Voice of the DBA

Tag: career

  • Life in a Startup

    I have worked for a few startup companies, including SQL Server Central. Each has been a different experience, and I learned a lot at each stop. However, I’m not sure I’d want to go through that process again at my age. I was thinking about the challenges and the excitement of being at a startup while reading about the founding of Reddit. The post doesn’t go a lot into the technical details or the working life, but it is an interesting read from a VC investor.

    I also found this post on Choosing Startup Life, which talks about what the author thinks about before trying to start a company. He compares this with life in a Big Tech company, which relates to lots of companies, in technology or not. The main differences are lower salaries, less infrastructure, lots of work, and upside in a startup. Big companies have higher salaries and more perks, less stress and responsibility, and not a lot of context-switching. In general, that’s been true in my experience, though in bigger companies that didn’t think they were software companies, I sometimes could end up with a lot of context-switching.

    When you work in a startup, I hope you have some passion or belief in what the company is building. I think that’s what drives a lot of Kickstarter/Indiegogo projects. Someone wants to start a business to do x and they believe in x. It’s important to do that since you are likely to need to work extra hours. Startups often are cash-strapped, so they don’t have a lot of services and infrastructure and depend on employees to work above and beyond their main job. They also are in a hurry to get cash, so they want to complete their work sooner, which means more hours per week. Not all are like this, and once there is some investment capital, hours can ease a bit, but investors want their return, so this isn’t a slow-paced, relaxed atmosphere.

    There isn’t a lot of security. I’ve had startups fail under me where we didn’t have enough money to make payroll. I’ve had them sold in an instant with the new owner deciding to drastically change the employment status for many people. At the same time, I’ve had some jobs that result in unexpected windfalls of money. I haven’t had a company go public yet, but perhaps that will happen at some point.

    I think about being in a startup like being in my first apartment in college. Nothing is provided, I don’t even know what I’m missing until I look for it, I keep long hours there, and everyone is responsible for everything. There are also a lot of arguments over who should/needs to/ought to do what.

    Is it worth it? I think that the chances of a startup becoming a success can vary. It is important to understand valuations if you are trading away hours of your life on a gamble you’ll make money. Keep an eye on the number of shares offered and the potential value they would have to reach to make a difference in your life. For that matter, make sure you know what a pile of money means for your life. USD$100,000 sounds like a lot if you got a check tomorrow, but how much would that change your life?

    If you decide to create a company and take outside investment, make sure you really understand finances.

    Startups are exciting, but make sure you like the people working around you. You’ll spend a lot of time with them, and if you don’t enjoy their company, you won’t enjoy your job. Startup life isn’t for everyone, but it can be an exciting chapter in your life.

    Steve Jones

    Listen to the podcast at Libsyn, Spotify, or iTunes.

    Note, podcasts are only available for a limited time online.

  • The Costs and Rewards of Speaking

    Most of the people I know who speak at a SQL Saturday or user group aren’t paid for their efforts. At many of the community events, the speakers are volunteering their time. Many are also paying for their own way to those events not located in their area. A few, such as me, might get a company to cover their travel expenses, but often this doesn’t include time. If I attend a SQL Saturday, I still have a bunch of work on M-F that needs to be done. No comp time for these events. That being said, I’m happy to donate some time and money to community events.

    Some speakers build and teach full-day sessions, usually called pre-conference sessions, for which they are paid. There can be competition at large events like the PASS Data Community Summit and SQL Bits to get a session since the payment can be rewarding. I’ve seen some speakers make USD$1k or so, which can cover travel expenses, and others make over USD$10k, which is a nice payday.

    Most of us don’t want to teach a full day of sessions, usually because it’s a lot of work to build a day of training. It’s also very nerve-wracking to try and teach people who have paid you. A lot of speakers don’t really want to deal with that stress. I’ve done it, and it is hard work. I don’t deliver pre-cons at events because I get expenses covered at lots of events and prefer not to compete with others who might want to earn some money while growing their careers.

    However, lots of people want to share their knowledge and teach others something useful. It’s been amazing to me how many people have stepped up to submit sessions and present them at events all over the world. I’ve been lucky and honored to meet many of these volunteers and call them friends.

    When Andy, Brian, and I started SQL Saturday, we weren’t sure there would be enough speakers to run 10 events in a year in 10 cities. At the time, the PASS Summit and a few other conferences were the only places to speak outside of user groups and we weren’t sure there would actually be enough people in a community willing to speak to run a conference. We also weren’t sure that many people would travel outside their home area to speak.

    I’m thrilled we were wrong. So many people have volunteered their time and energy to build a session and then deliver it at user groups and local events that there are often more speakers than spaces available for them. I’m also glad that so many of you attend and support local events.

