Category Archives: Career Advice
Talk the Talk? Then, Walk the Walk!
If you follow my blog regularly, you will no doubt have seen many messages like this one. The clichés sound great and motivational, but there comes a time when you have to put or shut up.
Part of the reason that I blog about these subjects is to hold myself accountable. I find it quite easy to crawl back into my introverted shell and stay in my comfort zone. But as more and more people read the blog and follow me on twitter, I find it harder to procrastinate and avoid taking chances. I have spent years cultivating a plan of caution and self-conservation. This year I have broken those chains, have you? Why not?
Enjoy!
Step Outside Your Comfort Zone
“Life begins at the end of your Comfort Zone.” ~ Neale Walsh
For years people told me to get outside of my comfort zone, to which I replied no thanks. Besides, I like it in here, they all know my name. For years I did not venture outside of the zone. At the same time I was bored and found little excitement in life. That all changed in 1998 when I was 27. I had no intentions of traveling outside of the United States for fear of the unknown. I rarely did new things because the change may be uncomfortable.
The company I was working for at the time sent me to Italy for a month to finish off and deliver our software and ensure that it was implemented properly for our client when it went into production. I was skeptical and scared to leave the country but thought at least they have a vested interest in my safety and ensuring that I return home. I had a prime opportunity to explore Italy being there for a month and I rarely ventured out more than a couple of blocks from my hotel. Looking back, I wasted an opportunity of a lifetime staying in my comfort zone.
A year later I was a consultant traveling around North America. Having realized the opportunity that I missed in Italy, I ventured out a little more but not nearly as much as I should have. Two golden opportunities to see the world down the drain. Over the last couple of years, I have stepped further outside the zone to begin networking and meeting new people as well as traveling. In that time frame, my life has been more fulfilled, so much so that I look for new opportunities to step out of the circle. Don’t get me wrong, I am not all the way there yet. I still have to coax myself away from my iPad and force myself to talk to people and step away from the introversion. But I can see with each step brings new opportunities and new adventures and my life has been forever changed. Enjoy!
Taking the Blog To A New Level
Yesterday afternoon, I activated sqlgator.com as the domain address for the blog formally known as sqlgator.wordpress.com. After a year of solid, consistent blogging, this experiment is now a daily ritual.
I cannot imagine myself not blogging on a daily basis. This was the natural progression. I hope you enjoy!
Goals Updated, End of Third Quarter
With today being the first day of the last quarter of 2012, I thought it would be good to review my goals for the year and see where I stand in my progress. I will italicize the updates at the end of each of the original items.
- I will post daily to this blog in order to give back to the SQL community that has helped me so much over the years. So far so good on this one!
- I will spend time daily helping people on twitter, SQL blogs, and various SQL-related websites such as SQL Server Central. I have tried to do this regularly, but it is harder than blogging daily. I thought this one would have been easier.
- I am setting a goal of 300 followers on Twitter which would double my existing followers for 2011. I am at 377 followers today, thanks everyone!
- I will attend at least ten of the twelve Tampa Bay SQL Server User Group meetings. Thus far I have not missed a single one!
- I will atend three to five other SQL User group meetings, such as the Tampa BI group or Orlando’s MagicPASS. There has been a new Hillsborough SQL Users Group that I have attended three sessions.
- I will attend every Tampa VMWare User Group meetings which occur quarterly. I am 100 percent on this one (mainly because there hasn’t been a meeting since December!
- I will attend other events that interface with SQL Server or VMWare such as the Orlando IT Pro Camp scheduled for January 21, 2012. Missed the IT Pro Camp, I need to try to find one before the end of the year.
- I will attend one Microsoft SQL training course this year, but I cannot say at this time what that course will be as that will depend upon my employer
. I would like to attend Course 2778a (Writing Queries Using Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Transact-SQL) and Course 6234 (Implementing and Maintaining Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services. I did even better than that, I attended a SQLskills.com class and I am also going to the PASS Summit in November. - I will attend every SQL Saturday offered in the Orlando, Tampa, and Jacksonville areas. I would also like to attend some others, if possible, within driving distance. I am already registered for SQL Saturday #110 in Tampa on March 10, 2012. I missed the Jacksonville SQL Saturday but made up for it with Pensacola. I did the March one in Tampa
- I will volunteer to help with at least one SQL Saturday this year. I volunteered in March and spoke in June and September.
- I would like to attend SQL Rally in Dallas this year and I would definitely like to attend the SQL PASS Summit, but with one child in college this year and two more entering over the next two years, I may have to pass on this one for a couple of years until they are situated and my bank account returns to normal. I did not get to go to Rally, but I am going to the Summit.
