As one of the bloggers behind The Master Blog, Joe Sack is a public face for the SQL MCM program. Joe also blogs at MSDN, and he manages the SQL MCM prerequisite reading list. The MCM program isn't even his "day job" - he's also a Senior Premier Field Engineer, which means he sees a lot of high-end SQL Server challenges. I emailed Joe to ask him a few questions about the program.
A few weeks ago, I glowed about how much I thought the MCITP exams had improved since the old braindump days. I had a really good experience with the 70-432 and 70-450 exams on SQL Server database administration, and I was happy that the exams focused on good decisions, not mindless memorization of syntax.
Now, about the 70-433 and 70-451 exams for SQL Server database developers....
This week I'm focusing on the Microsoft Certified Master program. I'm making a run at the MCM certification for SQL Server 2008, and from the outside, the whole thing looks pretty overwhelming.
How do Microsoft certifications work?
Microsoft exams are about $125, and people usually self-study for them if they're knocking out exams one at a time. When you pass any one exam, you become a Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP). That one designation by itself doesn't hold much weight.
On Twitter, Pat Wright posed a question: My answer: it depends. (Hey, I'm a DBA, right? Isn't that always the answer?) My favorite salary negotiation book recommends postponing the salary question as late as possible during the hiring process, but I don't think that's realistic. I don't go house shopping without looking at prices. How…
This week I'm focusing on books and the book business. Today I'll be covering the money thing for authors, and tomorrow I'll be reviewing a book I like for both the content and the business. Enjoy!
Now that I'm holding a physical copy of our book in my hand, the pain of the experience has started to fade, and I can write about it with an open mind.
This book paid for itself in less than ten minutes.I do consulting work on the side, and like many consultants, I'm never sure if I'm quoting the right billable rate. When I picked up this book several months ago, the first thing I did was turn to chapter 12, "Putting a Price on Your Head." …
Mike Walsh (Blog - Twitter) is celebrating his one year anniversary as a blogger by revisiting why he got started, passing on tips to other bloggers, and upping his game. He interviewed me about how I got started blogging, how I've changed along the way, and some tips that I'd recommend new bloggers think about. It's about a half hour long, so pour a hot cup of your favorite caffeinated beverage and turn up your speakers - the audio's a little quiet:
David Stein (Blog - Twitter) started a new game of blog tag by asking the classic interview question, "What is your biggest weakness?" I got a chuckle out of David's answer - he loves to jump straight into code as soon as he hears the problem. I'm right there with him on that one.
Me? Only one - if I had any humility, I'd be perfect.
I get a lot of questions from people who want to get a better job. They want to know if certification, training, or branching out will help them get the job of their dreams. These things just aren't the real answer. The answer is simple: the Buddy System. Learn why.
Knock the audience out by knowing how to end the presentation, how to use your blog as resource material, why you should avoid sentences on slides, how to get the attendees involved, and how to fire yourself up with inspiration.
When someone's got boogers hanging out of their nose, they want to hear about it in the most subtle way possible. Blurting out, "Hey, dude, you've got a booger hanging out of your nose!" won't win you any friends. Sure, people will laugh, but they're not just going to be laughing at the guy diving…
This week I'm focusing on how you can improve your blog. So far I've talked about why you should schedule blog posts, how to write a product review, how to spice up your blog with pictures, and how to get people to find you online, and today I'm wrapping things up with a book recommendation. My next series in a couple of weeks will focus on social networking basics.
This week I'm focusing on how you can improve your blog. Yesterday I kicked things off with why you should schedule blog posts. Tomorrow I'll break some bad news to you - your blog is boring.
I blog to help other people.
This week I'm focusing on how you can improve your blog. Enjoy! Tomorrow's post will show you how to get people into your carnival booth - I mean, web site.
The question bloggers ask me over and over is, "How do you blog so often?"
Why do some interviewers insist on asking ridiculously impossible questions when they're interviewing the most junior candidates? I explain why you should use questions people can actually answer, and quit trying to hit the lotto.
If you're hiring someone who will be storing data in a database, here's how to find out if they know what they're doing. Includes questions like, "Explain referential integrity and where it can be enforced," and "What's the fastest way to get a thousand records into the database?"
I've been working from home off and on since around 2000 for a few different companies. I've been lucky: it's worked really well for me, but I've seen several cases where it didn't work so well for others, and they lost their jobs. This week, I'm running a series of posts about the ups and downs of telecommuting.
In the final part of my three-part series on how to get a junior DBA job (Part 1), it's time to talk about mentoring and training, and how they affect your salary. Ask About Mentoring and Training During the interview, ask how many other database administrators are on the team and what their seniority levels…
Yesterday I talked about why companies aren't hiring junior DBAs, and today I'll talk about how you can get in the door anyway. Companies are Cheap, and DBAs are Expensive Even in a healthy economy, companies want to get a bargain. They want to hire an experienced senior database administrator for junior DBA wages. They…
So you're hearing all the fun that DBAs are having on Twitter and around the intertubez, and you're wondering how to get in on the fun. Maybe you're a developer or a network admin, and you've been learning about SQL Server from books and from peers, and you're starting to look around for your first Junior DBA job.
Where Are the Junior DBA Job Ads?
Search for the terms "junior dba" or "senior dba" on national job sites, and the results are dramatically different:
