Category Archives: Personal Development Plan
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.
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?
What Are You Working For?
I’ve been asking myself this lately as I prepare to move into a new phase shortly with my youngest daughter being a senior in high school. For the last twenty years, it was providing for my children and family to make sure they had opportunities for growth and development. Now my youngest will go off to college and our home will be quiet.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not kicking my children to the curb, but they don’t need my security as much as they prepare to spread their wings and fly away. My wife and I love to travel and I love SQL Server, so I will most likely dive more into my career with the intent of traveling and spending more time with her as well as socializing more in order to fill the nest so to speak.
It’s a great time to be alive, but what are you working for?
Personal Development Plan…Midway Status
Six months for 2012 are now in the books and I thought it would be a good time to revisit my original goals for the year and see what needs to still be done. My updates will be highlighted in bold.
- 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 here!
- I will spend time daily helping people on twitter, SQL blogs, and various SQL-related websites such as SQL Server Central. So far I have only been able to help on twitter and blogs.
- I am setting a goal of 300 followers on Twitter which would double my existing followers for 2011. I now have 315 followers, that is awesome, thank you everyone!
- I will attend at least ten of the twelve Tampa Bay SQL Server User Group meetings. So far I have not missed a monthly meeting.
- I will attend three to five other SQL User group meetings, such as the Tampa BI group or Orlando’s MagicPASS. I need to get going on this one as I have not made one of these yet, bad boy.
- I will attend every Tampa VMWare User Group meetings which occur quarterly. This is spot on, since the Tampa VMUG has not had a meeting since Dec 2011, I have not missed one yet.
- 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 Pro Camp, will look for others.
- 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. Even better, I got to attend a SQLskills.com training!
- 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. Had to miss Jacksonville because of a final in one of my college courses, but made up for it by going to Pensacola.
- I will volunteer to help with at least one SQL Saturday this year. Volunteered at Tampa, will do others later in the year as well.
- 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. Rally was a no go, still hopeful for 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. Still attending classes regularly.
- 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. So far so good.
- I will attain my VMWare Certified Professional 4 certificate this year for VMWare. Not going to happen as VMWare retired the exam before my one year was completed, and I have not focused on VMWare as much as SQL Server.
- 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. Presented at Pensacola SQL Saturday and now will do my local user group.
Wow, I am well on track this year!
Something Technical This Way Comes
To quote Ray Bradbury in Something Wicked This Way Comes: “Everything that happens before Death is what counts.”
Wow! How simple and profound. Do you live your life as if it counts for something? Do you have a passion? Are you living your life for that passion?
My passion is best practices for SQL Server and I am taking a step forward in my professional development by putting together a presentation that I will submit to SQL Saturday Orlando. I have struggled with this for sometime now and like most people I find it difficult to speak in front of audiences. That is really sad, because from 1999 through 2001 I was a travelling consultant that would teach classes and present in front of total strangers. As I moved away from that lifestyle, I became more of an introvert for some unknown reason and it is really difficult to break those chains. So if my presentation is accepted and you attend my class, keep that in mind. I welcome your advice and words of wisdom.
Enjoy!
I Am Passionate About Best Practices
After writing for the Tribal SQL project, I think I’ve realized just how passionate I am about best practices. For example, the other day I asked my wife if she could change our bed sheets to which she replied that they had only been on there two weeks. My retort was that best practices dictated changing the sheets weekly for optimum comfort in sleeping performance. Yes, I’m coocoo for Cocoa Puffs over best practices!
In the shower this morning, as that is where most of my brilliance comes from, I decided to start preparing myself to do a presentation. That has been a long time coming with my left side usually talking my right side out of it. Or was it the other way around? I can’t recall, moving on. Part of the stumbling block for doing a presentation was finding a niche in the SQL Server community and now I think I have resolved myself to that niche so I am slowly chiseling away at my excuses for not presenting at a SQL Saturday or my local user group. There are only a couple of excuses left now and those are slowly fading away, so now I must harness the power of the SQL Force! Next stop SQL Saturday, then possibly a SQL Rally and then SQL PASS; whereby my plan for global domination will be complete.
Enjoy!
Shaping this Blog
Into my fourth month of daily blogging and I find myself, scouring the blog stats and comments looking for trends. Should this matter? One friend told me just write the blog and do not care whether anyone reads it. Well actually I think he said do not worry if no one reads it. After moving past the 100 mark on the blog count, I wonder how many of the more seasoned bloggers worry about their comments or statistics?
Sometimes I find myself trying to duplicate successfully viewed blog posts and that can be a difficult thing to do. After carefully studying all of the trends in my blog, I realized that the days that I had more views were not necessarily better blog posts, but they were tagged with the #SQLPASS hashtag, meaning simply that more people were exposed to the message. However, with etiquette in mind, I cannot simply add that hash tag to every blog post if it does not apply to SQL PASS. Maybe all this is much ado about nothing. Maybe I should just write the post and move on.
All of this boils down to my desire to be a better blogger, to share more information, and ultimately become an MVP. It’s a long road, but well worth the journey. Thanks for taking the road with me. Enjoy!
Motivation…What Motivates You?
What motivates you? Do you get excited about going to work everyday? If not, then why?
Are there certain things about your job that make it less than desirable? Do you enjoy the work you do, just not the people you work with?
What motivates you?
Everyone always says that making more money does not always make employees happier, although I have found that most of the people who say that generally make considerably more than you. It is similar to wealthy people who say that money does not buy happiness. Are you kidding me? Money can buy you a jet ski and who is not happy on a jet ski? Of course that is an exaggeration, but making more money is not about being happy, it is about being able to provide for you family, save for retirement and provide some leisure activity.
Everyone will agree that it is hard to be happy when you cannot provide for your basic needs. I also understand that your needs adjust when you make more money, but increases in salary tells the employee that his productivity is valuable to the employer. There must also be an appreciation for your services.
None of that should motivate you, of course save the appreciation. Your happiness should be of your own doing. No matter what your situation, being happy is a choice. I choose to be happy, what do you choose? Enjoy!
Two Months Strong!
Wow March is here already. It seems like only two months ago I was laying out an aggressive Personal Development Plan. To date, the thing that I am most proud about is the daily blogging. it has become second nature at this point. Over the years, I have created a few blogs and always felt like I ran out of things to say, I really didn’t place a priority on the medium, until now.
What do you think about the blog? Please let me know, thanks. Enjoy and have a wonderful weekend!
Do You Value Training?
Today is the first day of my SQLskills.com Immersion training, thus I prepared this blog post a few days ago.
If you have been reading my blog, then you should be able to surmise that I love learning. Being in the IT field, I am not sure how you can get by without training because of the speed at which technology changes. Luckily, my current employer also believes in and values training. When they ask me if I want to go to training, I submit three or four different classes. Of course, they do not all get approved, but all they can do is say no. Thus, it is worth the effort on my part and it demonstrates my committment to my career.
Do you value training? Are you taking advantage of the training opportunities provided by your employer?
If the budget is tight, there is no reason why you cannot attend many of the free webinars, code camps, SQL Saturdays, and especially local users groups. If you are not advancing your skills, then maybe technology is not the right field for you. So sign up for training. Go! Do it now!
Enjoy!
SQL Swampland 