- I will continue to take at least one to two classes a semester online in order to complete my degree in Business Administration. All those Engineering and Computer Science classes I took 20 years ago are not relevant today and I would like to possibly return to consulting in five or ten years and that degree would be more beneficial in that long-term goal. I am still on track here.
- I will continue SQLAndy’s recommendation to meet at least three people at every SQL event. This is a great recommendation for networking. It is hard sometimes to break out of our introverted ways. I have been working hard to do this every time and it pays off.
- I will attain my VMWare Certified Professional 4 certificate this year for VMWare. This did not happen as VMWare came out with a new version before my window closed to take the exam. Now I will have to take a version 5 class in order to take the exam.
- I would like to speak somewhere this year, my local SSUG, VMUG, or even a training session at work. I need to get over my fear of public speaking. 2012 is the year to step it up and take it to another level. I have spoken at my user group and SQL Saturday and it is addictive.
This has been a great year for me, and I hope it has been for you too. Enjoy.
I Survived!
Well my first SQL Saturday presentation has been completed. No one was injured, I didn’t respond to my flight (as in fight or flight) instincts, and no one heckled me. It didn’t go as well as I imagined but it was a learning experience. I will get better, so if you attended my session today, I apologize, but thank you for being my guinea pigs.
To be honest, I think I did better than my lightning round presentation last June. I understand that it is an evolutionary process, but I was confident that I was more evolved than I really am.
If you’ve never presented a topic, I highly recommend it. Enjoy!
Setting Your Sights
Today I went to a local gun range to try to sight my 7mm-08 Savage hunting rifle. After missing several shots, I became somewhat agitated to not be hitting my target, not even hitting the paper. While trying to bore sight it at 25 yards, I realized that my nice scope was not working. The adjustment knobs were stripped and unable to readjust the scope.
This is like life, we get frustrated when we don’t hit our targets only to find that our sights are not set on the target. We must be able to readjust and zero in on our targets and goals. Enjoy!
Be Cooperative!
This may sound like common sense, but BE COOPERATIVE! Lately, I have felt some stress in certain areas at work and it all boils down to people not being cooperative. There is nothing to be gained from putting up road blocks and preventing people from doing their respective job. Granted there are times when you have to stop people from doing things like giving out SA passwords to developers. However, if they need your help, by all means BE COOPERATIVE. It can go a long way in your happiness and theirs as well as your teams effectiveness. That is all! Enjoy!
Cooperation is Key
We have a morning “production control” meeting daily where key people report on the status of their systems as well as announcing approved change management items. Most days this is an exercise in repetition but it is necessary in order for administrators to announce changes to their systems that might affect other connected systems. For me, bringing down one of my SQL Servers can have a far out reaching effect upon many other systems.
For example, we have one particular server that houses all of the databases for our internal IT systems, such as VMWare Virtual Center and Citrix and a few smaller ones such as Blackberry Enterprise Server. This is a beefy server to power our infrastructure, however it is a major hassle every time I need to do some maintenance on it. Yes we have maintenance windows. However, for many of these systems the particular admin has to intervene before I can take their particular database offline. The usual cry is that “hey you cannot take that down on that day because I have X job running” where I say “no problem, how about tomorrow?” Then someone else chimes in with “no good, I have this process that runs on that day.”
My solution? Setup a meeting and coordinate the maintenance, which will happen come hell or high water. Cooperation is key. The database server must be patched and maintained, but without cooperation many other systems will suffer.
Enjoy!
Take Time for Yourself
Friday, we left the office early and headed an hour east to Orlando. The wife and I checked into the Bohemian Hotel Celebration right outside of the Walt Disney World property. The Bohemian is a beautiful hotel on the Celebration property, which is a planned community developed by Disney to have a quaint, small town feel with small shops and great scenery.
From there we headed to the Magic Kingdom for a night of wild rides and shopping. It was a great night for my wife and I capped off by a morning swim in the hotel pool. Little get-aways like this are great for your marriage as well as dealing with the day-to-day stress of life. We came home this afternoon refreshed and ready to enjoy the remainder of our weekend recharged for the next week. Do you take time for yourself? Enjoy!
Troubleshooting Skills
One of the hardest concepts that new IT workers struggle with is the ability to troubleshoot. In my seventeen years in the field, I have never seen two employees tackle a problem in exactly the same manner. Troubleshooting is an art form derived out of experience and education.
You can learn how to troubleshoot various problems in a certain manner, but you have to be ready to switch gears and go another direction based upon the results of each step in your logic. Mentoring can help shape the way in which you tackle problems, but it is essentially your style which will determine how you logically break down problems and solve them step by step. The ability to troubleshoot will help determine the level of success in the IT field. What do you think?
SQL Swampland 