Tag: career

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

October 31, 2013
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

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!
- Windows Media Podcast – 30.9MB WMV
- iPod Video Podcast – 24.2MB MP4
- MP3 Audio Podcast – 4.9MB
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.
October 25, 2013
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

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!
- Windows Media Podcast – 35.7MB WMV
- iPod Video Podcast – 26.8MB MP4
- MP3 Audio Podcast – 5.4MB
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.
October 24, 2013

Recharge and Relax

My boss informed me a couple months ago that I had 30 days of vacation stored up and needed to take some. I mentioned this to my wife and she scolded me for not taking enough time off the last couple of years. Laughter ensued when I reminded her that she struggles to find even one day off every two week as she grows her horse training business. At least I take weekends off.

Most of the time.

I scheduled a few days in August and September, and enjoyed the time off, but I put off any more scheduling until I got another note from my boss two weeks ago saying I needed to schedule at least 16 days off before the end of the year. I’ve got a busy schedule, with 3 more trips between now and the end of 2013, along with a few other work commitments, so it’s hard to actually find that many days in my schedule. I somehow managed, and while it’s all in one and two day segments, I did schedule 17 days before the end of 2013.

I do know vacation is important. Life is short, and even though I really enjoy my job, I do need to get away and spend time living the rest of my life. It’s entirely too easy to get caught up working too many hours in the technology business, voluntarily or involuntarily. We need to make sure we take advantage of our time off and get away from the stress of our careers. I encourage each of you to make sure you are taking your vacation each year and getting time away from work.

This starts tomorrow, with two days off this week, and continues through November and December. As a result, I’ll be gone quite a bit through the end of the year. I’ve got a few guest writers and some re-runs, and I hope that people still enjoy the newsletter each day. If not, let me know, and we’ll make better plans for next year.

Steve Jones

As a side note, I’ve had 4 friends pass away in the last 3 years. All were under 50 years of age. Life is truly short.

Video and Audio versions

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.