    Speaking can be intimidating, but I know many of you can do it. It’s scary, and it’s something I never thought I’d do when I left university. It is a lot of work, it interrupts your free time, and it doesn’t pay you any hard currency after a session. However, it’s also thrilling to help others, exciting to have them listen to you, it hones your communication skills, and it is impressive to employers. On balance, I’d say that even delivering a presentation at your local user group is a profitable endeavor and a memorable experience.

    I hope we continue to see more of you willing to deliver a session for your peers, share some of your knowledge. I also hope that we see more of you stepping up to help organize a SQL Saturday or another local event in your community.

    Steve Jones

    Listen to the podcast at Libsyn, Spotify, or iTunes.

    Note, podcasts are only available for a limited time online.

  • Are IT Certifications Still Relevant?

    I’ve got a few certifications and quite a few more that have expired or aren’t relevant. Does anyone think Windows NT 4.0 or SQL Server 6.5 matter? If you need help in those areas, ask someone else. Unless you have a crazy budget with a willingness to pay a ridiculous hourly rate.

    Kamil Nowinski had a recent video discussing why IT certifications are still relevant. He had ten reasons, and if you want to watch the entire show, you’ll hear his reasons and some rationale why he thinks they matter. It’s a good set of reasons: keeping up with tech, practicing learning, demonstrating a commitment to some technology, finding a community of certified colleagues, and more.

    In some sense, many of these are tightly coupled, but still worth pointing out. I think for smart, driven, ambitious people, certification is something that you can take advantage of to add to the learning you’re likely already doing: sharpening your saw. That’s an analogy to the craftsman that keeps his/her/their tools ready to go. For us in technology, this is usually our mental acuity with software (or perhaps typing).

    For those who aren’t motivated, getting a certification just to add letters after your name devalues the certification for sure. We saw a lot of paper-CNEs (Novell), paper-MCSEs (Microsoft), and paper-CNAs (Cisco) in the 90s. Poor interviewing techniques combined with a glut of certified-but-not capable staffers soured many people on certifications. For good reasons.

    However, when you interview someone with a certification, or if you want to get one, pursuing a certification using Kamil’s list means you are driving your knowledge forward in a focused, organized fashion. The certification isn’t the goal, but a step on the way to becoming a more capable technical professional.

    I got a couple of certifications in the last few years, and I felt they helped me grow and learn. I didn’t always use all the skills directly, but I learned things that have helped me in my job and I didn’t regret the time spent. I might work on another one in 2024, but time is always in short supply, and I’ve got other things to learn.

    Even if I’m not trying to get certified, I continue to learn for many of Kamil’s reasons, just without an examination during my journey.

    Steve Jones

    Listen to the podcast at Libsyn, Spotify, or iTunes.

  • Action Over Knowledge

    I saw a quote recently that resonated with me. It’s not something I’ve often struggled with, but I have at times. Here’s the quote:

    “Life rewards action, not intelligence. Many brilliant people talk themselves out of getting started, and being smart doesn’t help very much without the courage to act. You can’t win if you’re not in the game.” – @JamesClear

    Part of my goals in life are to help others and motivate them to engage in life and drive themselves forward. I have tried to motivate my children, I work with kids I coach to grow and change, and I (think) write about this often here. I want you to take charge of your career and life and drive it forward in the way that works for you.

    However, you have to work at things. The quote above notes that it’s not how smart you are, but having success in life comes from action. From doing something. From making efforts. The last part is the most important, if you don’t engage and become part of your game, your life, you can’t win or achieve your goals.

    As Ferris Bueller said, life can move pretty and you can miss it if you’re not paying attention. As I get older, that means more to me. Life slips by, days, weeks, months, even years seem to fly by. Especially after the pandemic, where I see someone and realize it hasn’t been a year or two since I’ve seen them but four years.

    You don’t have to be extremely driven and type A. I think I might be a little too driven at times, living in chaos, but I met someone recently who spent more than 5 years trying to transform a company. This individual worked their job, spent nights and weekends trying to learn more about their business, and drove themselves and others well beyond what I’d consider a balance in life. They were working well over 60 hours a week for years, as were some employees. I don’t think that’s a great way to live, and whether it’s work, hobbies, or something else, forgetting to balance the various parts of your life isn’t good.

    At the same time, inaction, not trying to grow, learn, practice, or even attempt something new in any part of your life isn’t good either.

    Work on your career and skills but balance that with the time you need away from work. Invest in your education to change careers if you like, but don’t plan on working what is essentially two jobs to become a way of life. At least not for too many years. Enjoy your hobbies, but remember there is family at home that deserves and needs your time as well. Find ways to engage in life, but in a way that respects all the commitments to work, family, friends, faith, hobbies, and yourself. Especially don’t forget about taking care of yourself.

    Effort is often more important than the short-term results. Just being engaged and in the game gives you a chance of success, but more, it allows you to enjoy the ride. Just do so in a balanced way.

    Steve Jones

    Listen to the podcast at Libsyn, Spotify, or iTunes.