Tag Archives: Career

Career, SQL Server, SQLServerPedia Syndication

Getting to the next level in your SQL Server career

Jen McCown (Blog | Twitter) wrote about an interesting topic on the different levels of database professionals. In her article, Jen identified the three levels as Junior, Mid-Level, and High-Level.

I’m not repeating here her descriptions of the different levels, so go and read her article (link above) and, hopefully, you come back here to read the rest of this post.

There is a clear distinction as to who the “Junior” database professional is. This level is generally a stage where one focuses on exploration – just knowing what is there to know.

What’s a Mid-Level? High-Level? Can we use the number of “years of experience” to distinguish one from the other? What’s the gauge? How to measure?

It depends.

It depends on the level of knowledge, on “what you know” vs “what you should know” at a particular level. For example, if you are a Mid-Level SQL Server DBA, you should know X, Y, and Z.

I think everyone agrees on that. What everyone does not agree on are the specific types of knowledge one is supposed to posses at a particular level.

The comments on Jen’s article have their own merits. Everyone has a point.

But what the article and the comments all boil down to is one’s willingness to learn.

If you want to move to the next level you should study – you should learn to learn.

That is the most important lesson in that story.

Learning Is Reading

Technical books are great resources if you want to learn. You don’t have to read a lot. You only need to read just enough. Just enough.

Blogs are great resources too.

Learning Is Watching

Watch training videos and webcasts. Make this a habit – one video a week, depending on the level and quality of content, is a good way to start.

Or, better yet, subscribe to an online technical training. A year-long subscription is better choice compared to, say, ones with shorter term. Spend at least 30 minutes a day on this.

Learning Is Doing

Reading and watching is not just enough. You have to practice. Want to learn how to install SQL Server 2012? Read. Watch. But you cannot really learn how to install it until you actually install it.

Learning Is Connecting

Learning is a communal act. No one learns alone. Yes, you can “study” on your own by reading a book but you have to ask questions. You have to verify facts.

The community is there to answer your questions. You have to go out and reach out. The SQL Server Community has a great #SQLFamily. Be part of that.

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Career, SQL Server, SQLServerPedia Syndication

Are you ready?

I have talked about wanting a change. I thought I am prepared to embrace that change when it finally comes.

I have waited for the right opportunity. And, yes, I finally met the right opportunity.

I wish this is a success story.

If there is one blog post I remember most from Thomas LaRock (@SQLRockstar | Blog), it’s his post about timing and opportunity. In “Timing Is Everything“, Thomas said:

Timing is everything, no matter what you are doing. You need to be able to prepare yourself so that at the time the opportunity presents itself you are ready. If you do, some people will look at you and say “wow, how did you get so lucky?” Others, like myself, will say “wow, how can I prepare myself to be ready when the time comes?”

How one prepares himself for an opportunity?

No excuses

The inadequacy of your present job is not an excuse for not knowing the things you aspire for in a job. There is just no excuse for your lack of knowledge. If you think you’ve worked hard enough, work even harder.

Dig in

If you are like me, one of the biggest challenge of learning advance SQL Server knowledge is the lack of an environment that supports your development. If I can’t find help from within, I must find some other means to learn the things I need to learn.

Knowing and not knowing

It’s not enough that you are aware of what you don’t know. You must act to find the answers. It might be ok to say “I don’t know” to a question in an interview but communicate how willing you are to work to know the answer.

Learn scenarios

It’s not enough that you know the fundamentals and the technical know-how’s. Focus your learning effort on scenarios – on solving problems. Equip yourself with knowledge that will enable you to navigate through providing solutions in different situations.

Identify the heart of the job

SQL Server is a management tool. It’s like a hammer to a carpenter. Unlike a hammer, SQL Server has different features that address specific needs. Majority of those needs have something to do with monitoring, performance tuning, and troubleshooting – the need for servers to be running all the time. You cannot possibly learn all the features of SQL Server overnight. But, if you are like me who’s still struggling to find that one ideal SQL Server DBA job, you’d want to focus on monitoring, performance tuning, and troubleshooting.

Know the trinity of a SQL Server DBA job

I just said it. I am not repeating this for you. I am repeating this for myself. Three things will get you through a SQL Server DBA job interview:

  • Monitoring - Knowledge beyond SQL Server Error Log and Agent Error Log. Act of omissions on the SQL Server level won’t show as errors (obviously). How to monitor things that are not readily visible in the eye? Proactive Monitoring! Identify the tools and features available to you.
  • Performance Tuning – Perfmon, DTA, DMV’s, and SP_Who2 are too common for an answer. Describe scenarios and identify the tools that you might use depending on the situation.
  • Troubleshooting – There are different points of failure you need to get yourself familiarized. These are some of them: User Access, Application Access, Security, Replication errors, diagnostics , etc. Basically you’re looking at a scenario which is something like “This stops running, how to fix it?”.

