it might be changing the way you do something to save resources. These are things you can just do in a humble way, as a part of your daily work. I know many people are uncomfortable with being in the spotlight and bringing attention to themselves and that’s fine.

    However in our busy lives, with so much happening in our careers, it’s easy for your boss to forget how much you’ve done to help out him and/or the company. Keeping a record of these things, and bringing them to his attention is a good idea. It’s important for you to ensure you are managing your career and not letting it drag you along.

    And if you don’t have any way of showing your value, perhaps you ought to think about that as well.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcasts

    Everyday Jones

    The podcast feeds are now available atsqlservercentral.mevio.com to get better bandwidth and maybe a little more exposure :). Comments are definitely appreciated and wanted, and you can get feeds from there.

    Overall RSS Feed:  or now on iTunes! 

    Today’s podcast features music by Everyday Jones. No relation, but I stumbled on to them and really like the music. Support this great duo at www.everydayjones.com.