Voice of the DBA

Tag: career

  • What Do You Want to Know Before Negotiating Salary?

    Many of us are employed, and while we might have a salary review each year, we often don’t get to negotiate much about the amount. We might periodically ask for a raise of some sort, but what should we ask for? Most of us have accepted employment at some point, responding to the offer of a job. Do we know what a fair salary is for our position, in our location, with our experience?

    Human Resources and Personnel departments use surveys and information to set ranges of pay for different positions. They come to a salary negotiation with some idea of the market, which is a generalization of what an employee is worth. This could be quite different than what you specifically feel you should be paid. However, do you have any rationale for your demands?

    Every year Brent Ozar runs a salary survey. He gets lots of responses and does a better job of this than most other places I’ve seen. Including me. I’ve done this a few times, but I’d rather just let Brent run this and view his data. This year he asks you to look at the list of questions and give feedback.

    I think Brent has a good list of questions, but perhaps there is something you wish you’d have known before you last negotiated salary. Is there something that might help you decide if an offer (or raise) is fair? Perhaps you want to add a checklist of responsibilities (BI, DBA, dev, etc.).

    Maybe you think it would be interesting to know if there is on call work, or even the number of hours your employer expects you to work? Given the pandemic I might ask if the company is allowing remote work or expecting people to come back to an office. Some people have suggested these in the comments, but read Brent’s answers. He’s looking for a indicators or features that affect salary, not necessarily how you feel about the environment. I added one about non-monetary compensation like training, but feel free to comment on other suggestions as well.

    What’s really important here is that you take the survey when it comes out. Even if you don’t like the questions, getting this data compiled for our industry helps us all, so keep an eye out for the survey and fill it out to the best of your ability. Then get the results when they are published and use them to try and evaluate if you’re being compensated fairly.

    Steve Jones

  • Do You Have a Talent Gap?

    I have seen articles over the years that talk about a talent gap in companies, similar to this one. For a long time early in my career, it seemed anyone that went through a boot camp could get a job, and we had lots of unqualified people earning lots of money. I know I’ve run into my share of paper-CNE’s, paper-MCSE’s, and more in my career that took advantage of that talent gap. Over time it seemed that many companies stopped relying on certifications in hiring, but this didn’t seem to help us find more qualified workers. We either were short of staff or still had plenty of people that couldn’t do the work that well.

    During the last year, I have seen lots of articles about companies that are struggling to find workers at all levels, even though the pandemic has broadened the search space. Companies learned to work remotely and many started to hire people in different cities. I know a lot of people that changed jobs in the last year. Many landing a remote position at a company they would rarely if ever, drive to visit. I still hope the pandemic repercussions will include hiring more people in different locations, though that may not be the case for all organizations. Many managers seem to assume they will bring everyone back into an office at some point.

    However, the talent gap is real, and it’s existed for years. There has been a concern for many years from managers about their staff having the proper skills for the future. I hear constantly from customers that they don’t have enough trained people that understand some of the modern tools available. This is especially true for those technologies that are DevOps related. This includes version control, which I think is a basic skill. There are plenty of people that don’t understand the basics of writing code and committing it in Git.

    I do think some talent gap of this is the result of technology changing so fast, with new options and products to learn. Many of us feel we can’t ever keep up. I know I do, though I think that’s both true and not something to worry about. If you don’t use tools at work, you might think there’s no point in learning about them. If you are excited about technology, you can still be intimidated by all the choices out there. Do you look at Jenkins or Azure DevOps? We email scripts around, so is there a point to git? I even feel that way with Redgate products. They update every week or two and I’m always behind in trying to learn about them and decide if I need to worry about a specific feature.

    I think the talent gap is real, but I also think that learning to be comfortable with being a little uncomfortable is important. It’s unlikely you will be an expert with a tool anytime soon, so learn to be productive and effective. Maybe, more importantly, learn to learn. Spend time going through a tutorial or tackling a walk-through and get some comfort with technology. If you do need to learn more, then you can ask for resources.

    The talent gap is real for many of us, and certainly for many organizations. That’s not likely to change, so learning to adapt to the situation is probably best for all of us.

    Steve Jones

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

  • Goal Progress for September 2021

    I set goals at the beginning of the year, and I’m tracking my progress in these updates during 2021.

    Not a lot of progress in September. I think this is a bit of a symptom of life for me, as I find myself in a career lull as I get near the end of summer each year. Perhaps a learning item for me is to tackle more things earlier in the year, or later, as I find the end of the year slow.

    I’m also starting to think that my goals should be for part of a year, with a re-assessment at some point. Perhaps 2022 ought to be six month goals, or even 4 months goals and then create new ones, or leave some off.

    Current Grade: C-

    I’m leaving the same grade. Minor things accomplished. Mostly I think September was time away from work spent on life. A new car, chores before winter, and some time with my wife. No regrets here, other than my career stalled.

    Reading

    I did finish Lights Out, and I purchased Thanks for the Feedback. I opened it and got started. I also write a Lights Out review.

    Here’s the current progress:

    Technical Skills

    No real change here.  I have done much coding outside of work.

    Projects

    No real changes here. Minor updates, but not enough time spent on these items.

  • Thank a Mentor

    “The delicate balance of mentoring someone is not creating them in your own image, but giving them the opportunity to create themselves.” — Steven Spielberg

    I saw that quote posted on Twitter with the request that people tag a mentor that had helped them. Since then, a few people have posted their thanks to someone, and I’ve been tagged a few times. I’m honored that people think I’ve helped them somehow, as that’s been a portion of my career for the last twenty years. I make an effort to do help others have a great career and become better at their jobs.

    I’m not looking for lots of people to post anything about their mentors here or thank me. Instead, I am asking that you stop and thank someone that has helped you in your career.  Let them know they made a difference and how they did so. It’s good for them and for you.

    We all need help, support, and encouragement at times to help us move forward. We can all use someone that can give us an independent view of our decisions, our choices, and more. Their thoughts and observations help us keep perspective on the way forward that best suits us. Certainly, I know I need the perspective, as well as  the advice from others.

    There have been many people who have influenced my life, but two that have made a huge difference in my career are my wife and my former business partner. Those are people I’ve talked with nearly every week for the last twenty years and who have influenced me more than anyone or anything else in my life.

    Life can be challenging at many times and finding the right path forward for ourselves can seem uncertain. A mentor can be an advisor, confidant, cheerleader, and support system. When you find someone(s) that meets those needs for you, treasure them and be sure to thank them for impacting your life.

    Steve Jones

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