Yes, indeed, timing is everything. Finding that ideal SQL Server job is not about waiting for the right opportunity to knock at your door.

Yes, I failed that interview but the failure of not getting the job did not cripple me. It might have discouraged me a bit but it only strengthened me as a person.

That failed interview showed me a failure that does not weaken. It showed me the beacon of where I should be heading. It gave me directions to follow.

The failure does not matter now. I learned. That’s all that matters.

When opportunity knocks at your door, how ready are you to answer the call?

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Career, SQL Server, SQLServerPedia Syndication

On the road less traveled: a DBA Roadmap review

Review of Midnight DBA's DBA Roadmap SeminarThe story of why I came up with this blog is no secret to the few readers I have here. In fact, I have written about it in my inaugural post. Although I wrapped it in rather obscure way, you probably get what I meant by the words I’ve written.

I’ve gone into overdrive, absorbing any amount of information I can process into my brain. I am really working hard for my ultimate career goals. I seek wisdom from anywhere and any source – human or otherwise.

Our usual step when seeking for advice is to search the internet for relevant topics. There is no shortage of what we can get if we know where to find them.

The internet has a vast, rich body of information that is readily available for our instant gratification.

But I feel that the goals I want to achieve are too important for me to rely on the John and Jane Doe’s that dominate my Google search.

(Of course, I’m making exception for the likes of Brent Ozar, Thomas LaRock, Brad McGehee, etc. who never fail to offer great pieces of advice on becoming an exceptional DBA.)

I am not saying that I cannot put these free information to good use – I can, in more ways than one.

There’s more ‘why’ to that.

I feel that if I invest some of my hard earned money to my goals I can probably get more value than just by consuming free information on my spare time.

I need to invest in myself. I need a concrete way to get my body and soul commit to the journey!

Thus, I paid to get the DBA Roadmap. A thing like this is the least I can do for my career. Some are spending out of pocket upwards of $5,000 dollars each year towards their career (training, conferences, etc).

The DBA Roadmap Seminar is a business venture by the SQL Server couple Sean and Jen McCown (@MidnightDBA), or popularly known as the Midnight DBA’s. The recorded seminar costs $99.00 as of this writing.

I’m not sure if it’s just me, but I don’t like the seminar’s banner question, “How do I become a DBA with no experience?“

That can easily put off anyone who has experience with SQL Server (including myself). That’s the reason why I hesitated to purchase the seminar package on the onset.

But I agree that the primary target audience of the seminar is individuals who hope to break through the DBAhood. Sean, himself, was a French cook before he became a DBA. The banner question makes the seminar appear to be “exclusive” for this type of audience.

I am not a newbie to SQL Server. I’ve been an accidental DBA for an information and data management company before. I’ve done some gigs on SQL Server development. And I’ve migrated a big financial reporting system from DTS 2000 to SSIS 2008.

The seminar has 7 tracks, including the Introduction and Conclusion. Except for those two, you can listen to any tracks in any order you want (not in sequence).

The main tracks are: How To Study, What To Study, Resumes, Job Hunting, and Interviews. Each track comes with a bonus Companion Guide that gives you a breakdown of what has been discussed on the track. The guide also provides additional links to useful sites and resources. The tracks are described on the DBA Roadmap site.

You’re probably thinking if these tracks can actually offer you new things. It’s true that these topics are often discussed. But do you think the McCown’s will ask you for money just to rehearse things you already know? Yes, I know, right? There was hesitation at first on my part because of the way the seminar was being marketed (newbie’s seminar). But I found out it’s exactly what I needed.

Although a newbie to SQL Server can reap the most benefit from this seminar, I don’t see why a current SQL Server pro can’t learn and pick up resume and interview skills from it.

There’s a reason why I titled this post “the road less traveled”. And you’ll find out why if and when you purchase the seminar yourself.

For 99 bucks, the seminar is a steal. Listening to 5 hours of solid, meaningful material is like attending a whole day of seminar. Plus, you can play the tracks over and over again, as I have, if you cannot digest the content on one pass.

If you are a SQL Server DBA with 2-3 years worth of experience or even a mid-level SQL pro looking to advance his career and thinking that he could use an advice or two, you owe it to yourself to purchase this seminar.

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