Voice of the DBA

Tag: career

  • What’s Mentoring?

    We have just kicked off The Mentoring Experiment after talking about it for months. There has been a lot of interest and quite a few applications submitted. We’ve even had a lot of people ask if we needed help mentoring people, which is great. If you’re interested, you still have a couple days to submit an application.

    The past week or two, after getting started, I’ve been surprised just how often I’ve seen or heard the word “mentoring” used in many ways. I’ve seen it talked about on TV, on the radio, and in various Internet spots. It’s almost like our experiment kicked off a slew of other projects from other people. That’s not the case, and my guess is I’m a little more aware of how often mentoring is used by various people.

    Definition

    Webster’s dictionary says that a mentor servers as a guide or advisor. Wikipedia sees a mentor as a counselor, friend, or teacher that helps to advise a protégé or serve as an example.

    Those tend to fit my definition which is someone that is providing some counsel, advice, and perspective to another in a way that has the best interests of the mentee or protégé at heart. It’s private, at least to the extent that the mentee wants it private, and there isn’t any exchange of money or quid pro quo for the time. It’s a volunteer effort on the part of the mentor.

    Mentoring is part setting that example in your own career, which allows the mentor to help the mentee learn from experience. This experience and wisdom should establish the respect that is needed for the mentee to take a mentor’s advice under advisement. Mentoring is also acting as a sounding board, almost as a psychiatrist does, in listening to the mentee, asking questions, and helping to give an outside perspective on a situation or decision. 

    A mentor should act as a guide, helping and leading, but not setting the direction or goals, but helping the mentee to find their own way to a better career.

  • Less Pay, More Convenience

    Would you want to work here instead of your office?

    Would you take a pay cut to be able to telecommute? I would, and I have in the past. I took a pretty substantial pay cut to work full time for SQLServerCentral almost a decade ago. It was an impact to me life, both positive and negative, but overall I think it was for the better. We had less money to spend, but I got more time with my kids, which was infinitely more valuable to me.

    It seems that I’m not alone as over a third of IT professionals surveyed would take some pay cut to stay home. The quality of life increase, lower costs, and less stress are definitely worth the trade off and I think more and more people are starting to try to convince their employers to allow remote work.

    However employers are slow to catch on. Most of the jobs that are posted don’t have telecommuting as an option, and many managers are reluctant to allow remote work. I know that I interviewed for two jobs in 2002/2003 and in both cases, they were reluctant to allow me to work at home. For one job I offered to take less money and work from home 4 days a week, but my offer was refused.

    I think we are a long way from telecommuting becoming a common way of working in IT. It will likely take a newer generation of managers and directors that have grown up with the idea of working remotely and with the technology that allows effective work from home to change the prevailing attitude.

    Not everyone wants to telecommute, which is fine. However for those people that do, I think you should make a case for remote work, show examples of how it can work and maybe even decide on some SLA for the way you work. Show your manager that you are willing to work with them to prove it can work and maybe you’ll get the chance to perform an experiment.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcasts

  • Why Build a Brand?

    Why should you go to the trouble to start blogging, speaking, answering questions or anything else. What’s the point?

    I’ve written a little before about this. When you build a brand, it helps you to stand out from others. You become more noticeable, and more likely to get the interview. You allow a potential employer to do some due diligence before they call you for an interview, which gives them more confidence you are the right person for the job.

    And that if they call you, knowing your brand, the job is more likely what you want to do. Your brand lets people know what your skills are, what talents you have, and what you might want to do in life.

    Working on your own brand also forces you to think about what you want from your career, or in your career, and it helps you to become better. Working on a better brand means getting better at your career in some way. Whether you blog, speak, or do anything else, you have to learn the topic well enough to teach it.

    You are building an online brand with everything you do online, and many people in technology are regularly building that brand, so take advantage of it, put a little more effort in and get into the top ten percent of people in your field.

    Remember that a brand can have a downside, so use your own version of “The Test” before doing anything online.

    And don’t forget that just because you have a great job your branding doesn’t matter. It can still be useful, even if you don’t want a new job.

  • Enjoy Your Life

    A sad weekend, and shocking news Sunday morning. I was out running errands when I checked email and found out a friend had been killed in a plane crash on Saturday afternoon. He was a Boy Scout and Girl Scout leader, someone who I have gotten to know quite well, our kids have played together, and we’ve camped at various events together, sharing lots of cooking duties and conversations. He was one of the people I know very well from Scouts. My heart goes out to his family, who were present at the airfield when the plane crashed. I couldn’t imagine being there to see my spouse die.

    I was in a bit of a daze yesterday morning, and tired to work through the day, helping them to enjoy an Easter holiday, but it was hard. Tia and I talked about it quite a bit, and were both grateful and thankful for all we have.

    A few days earlier, I had watched this short piece from a man that survived the Hudson River crash last year. It’s worth 5 minutes of your life, and it resonates with me, more so than it did last week.

    Three things I learned while my plane crashed

     

    My wife and I have talked bout dying a few times, and being prepared. I have lived a great life, and I’m comfortable with experiencing and achieving so much in my 43 years on Earth. I don’t want to die, and I’d like to see my kids grow up and have families, but I think I’ve had a great life so far with few regrets.

    I’d like to do more things in my life, and I’d like to go places and experience new things. I invest for the future, in different parts of my life, but I seek to enjoy myself as much as I can each day. I strive for a balance.

    My editorial today talked about my loss, and tried to remind people that life is short. We should look for that balance, and enjoy our lives as much as we can. As mentioned in the video, don’t try to be right as often as you try to be happy. If you want to improve a part of your life, whether that’s family, career, or something else, start taking the steps to make that improvement. It might take time, but today is the first day of the rest of your life, and it’s a good time to start going in the direction you want to go.