Tag: career

For most of my career I’ve been a full time employee (W-2 in the US) or worked for myself with my own business. I’ve rarely been a consultant or contract (1099) employee, and what experience I had with those situations didn’t suit me. I don’t like the lack of security and certainly don’t like being responsible for the sales portion of finding work.

Many people like contracting, and in fact, some make a career of it. There are companies that help you find work, and many large companies employ people for years as contract workers. There’s an interesting article on the impact of this at Ars Technica. It looks more at hotels and other service work, but this is common for technology workers as well, especially at many of the large, common names. If you look through the comments, you’ll find a few examples.

I do think this is starting to be something that workers have to contend with, and it’s been obvious how hard this is over the last month. This might be especially true as companies can find ways to better specify work and hire people for their expertise at less than full time hours. This does save them a lot of long term costs and commitment, which is a change from what I expected when graduating from university.

I’ve said this in a few talks, but ultimately I believe that each of us should be treating all jobs as temporary, ensuring that you take care of yourself and plan for your future. While a company might provide benefits and some retirement help, you should ensure you are paying attention and saving where you can. In the US, healthcare is a mess and expensive for contract workers. Outside the US things are better in some places, but you should still ensure you plan to take care of yourself if the company doesn’t.

It has always been hard for workers throughout history. Many companies exist to make profits for their management and owners, often at the expense of workers’ treatment. Despite that, there are some amazing companies out there that do a better job of existing as a partnership with workers than others. My employer, Redgate Software, is one of those, and I’m lucky to work there. We’re hiring, good luck if you apply, and tell them I sent you.

I hope all of you reading this can find a good employer that treats you well and gives you work you enjoy doing each day. If you don’t  have that, invest in yourself, work on your tech and soft skills, apply for jobs, be diligent in your questioning of the hiring team, and cross your fingers. There are great employers out there, and best of luck in finding one for yourself.

Steve Jones

Listen to the podcast at Libsyn, Stitcher or iTunes.

Hiring staff is hard, and certainly it can sometimes be a challenge to find good people to build software and manage systems. Many of us want to be those good people, and we are looking to improve our own skills. I think that’s one of the reasons that SQLServerCentral has become so popular. Many of us want to become better at our jobs.

It can be hard to determine what to learn and where to invest your time. I’ve talked with plenty of people that have worried about various Microsoft technologies and their longevity. Notification Services is the classic example, but I know people that have been wary of SSIS, Power BI, Azure, and more. It’s daunting to consider spending 100 hours across the next year on some technology, only to find it’s not likely to help you get the job you want.

Recently there was an analysis of the coding tests that were given to developers by various companies. This is interesting to look at from an employee view, when thinking what skills to work on. One thing I see is that SQL is constantly in demand. It ranks on the second most test language, only behind JavaScript. That ranking makes sense in that lots of companies need help with web technologies, and there are lots of these jobs.

What I’d also say is that most every job out there needs SQL. Whether you are a web developer, a mobile or client side developer, you use Java, Python, C#, or anything else, you’ll work with a database. Even many of the NoSQL class of databases have added SQL as a query language for developers.

SQL, for all of its shortcomings, is a standard way of working with data. It’s a skill that isn’t likely to go away anytime soon and the more you can build efficient queries, the more likely it is that you’ll impress someone in the next interview. Read our T-SQL articles and practice answering questions in the forums, and you might be surprised at how much of a T-SQL guru you can become.

Steve Jones

Listen to the podcast at Libsyn, Stitcher or iTunes.

The daily protocol for some of the world is changing rapidly these days. The COVID-19 pandemic is affecting many people. Many of us working in tech are blessed that we have the ability to work remotely, and lots of companies have started to allow working from home (WFH) to rapidly grow in the last month. I worry about those that don’t have the option, and I hope they find ways to cope.

I’ve been working from home for 17 years. My wife did it for large tech companies for almost 20 years. It’s not hard, but it’s not simple. Kendra gave us three tips last week, and I’m adding a few more since I ran across a piece in the NYT from a writer that’s been forced to work at home more due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It notes that working at home isn’t a panacea, and there are creativity losses from separation. I tend to agree, which is why I normally go to the Redgate offices a few times a year. The facetime is important.

I will say that the switch to working from home is an adjustment. Alice Goldfuss has a long post on this, and there are a few thoughts from Andrew Pruski on his first two years. If you’re interested, Eugene Meidinger also talks a bit about working for himself at home, and the loneliness of the first three months. Mala also has some resources that might prove helpful.

If I think back, I remember a lot of the challenges of being at home and not going to an office. I spent over a decade going to an office and starting to work at home was hard. My wife had been doing it for 7 or 8 years at that point and sharing an office was hard. She was always on the phone, which was louder than the open office plan I’d had at JD Edwards. Or she was gone, and I was lonely. I’d go for walks with the dog or hit the gym most days. I learned that I had a kitchen, but I was less prepared for lunch because I didn’t have to make it and take it anywhere.

At one point I took a part time consulting gig to get out of the house. That gave me more purpose and satisfaction, but it meant my days were more busy and I struggled to separate work from home. I still struggle slightly with this, but I have learned to balance life out. If I need a break on a Tuesday, that’s fine. If I need to work on a Saturday to catch up, that’s fine. Sometimes I actively make that trade, especially during ski season.

Working from home is a change, and it’s disruptive. I mostly work on solo projects, but I do need to collaborate and find the Slack, Teams, and video calls are helpful. I do have a separate office, and I’ve had to explain to family that working is working, and they should not just interrupt me at any time. I have to learn to take breaks, and I have to learn to build a routine. You will too, and it’s something I’d recommend. Take advice from others and try something for a week. See how it works for you, remembering you have to build some habits and try them out. Don’t abandon something immediately, and don’t think that the way you start working this week is something you’re stuck with forever.

Stay safe during this time and work to keep yourself mentally health until the world gets back to normal activity.

Steve Jones

Listen to the podcast at Libsyn, Stitcher or iTunes.