Voice of the DBA

Tag: career

  • The Learning Choice

    I advocate learning constantly for those of us in technology. This might be especially important for data professionals as we are at the nexus of so muc activity these days. Data is important, our systems are under scrutiny for security, there is an every growing set of applications that want to connect, and we often struggle to keep up in a fast-paced, DevOps world. It feels like my plate is overflowing with the need to understand PowerShell, JSON, the cloud, Hadoop and its myriad of related technologies on the Microsoft Stack, machine learning, data science, statistics, and when I have time, make sure I’m up to date with SQL.

    Recently I’ve run across a few pieces that ask the question about where to spend time. There’s a blog on R v Python (I’ve seen quite a few of these) and a thread on deciding if ML skills are something a database developer should learn. These are just a few of the ones I’ve seen in the last month, as I guess lots of people are thinking and writing about New Year resolutions and goals.

    We have a limited amount of time for learning each day, week, month, or year. We might be able to increase that for a short time, perhaps months, but all of us need some balance in life. Given that there’s a limited amount of time, and that we need some focus and practice over time to absorb skills, where do you spend your effort in learning?

    Jeff Moden is an advocate of you sharpening your T-SQL skills with deep learning, as he sees this as one of the main reasons that applications perform poorly (and people post in our forums). Others lean towards adding new skills, perhaps adding SSIS proficiency or transitioning your analysis skills to Extended Events. Still others might seek to become more generally rounded by spending time on C# or Python.

    There are also other views, such as focusing on the skills you need in your current position. If you’re not happy, maybe you want to devote learning effort to get a job in an area where you’re passionate. Or maybe you just want to make more money, and are willing to spend time in those technologies that are paying more.

    The choice is up to you, and I can’t give you the answer that suits your path. You must find a balance between work and the rest of life, and make the choices that best fits you. I don’t want to imply this is easy. Thinking about the things that really matter to you and affect how you approach each day is a difficult exercise. My advice is that you go in one of two ways. If your career is something that you feel passionate about, focus your learning in a way that will help you find a job that brings you purpose. If you just need a job to pay the bills, learn things that increase your earnings, but ensure that you have family, faith, hobbies, or some other endeavor outside of work that brings purpose and fulfillment to you.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcast

    Listen to the MP3 Audio ( 5.0MB) podcast or subscribe to the feed at iTunes and Libsyn.

  • Learning Goals–January Review

    In December I participated in T-SQL Tuesday #97 and wrote a post about 2018 goals. I promptly spent two weeks out of the country and then a relaxing holiday season. Actually, holidays extended slightly with a ski trip and a wedding in January.

    This is a look back at my goals, since I have a monthly reminder to do so. This is the first review, a little late as I’ve struggled to focus a bit on work in January, but here goes.

    Progress

    I picked two things to work on this year: Python and Extended Events. I’m failing miserably in both.

    I did work on a little Python in solving a few of the Advent of Code puzzles, but I’ve only read a few pages in the Machine Learning book and not much else. I’ve gotten distracted by other items on my list.

    I haven’t done anything on Extended Events.

    I did play with a little more Pester, and I set up an MVC site in a project for a demo, so I tackled things that interest me, but not in the extra areas I wanted to learn.

    Planning and Moving Forward

    I didn’t actually do my planning in December. When the appointment came up, I was a little buried with other items and let it pass without rescheduling.

    Moving forward, here’s what I want to do. I’m going to set a reminder for Tuesday afternoons to spend an hour on XE. I’ll set that for 3 months and see where we stand. I’m hoping to work through a bit of Pluralsight courses and then some of Jason Brimhall’s series on his blog.

    For Python, I’m going to take some time on Friday mornings here. That’s likely a slower time for me, so I’m scheduling a half hour to work on something with Python. I need to refresh some core skills and then move on from there. I’ll likely go back through a bit of the Dive into Python book, then try moving to a bit of ML stuff. This is good as I’ll get some content, at least questions of the day, out of this work.

    I also realize that I continue to spend some time on R, as this is a part of SQL Server and it’s an area that generates some content for SSC. That along with my MVC project are things that will distract me a bit, but I’ll try to push forward in all these directions.

    Hopefully this will result in a better review next month.

  • Are You Always Up?

    I’ve had the opportunity to work for and with quite a few companies in my career. In some sense working as a database developer or database administratrator is very similar at many places. The “job’s the job,” as I’ve said in more than a few interviews, as I often ask to meet with others and better understand the environment. I’m rarely sold on the technology in use, usually more concerned with management and co-workers, though you might view employment differently.

    At the same time, it can be amazing how different the environment may be and how varied the requirements are for my application and systems. One employer was a small, but busy and growing import/export company. We stretched the limits of technology at the time, and it was a challenge to meet the desires of management. At the same time, we were primarily a weekday, roughly 9-5 shop and I had the opportunity to bring down systems at night or on weekends for maintenance.

    This was in contrast to my prior position at a nuclear power plant. There systems were expected to be up 24×7, with (grudgingly) scheduled maintenance once a quarter. That was the environment with the most stringent requirements, though I also learned over time that I preferred to have a bit more latitude in how I could architect systems or manage databases. Though that was when I had children, and I might be willing to work in a similar environment now.

    Many of you probably have varying requirements by application, but I suspect more of you are expected to keep systems up more often than in the past. It seems the world has moved to a greater dependency on database platforms, with the expectation that the data is always available.

    When you plan upgrades or maintenance, can you work with a flexible schedule? Or are changes always carefully managed? I’m sure some of you prefer one type of environment over the other, so chime in today with your preferences and restrictions. I’m sure some of you work in less busy organizations, and I’m curious if that’s the case.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcast

    Listen to the MP3 Audio ( 3.7MB) podcast or subscribe to the feed at iTunes and Libsyn.

  • How to Grow In Your Career

    This is a great thread on Twitter from Jim Burger, a long time software developer. The thread is a distillation of how he keeps a passion for learning across decades. I think it’s a good list of items, seven of them in total. I’ll give a quick summary, but he has a bit more depth in each tweet. The seven are:

    • Invest in your brain
    • Embrace exploration
    • Find the fun in fundamentals
    • Mentors from from all kinds of places
    • Use the community as an opportunity
    • You don’t have to finish learning
    • Ask people to ask you questions

    This is a great set of rules to help you learn. I certainly believe in the first one and that’s one reason I preach for you to keep learning. You can always get a little better and grow your skills. Apart from the fun, it helps train your brain to keep growing and stay flexible. I also think that finding the fun in fundamentals is great. I appreciate the simple things I accomplish, and I like writing about those. Part of the reason I keep doing #sqlnewblogger posts.

    I also think the community is a huge help. Someone asks a question, and even if it gets answered before you can, use this as an opportunity to solve the problem. Answer a question in our forums. Lots of people learn by helping others solve problems. In fact, plenty of my learning has come from solving problems for others. I get blog fodder, test myself, and solidify my own understanding of how things work.

    If you’ve found a way to continue to have fun learning, let us know today. I know that I tend to do a little but of everything, but certainly I take pride in what works, and even what doesn’t. The latter is always an opportunity for me to learn a bit more.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcast

    Listen to the MP3 Audio ( 2.9MB) podcast or subscribe to the feed at iTunes and Libsyn.