Voice of the DBA

Tag: work

  • Onboarding Remote Employees

    I guess that I was a remote employee that needed to onboard at a new company at one point. When Redgate Software bought SQL Server Central, I lived in Colorado and the company was (mostly) in Cambridge, UK. However, I was hired mostly to continue the same work I did at SQL Server Central, so I didn’t really on board with the company. I signed a contract, and set up payroll paperwork, and that was it. I used my same workstation and laptop, albeit with a new account, password, and VPN, but almost everything was the same for me.

    Over the last two years, we’ve hired many people at Redgate, with most of them being brought onboard remotely. Plenty of them have never seen any of our offices, and quite a few didn’t meet any other employee in person for months. Our blog posted a couple of stories from people we’ve hired in the last year about the remote onboarding process.

    The stories are a bit light on details, but I know that we send out packets of info and boxes of equipment to people, and we use Zoom and Slack extensively to help people get themselves configured and set up for work. I also know that our managers are good about regularly reaching out to people and connecting them with resources if they need assistance.

    For many technical people, I think getting a pre-configured machine and then credentials would allow us to get working easily. A URL or path to source code and server names ensure we can work on a database or a set of code. Asking a few questions of current employees should solve any minor issues with connecting to development resources.

    I don’t envy anyone that starts a new job without being able to see or talk to someone in person at a new company, doing new work. However, I do think this is a process that is likely to continue for some time. Even those companies that have open offices and employees available likely have learned how to send someone packages and get them productive quickly without needing to schedule everything face to face. Even most signatures can be handled electronically these days.

    I do think we miss something by not getting together, at least periodically. I know I enjoy traveling to the Redgate offices, and I think most people would gain something from being in the same room as their co-workers some of the time.

    Steve Jones

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

  • Halfway through the craziness

    Awhile back I wrote about my crazy schedule. I’m about halfway through. The last couple months have been:

    • London (SQL Bits)
    • Syracuse (daughter visit)
    • Las Vegas (volleyball)
    • Chicago (volleyball)
    • Los Angeles (work)
    • Reno (volleyball)
    • Cambridge/Brussels (work/Techorama)
    • ankle surgery
    • Amsterdam/Lingen (Datagrillen)

    I’m on that last trip now, with the speaker dinner tonight for DataGrillen. From here I have:

    • Fort Robinson, NE ( camping vacation)
    • Austin (VS Live)
    • Austin (work, separate trip)
    • Indian Creek (camping vacation)

    All in June. Then a break before:

    • New Jersey (SQL Saturday)
    • Baton Rouge (SQL Saturday)
    • Redmond (VS Live)
    • Los Angeles (tentative)
    • Hawaii (vacation)

    That gets me through the summer. September will have some travel back to the UK and perhaps elsewhere, but Sept and Oct are fuzzy.

    It’s a crazy life at times, but at the same time, it’s an amazing one. I’m having fun, I love getting to experience new place and culture with my wife, see friend and meet new people at events, and keep busy.

    Tough at times, but overall, it’s my choice and I am managing my career with my boss. I’m also enjoying 2022.

  • A Third Space

    It’s 2022, two years into a pandemic, and it finally seems that many things are returning to the way they were in 2019. Life outside of work is fairly normal for me, and I have a number of trips. Work is starting to pick up and we’ve seen a few conferences and SQL Saturday events pop up on the schedule.

    Work is still mostly remote for many technology workers. Not all, and some companies are starting to require workers to come back to the office, part or full time. My son got a job as a software engineer and he has to go to the office every day for six months. After that, if he proves himself reliable, he can work at home 2-3 days a week.

    For many tech people I talk with, there is a still a mostly remote atmosphere. The feelings about this situation vary dramatically from person to person, and from role to role. I find as many managers love remote work as hate it. I find more tech people prefer remote work, but not all, and certainly not all like working at home. Depending on your environment, and how many others might be at home (and their ages), you might find remote work more stressful than commuting to an office.

    A friend pointed me to an article on someone that doesn’t love working at home and needs a third space. My friend feels the same way, as isolation and quiet can be hard to cope with for long periods. As much as I have loved working from home for nearly 20 years, I haven’t done this for 20 years. I’ve traveled regularly and when I have long stretches at home, I usually spend some periods in a Starbucks or another space just to be around people. Talking to my dogs isn’t bad, but they often don’t talk back in a way that satisfies my need for background noise.

    My friend’s company has a subscription to WeWork, which allows remote employees to get some social interaction, or just ambient noise, as needed. We’ve experimented with this at Redgate as well, and while I don’t know I’d go to WeWork over a coffee shop or restaurant, I do appreciate the ability to have a space where 5 or 10 of us could gather in an ad hoc manner periodically. If I had more employees in Denver, I would look forward to meeting them a few times a month.

    For those of you working at home, do you want a place to gather on a regular or periodic basis? Do you miss interacting with live people? Or do you love being alone at home. I certainly like the latter many days of the week, but I miss interacting with people on a regular basis. I look forward to regular trips to Redgate offices and more events where I can talk technology with people whose hands I can shake.

    Steve Jones

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

  • Making Video Chat Better

    I ran across an article on Zoom fatigue and new tech that was written in July 2020. That month seems like ages ago, and at the same time, not too long ago as the world seems to have still been in some sort of suspended animation for much of 2020 and 2021. However, one thing that has remained since that time is a regular stream of Zoom and Teams meetings that I attend.

    I’ve been dealing with video meetings for over a decade. For most of the time I’ve worked for Redgate, I’ve had regular meetings every week with various people that are in Cambridge, UK. I’m in Denver,  US, and while I enjoy going to England and visiting the office, that’s a few times a year. Across the years, we’ve tried a number of platforms, and various different configurations, including a dedicated conference room with extra mics and sound-absorbing padding on the walls. None of this made for a great experience, though I have to say our adoption of Zoom across the last 2-3 years has been the best experience overall.

    Still, when I have multiple meetings in a day, I feel fatigued. Many people feel similarly, and that has not gone unnoticed. While we do try to cut down on some of the meetings as a company, they aren’t going away entirely for us, or likely, for your company. Some companies are going back to the office, at least part-time, but many employees are resisting, which means we need better tech. Something I hope is coming.

    The article I linked above talks about some of the changes taking place, with some newer tech being tried. I don’t know I’ll ever like video chat without some sort of VR-style view of a room or holograms, but perhaps something will come along that makes these meetings better. I’ve certainly found that having larger views of speakers is good, but when they rapidly switch from one person to another it feels like a 5-year old directing a live TV show. I want to turn off my video and just listen. Or end the call.

    One thing that I’ve found helps is I try hard to get more done through Slack and email, avoiding meetings that aren’t needed. The best way to combat something that doesn’t work well for me is to do less of it, so I work to minimize video, type more, and hope for more live face-to-face meetings a few times a year.

    Steve Jones

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