Voice of the DBA

Tag: career

  • Hybrid Hires

    I'd like to see more of these in the US

    There was a lot of talk about various hybrid technologies at the recent Detroit Auto Show, with many new models being displayed that use some type of hybrid technology. There are plenty of people that don’t love the technology, but my Prius has performed well for me over the last three and a half years I’ve had it. Who knows, I might even buy another one.

    The past two or three years have been a down economy around the world. As I’ve traveled to meet many SQL Server professionals at events all around the US, I’ve found that many of them have struggled with having more work and less resources to get it done. There are also many people who have lost their jobs or had trouble finding a job. Quite a few others have a hard time trying to get work done while worrying about their own job security. The downturn has not been pervasive, however, and there are plenty of technical professionals for whom the last two years have been business as usual as they go to work every day.

    At some point most of us will need to look for another job, and when we do, I think those of us that are well rounded DBAs will be in a good position. Data professionals often understand technology, and the business impact of data. There was some data on recent good trends in IT hiring summarized in this article that talks about job growth. In the article it mentions how there are lots of potential IT related positions where people are being hired to analyze data and statistics, as business/IT hybrids.

    I’m not sure that the idea of being a hybrid worker appeals to me, but I can see where technical and business skills are valuable for a data professional. You want to use these skills to market yourself and bring attention to your resume. It’s why a good IT worker will learn about the business of their employer and how it works.

    When you’re looking for a job, showing off your business skills alongside your technical skills can give you more opportunities to choose from and hopefully help you find the job that fits you best.

    Steve Jones

    (originally published at http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Editorial/72344/)

    The Voice of the DBA Podcasts

  • Master Training

    A Kung Fu Master

    As a kid, growing up on Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris, and Saturday afternoon Kung Fu Theater, I always wanted to be a martial arts master. A few years later, being a Jedi Master caught my interest despite the fact that it wasn’t a viable goal on Earth in 1977. Now I’ve started down the path towards another master, the Microsoft Certified Master.

    Actually I’m not going down that path. I had the chance to take the written test with no downside for me, so I took it. I have no intention of actually pursuing the lab at this time. It’s a lot of work, and not necessarily something that would provide me a lot of benefits right now. I may change my mind if I were looking for consulting work, but I am quite happy with my job right now and don’t want to change.

    I do plan on taking one or two of the MCM training being offered by SQLskills this year, but I won’t be looking for the intensive  4 weeks of training to prepare me for the lab exam. After reading Brent Ozar’s adventures last year, I think I’d need all 4 weeks of class along with a few more weeks of prep to be ready for the lab.

    So why am I taking a class? First, it’s good training. I have had the privilege of seeing both Paul Randal and Kimberly Tripp speak before, and it’s always enjoyable and informative. I come out of their hour long sessions with so many notes and new knowledge that it I feel like I’ve been learning for a full day. I am sure that a week’s training from them will result in a small novel that I’ll need to review over the following months.

    Training can be hard to get funded, but it is often worth it. I hope that more companies would be willing to improve the skills of their people with this type of advanced training, even without paying for the certification testing. The chance to learn from experts in particular areas is an investment that I think is worth making in my career and in yours.

    Steve Jones

    (originally published at http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Editorial/72278/)

    The Voice of the DBA Podcasts

  • What Not To Say

    Don't yell at the boss

    This article on 8 things your boss doesn’t want to hear made me smile. There are a few phrases listed that I would definitely recommend not using if you want to succeed in your current place of employment.

    Having managed a few DBAs in my career, I thought of a few more that I thought might fit the data professionals out there as “things not to say” to your boss:

    I’m not sure if more memory will help: You could substitute CPU or disk drives for memory in this one, but it’s your job to know. If you don’t, learn how to tell what your bottlenecks are and make appropriate recommendations.

    That additional memory didn’t help: The only thing worse than not being able to make a good recommendation is making one that doesn’t improve performance after your boss has approved the purchase. Now you look bad, and you’ve made your boss look bad.

    Company X has offered me $yyyyy. Will you match it? You can get away with this once at a job, or maybe once a decade. If you want to go to your boss with this one, be ready to quit if you don’t get it, and be ready to shine if you receive the raise. No one wants to be put in a corner, and I would be likely to let you move on if you came to me, unless I felt you deserved it. Even then, the second time you ask, I’m showing you the door.

    I downloaded this software off the Internet and it crashed the server: You can’t trust stuff you download, no matter what the Open Source crowd says. Test, test, test. Preferably on a test machine.

    It works on my machine: I have always wanted to answer this with a “Who gives a <insert four letter expletive here>?” My actual responses haven’t been that far away if it’s an important project and you give me this excuse.

    Feel free to add your own “things not to say” to the comments below.

    Steve Jones

    (originally published at http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Editorial/72279/)

    The Voice of the DBA Podcasts

  • Data Scientists

    Would you like to be a data scientist? In some sense I think that many of us working with SQL Server are amateur data scientists. Whether it’s building a report, or just writing code to summarize data, we are working with data in a scientific way.

    What is data science? It’s not really a science, but instead it describes the field of analyzing data and the tools used. It’s primarily used with more traditional sciences to make sense of the vast quantities of data that are accumulated and used to support or debunk some hypothesis.

    Many of us as data professionals have some experience in managing data and manipulating it, but not a lot of formal knowledge in statistics or heavy math. Just reading the recommendations of what might be needed become a data scientist reminds me of a graduate level curriculum, but I’m not sure most of us need that much schooling.

    However I do think that as a data professional that is looking to add strategic value to your company’s applications and trying to stand out, it makes sense to beef up your analytics skills. Finding ways to spot trends and patterns can be very valuable to finding new opportunities in business, and those talents are based on sound statistical analysis techniques.

    Steve Jones

    (Originally published at http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Editorial/72171/)

    Podcasts