T-SQL & Development
Sample DBA Resumes
Nobody knows who I am.
Yes, I know, you think I waltz into restaurants without a reservation, get the best table in the house, and Rick Bayless brings the food out himself.
DBA Career Planning and Job Search
Entering the profession, changing roles, and evaluating career direction.
65 associated posts65 primary posts
Nine Reasons Developers Should Learn SQL
Let's face it, there are a lot of cool new things you could be learning right now. It seems like there's a new technology coming out every 12.8 seconds. Why the hell would you want to spend your free time learning a crufty old language like SQL? My reasons, let me show you them.
It's portable
How to Get Budget Approval for Conferences
If you've never been to a conference before, the PASS Summit and Dev Connections events seem like things that happen to Other People. This year, I wanna help make you one of us. You're a geek, right? Let's break this down into numbers. What It Costs to Attend a Conference People usually think conference attendees…
T-SQL & Development
How to Ask Your Boss for Training Money
"I'm scared. Hold me." I hear that all the time from people who want to go to a conference or a training class. They're terrified to walk into The Boss's office because The Boss only says one word: "No." Here's some easy ways to start the conversation, handle objections, and seal the deal. The Opening…
Want a better job?
About two years ago, I made the leap from working as a production DBA to working as a SQL Server expert for Quest Software. When I tell someone what I do for a living, they usually have the same reaction: "Wow, you've got a really cool job." It has its ups and downs, but it definitely beats being a production DBA, and I never would have thought I'd end up in a job like this.
T-SQL & Development
Why You’re Not Telecommuting
Want a job working from home like Jeff Atwood described in his On Working Remotely post today?
You're probably not gonna get it.
You Take Too Long to Prove Yourself
Think about how long it takes for you to:
MCM Prep Week: Prerequisite Reading
The Microsoft Certified Master program has a prerequisite reading list - things you need to read before you start the training. I've started an MCM reading list wiki on SQLServerPedia with summaries, sort of like a Cliff's Notes guide in an effort to help guide studying efforts. Early on in my studies, I was surprised by something.
T-SQL & Development
Salary Negotations During the Interview
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…
Book Review: The Secrets of Consulting
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." …
T-SQL & Development
How to Get a Better Job
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.
Managing People Sucks, But You Should Try It Anyway
I just got asked for advice on what it takes for geeks to rise up through the ranks of your company and become a manager.
I'm probably the worst person to ask. Check out my wacko career path:
T-SQL & Development
How to Telecommute: Getting the Job
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.
T-SQL & Development
How to Get a Junior DBA Job – Part 3
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…
T-SQL & Development
How to Get a Junior DBA Job – Part 2
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…
T-SQL & Development
How to Get a Junior DBA Job – Part 1
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:
T-SQL & Development
Certifications are the icing on the cake
Wondering whether or not you should get certified on something? Experience is cake, certifications are the icing. It's hard to sell icing without cake. Yes, there are some people who like to eat icing by itself, but frankly, those people are freaks. They're not healthy. Something is wrong with them. If you take an easy-to-get…
Recruiters are not your friends or your enemies.
Recruiters are everyday people just like you and me. They have feelings, dreams, families and jobs.
What Recruiters Do
Their job is to fill empty positions.
Notice that I didn't say that their job is to find YOU a job. It's not.
Should I Specialize?
A reader asked a great question, and I just had to share it in a more general form because it applies to so many of us production database administrators. He's currently a production SQL Server DBA, and his company's bringing in a new application with a SQL Server back end. He's doing a good job…
T-SQL & Development
More thoughts on career specialization
K. Brian Kelley wrote a counterpoint to my recommendation that DBAs should specialize and focus their training. I respect Mr. Kelley a lot: he's been in the United States Armed Forces. I don't want to run into him in a dark alley. He's a nice guy, and he's got a lot of integrity, but that means he's just going to give me a ten second running head start before he kicks my geeky rear. I've seen Burn Notice. I know how this stuff works.
T-SQL & Development
So You Wanna Be a Rock & Roll Star, Part 2
If my blog entry yesterday about my job as a SQL Server Expert at Quest Software sounds cool, then listen up: I'll let you in on how to get a job like this.
Be Really Passionate About Your Field
I have the coolest job in the world - for me. My job would be absolute torture for some people, but I love it, and I think that's the key.