Voice of the DBA

Tag: career

  • Time for Your Career

    Pro XMl book
    Trying to learn some XML, and work on my skills.

    When I was at SQL Saturday #131 recently, I attended Will Sisney’s (@HanSQL | blog) talk titled “6 Steps to a Stellar Performance Review”. It was a very interesting session and I agree with most of the advice that Will presented. A lot of it feels like common sense, much like my Branding presentation, but it’s helpful to have someone talk you through the ideas and get you organized. I’d recommend you attend this session if you get the chance to do so and vote for it if Will submits for the PASS Summit.

    However there was one thing in the session that struck me. One of the steps is for you to take control of your own training and make an active effort to learn more about your craft, tracking your time and efforts to present to your boss. Will says that he spends an hour a day on professional development, which sounds like a lot at first glance, but it’s only 12.5% more than a 40 hour work week.

    Who works 40 hours in this business? Lots of people, though I’m not sure it’s the majority. However I do know that there are people that don’t focus and work just on their projects for that 40-50 hours they spend at the office, so an hour a day isn’t unreasonable. I’ve had more than a few bosses that were willing to give me 2-4 hours a week to spend on learning something, if I could show them it was time well spent.

    How much time could you spend on professional development every week?

    I am asking what you could realistically fit into your schedule now, without large sacrifices by your family or the rest of your life. Could you spare an hour a week? Two? Five? Andy Warren talks about needing 100 hours to learn a new skill and feel comfortable with it. You won’t be an expert, but you would be able to work with the technology and have an idea on how to learn more. Four hours a week would get you 100 hours this year. Could you spare that?

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcasts

    We publish three versions of the podcast each day for you to enjoy.

  • Teambuilding and Bonding

    old manual printer
    The roller that printed my etching.

    It’s a joy for me to go to work. Of course, I have the advantage of working at home, a 50ft commute, and working with my wife, someone whose company I enjoy. In all of the places I’ve worked over the years, it’s been refreshing to go to work with people with whom I get along, and distressing to go see those I don’t like. In places where I have a preponderance of the latter type of people, the job is a grind that wears me out. I only keep going until I can find another place of employment.

    Recently I was in Cambridge, UK for a meeting with my group at Red Gate Software. I go over once or twice a year and spend a few days with my department and a few days in the office. This time one of the days I was planning on being in the office was a “day out” for our part of the company. Twenty-some people took a bus to another town where we etched a picture and printed it during the first half of the day, and then toured the GainsBorough house and museum in the afternoon.

    It wasn’t quite the trip I had in mind, and I was tempted to try and skip the trip and return home a day early, but I went along. It turned out to be a fun day, and I had the chance to meet new people in the company, and get to know others that I had met before. In some ways it reminded me of previous jobs where we had excursions to movies, baseball games, miniature golf, and even cookouts. All those events, often during work hours, were nice breaks from work.

    However they also made the job more enjoyable. I got to know co-workers better and bond with them in a way that never happens in the office. I established common rapport with people, getting closer to people I liked, and often finding that I wasn’t so different from others that I didn’t get along with. These events made the job better, even when we were all back to our normal routines.

    It seems that fewer and fewer companies actually bother to set up team-building, even at the department level. It also seems that many people would rather skip these events, and take a day off rather than spending time with co-workers in a social setting. I felt that way on this trip, but I also realized that sharing those common experiences is valuable, and can help promote synergies among a team of people that result in better work in the future.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcasts

    We publish three versions of the podcast each day for you to enjoy.

  • T-SQL Tuesday #30 – Ethics

    TSQL2sDay150x150This month the topic is hosted by Chris Shaw, and his topic is ethics.

    The blog party is the second Tuesday of each month. There is a theme and it is hosted by a different blogger every month. I’ve got a complete list of topics on my blog if you want to read about the past entries.

    It was started by Adam Machanic and if you want to host one, let him know. It can be fun, though a little busy as you compile a summary of the posts from the month.

    Ethics

    I thought this was a great topic, and I’ve actually written on it before. Chris asks a few questions about ethics and they are good ones. I’d like to think that most people have a good code of ethics, but I also think many people haven’t really thought through what their ethics are on this situation. You should do your job, and do what you’re told, but I think breaking the law, or performing an action that violates your moral principles is a no-no.

    However when you get into more subtle issues, like the one Chris talks about with regard to security, what do you do?

    Overall you have to follow your moral compass and use The Test.

    • If you have any doubt about what you’ve been asked to do, seek a second opinion, and get a confirmation from your boss (or their boss) in writing.
    • If you are sure it’s wrong, don’t do it, give you reasons, and let them get someone else to do it.
    • If it’s illegal, you should report it.

    I know sometimes this puts you in a bad situation, and you may fear for your job. That’s natural, and understandable, especially if you are the sole breadwinner for your family.

    However you also have to live with your actions, and they reflect on your soul daily. I would ask that you make the right decision, even when it’s not the most popular, profitable, or palatable one.

  • The Best Way to Learn

    Kindle
    How can we help you learn better?

    I constantly see people asking the question about how they should learn more about some aspect of SQL Server. We have lots of articles here on SQLServerCentral, and there are any number of other sources on the Internet, but I’ve typically recommended that people buy a book. I’ve been an author, and I like to support authors, but that isn’t why I recommend books.

    When you try to learn some new topic, say Reporting Services, there is so much information you can find on Google, but it’s all unorganized. It can be hard to learn without a plan, and books are usually organized in a way to walk you through a technology. That along can be valuable, and you can supplement chapters with articles you find around the web. This was the inspiration for our Stairway Series of topics, which we’ll eventually compile into books at some point. The Stairway on Reporting Services, by Jessica Moss, is excellent, and if you read through it, you’ll see what I mean.

    The book market is evolving, and e-books are exploding. I see more and more Kindles and other e-readers everywhere I go and it seems there’s a resurgence of reading, at least for some people. I know that technical books haven’t necessarily been popular on e-readers, but I’m sure that will change over time. I still think books are one of the best ways to tackle some new technology, but I think the static way we present information in most books could be improved. This week, I wanted to get some ideas from you.

    What would you like to see in an e-book that would help you learn?

    Would you like to see video included, or demos/screencasts of some feature being used? Should reference implementations of functions be linked from the book, or perhaps you’d like to see more interactive questions, puzzles, and evaluations of your knowledge as you proceed. One thing I thought might be interesting would be a pre-chapter quiz that could let you know if it’s even worth reading that section.

    I suspect that we’ll start to see more integration of platforms, perhaps even allowing you to sync your e-reader with an application on your desktop that allows you to cut/paste code from the book into SSMS while you have your e-reader on the desk. Give us your ideas today for ways that might make is easier for you to learn.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcasts

    We publish three versions of the podcast each day for you to enjoy.