Voice of the DBA

Tag: life

  • I have a dream

    It seems fitting with the anniversary of Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech that I would write about discrimination this week in my piece “Stunned”. There’s a long discussion over at SQLServerCentral, and along with a phone call with a friend, I thought a bit about what I wrote.

    I wasn’t present for the quote. I don’t know if there was nuance, or intent to joke, intent to annoy the listener, or something else. The written word doesn’t convey everything, and I decided not to dig deeper, identify the speaker, or take any actions as it’s all hearsay to me.

    However, I do think something along the lines of what you read, was said. I think there are still people that think this way, just as there are people that think various minorities are not competent, trustworthy, or something else.

    I have a dream that we will get beyond this as anything other than a rare occurrence. I don’t believe we will ever eliminate racism, or sexism, or really any type of discrimination. But perhaps we can reduce it to a very, very tiny level, get more people to think about there inherent prejudices and work to overcome them.

    I’m prejudiced in some ways. I recognize that and try to not let it affect my actions. I try to treat people fairly, and professionally. I try to treat them as I’d expect they will treat me. I want to accept them as they are, work with them with their strengths and weaknesses, and try to ensure I make an effort to increase diversity in my life.

    My intent today was to raise awareness. I wanted people to think about the actions, to talk about issues, and recognize that there are still problems in the world, including our tiny SQL Server, data professional world, that we should deal with.

    My hope is that we work to ensure this type of attitude is not tolerated. I hope for a frank discussion at user groups that note discrimination is not a part of the group. I hope that both minority groups (females, races, etc) and event/group leaders make efforts to include more disparate people. I hope more women and others make an effort to join in the community and share their knowledge. I hope more leaders choose to include more diverse speakers. If you have two people that are qualified, make the choice for diversity some of the time, rather than perhaps the more well known or safe choice.

    I hope we grow closer, not further apart, as a community.

  • Back and Better

    It’s been a great couple of weeks for me. Even though there was a work trip in the middle, I had a couple days off, travel, two partial work days, and then 3 days with my daughter in Northern California.

    It was a blast, SQL Saturday was great, and I feel much better coming back to work.

  • The Vacation Struggle

    poolIt’s a little over halfway through the year and once again I’m struggling to get away from work and get through my vacation. It’s not that my boss won’t give me time off, which is a common complaints from many workers in the technology industry. Instead it’s my fault. I’ve got a lot of ongoing work to get done, various commitments for events, preparation for travel, and most of all, I enjoy my job. I’ll add that a few family events have prevented us from executing on vacation plans along the way as well.

    Skipping vacation is not the best way to go through your career, and during the last month I’ve stopped to take stock of the situation and do something about it. I have a generous vacation allowance and there’s no need to hoard it, saving for a once-a-year-two-week trip. I have some family coming into town soon, and I booked a few days off while they are here. I’ve also extended one of my trips, planning on a mini-vacation with my daughter. I plan on saving some days to ski near the end of the year, but I’ll also be taking some long weekends and trying to recharge my interest in life, coming back to work refreshed.

    It can be hard to plan and take vacation, and I’m sure many of you have tips and tricks that you’ll share on how you get away from work and enjoy your life. Many of us see our careers as important, necessary, and hopefully fulfilling, but we also need breaks away from the stress and pressures of work.

    We should work in order to live, and enjoy, the rest of our lives. Time with family, friends, hobbies, and more is important. Life passes by quickly, and sometimes unexpectedly. One of the things I’ve learned as I age is that each day is precious, and that could end at any time. I seem to lose friends and acquaintances  all too frequently. All too often I find people passing that are well below retirement age, which is sad, tragic, and a reminder that life is short.

    Take your vacation. Get away from work when you can, if for no other reason than to see what else in the world there is for you to experience.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcasts

    We publish three versions of the podcast each day for you to enjoy.

  • The Intrusion of Life

    erI really try to be professional in my career. I try to meet my deadlines. I take pride in my work. I try to ensure that the commitments I’ve made, I keep. If that means I need to work late or on weekends, I do so. That doesn’t mean that my life revolves around work, or that I allow myself to be abused by an employer, but if I’m behind, or I haven’t given 100% of my effort during a project, I make an extra effort to catch up.

    Recently as I was stressed and preparing for SQL in the City, life intruded into work in a very visible way. A family injury, resulting in some doctor visits and additional work around the house for me, severely cut into some of my work time. Fortunately my flexible schedule allowed me to work early in the mornings or at night to try and make up for the errands and appointments, but I still fell behind.

    To add to the stress and pressure, there were business continuity issues. If I couldn’t attend SQL in the City, someone needed to be able to deliver the talks in my place. Not only was it important I finish the content, but I also needed to practice myself, as I had still planned to make the trip if at all possible. In the end everything worked out well, but it was a very busy couple of weeks for me to finish this “project” for my job, continue to manage the daily work, and tackle the extra load at home.

    That’s not much different than the challenges and pressures that many of you face in your jobs as data professionals. You have regular responsibilities, you have special projects with hard deadlines, and you sometimes struggle to fit the rest of your life into the remaining time you have. However, you shouldn’t fit your life into work most of the time. There are always situations where you must, but for the most part we work to have a life outside of work. We want to spend time with family, friends, and on hobbies. I would hope that all of you would ultimately see your family and life outside of work as more important than work.

    I’m lucky. My boss was very supportive and understood I might cancel the trip if my family needed me. Red Gate was willing to work with me to rearrange things, have remote meetings, and support my by tackling a few of my daily tasks. Not all companies or bosses are like that, and I’ve struggled with those that were difficult in the past.

    I hope that you really think about the priorities that you set in life, and limit the compromises you make when the demands of work conflict with those in the rest of your life.

    Steve Jones

    PS: Everyone at the ranch is fine.

    The Voice of the DBA Podcasts

    We publish three versions of the podcast each day for you to enjoy.