Voice of the DBA

Tag: career

  • You Should Know

    Are you building your knowledge?

    What skills don’t you get taught about being a good database developer? If you are like most people, there is a whole list of things that are good practices for writing code, but you weren’t aware of. And like most people, you might be confused about what things you ought to start learning because of the huge amount of advice from people that are sure “their” way of building software is the best way.

    I ran across a great article that tackles this subject, and talks about a few fairly critical things that many developers don’t learn. Or maybe they learn them, but don’t believe they provide benefits (like version control). It’s amazing how often I find developers, and DBAs, reinventing some process, or struggling through the same tasks over and over because they haven’t bothered to build a repeatable process.

    The best quote in the article is this one:  Setting up a staging server should be easy.  If it is not easy, you already have a problem in your infrastructure…” It’s absolutely true, and if you don’t think this is an issue for your company,  I have two words for you.

    Disaster recovery.

    A staging server is the equivalent of setting up your system again in a DR scenario. If that’s not easy, then the likelihood of you doing it in a timely, efficient, and acceptable-to-your-boss manner in an emergency is pretty low.

    Do yourself a favor at get a staging/QA/UA server set up in your environment. In today’s multi-code, hypervisor-ridden technology shop, there’s no good excuse not to.

    Steve Jones

    (published at http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Editorial/72413/)

    The Voice of the DBA Podcasts

  • I lied, now what?

    Lies

    You have a job and realize that you’re in over your head. Perhaps you misled a manager that couldn’t really evaluate your technical skills, or maybe you memorized enough answers from Books Online to get through in interview. It could be that you took a test during the interview and used your cell phone to post the questions on SQLServerCentral and someone gave you the answers.

    Now you have been given a project and you don’t have the skills to complete it. You can’t ask for training or consulting help since you should know this stuff.  What do you do now? Should you continue to deceive your boss and ask for free help on the Internet? Can you muddle through it and hope that you don’t do anything that causes damage to the company?

    It’s a tough spot. I realize that you have bills, obligations, perhaps a family to take care of. Losing your job could impact other peoples’ lives. However my advice would be to be honest with your boss. Let him or her know that you need help, and move forward from this point.

    No matter what your skill level, you should be making an effort to grow your skills. You should be taking advantage of any help given to you by others to learn more.  If you are making an effort, learning to close the gap between your skills and your claims of knowledge, you should be fine. Your boss will be more understanding of you asking for help than he will be if your efforts fail and your deceit is uncovered.  Most people are willing to give others second chances, especially when they are working to make amends.

    If you’re just coasting, and happy to ask others to write your queries and not improving yourself, then good luck. At some point you will be exposed, and likely fired. And you would deserve it.

    Steve Jones

    (originally published at http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Editorial/72367/)

  • I lied, now what?

    Not the best policy on the job.

    You have a job and realize that you’re in over your head. Perhaps you misled a manager that couldn’t really evaluate your technical skills, or maybe you memorized enough answers from Books Online to get through in interview. It could be that you took a test during the interview and used your cell phone to post the questions on SQLServerCentral and someone gave you the answers.

    Now you have been given a project and you don’t have the skills to complete it. You can’t ask for training or consulting help since you should know this stuff.  What do you do now? Should you continue to deceive your boss and ask for free help on the Internet? Can you muddle through it and hope that you don’t do anything that causes damage to the company?

    It’s a tough spot. I realize that you have bills, obligations, perhaps a family to take care of. Losing your job could impact other peoples’ lives. However my advice would be to be honest with your boss. Let him or her know that you need help, and move forward from this point.

    No matter what your skill level, you should be making an effort to grow your skills. You should be taking advantage of any help given to you by others to learn more.  If you are making an effort, learning to close the gap between your skills and your claims of knowledge, you should be fine. Your boss will be more understanding of you asking for help than he will be if your efforts fail and your deceit is uncovered.  Most people are willing to give others second chances, especially when they are working to make amends.

    If you’re just coasting, and happy to ask others to write your queries and not improving yourself, then good luck. At some point you will be exposed, and likely fired. And you would deserve it.

    Steve Jones

    (published at http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Editorial/72367/)

    The Voice of the DBA Podcasts

  • 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