May 10, 2012 at 10:22 pm
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Time for Your Career
May 11, 2012 at 4:04 am
I spend at least 30 minutes a day in work reading an article from SSC or investigating a way of doing some more efficiently/effectively. On top of that I do 'blog binge' Saturday mornings where I read a load of blogs with breakfast and coffee before starting my day. I'm also a 'glutton for punishment' because I've been taking on lots of interesting courses that are being offered by coursera.org as a way of advancing my knowledge in areas not directly related to my day-to-day job. I'm currently doing a CS101 course as I've picked up a lot of computing theory but have not gone through any formal foundational programming courses before.
I'm getting married next month in Malta and I'm taking a shed-load of technical and business related books on my kindle to give me plenty to do whilst I'm on away. I may be addicted to learning, as a day without it is a day I consider to be almost wasted.
May 11, 2012 at 6:55 am
I read an article every weekday at work and learn a new performance trick every week. But after re-assessing my time I worked out I could probably put in 7.5 hours a week.
May 11, 2012 at 7:49 am
At my previous job, I had no problem convincing my boss that such time was well worth it after I was able to come up with solutions to some very problematic issues based upon my research and time spent on SSC. He even went so far as to purchase books for me on his company credit card when I couldn't get them through regular channels.
When you're able to apply your professional development to the job at hand, I think that any reasonable boss would see the value in it. If you cannot directly apply the fruits of your education, then they might see it as an unproductive waste of time for the company. For example, if you've got a real interest in natural language processing and it does not make sense to apply it to your project, then it would be tough to explain its value to the company and would be best done on your own time.
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May 11, 2012 at 8:05 am
Probably 30 minutes to an hour a day studying. Plus usually 1 - 2 hours per week as a chapter leader, though with SQLSaturday#117 coming next month that has increased some. :w00t:
May 11, 2012 at 8:24 am
" Four hours a week would get you 100 hours this year. Could you spare that?"
Yeah, but by then it would probably be out of date and I would have to start all over. :w00t:
"Technology is a weird thing. It brings you great gifts with one hand, and it stabs you in the back with the other. ...:-D"
May 11, 2012 at 9:13 am
If you count the time spent browsing articles on sites then I already spend at least 30 minutes a day. I spend about 2 hours a week on focused learning though where I either have my nose in a SQL book or am actually doing online walkthroughs or webinars. so I am getting a little over 100 hours of training a year but it is all over the board from ETL to reporting to BI to database maintenance, etc. This does add time to my week as I am already working 43-50 hours a week on production work as well but I think it is worth it since a lot of the training relates to problems I am actively tackling or items that are coming down the pipe. Since I utilize most of the things I learn, my boss is fine with me taking some time most days for professional enrichment.
May 11, 2012 at 9:43 am
Since I utilize most of the things I learn, my boss is fine with me taking some time most days for professional enrichment.
You're lucky. I have worked for people in the past who were looking over everyones shoulder every 15 minutes. The only break we got was when he took his 2 hour lunches every day and came back reeking of alcohol.:-D
"Technology is a weird thing. It brings you great gifts with one hand, and it stabs you in the back with the other. ...:-D"
May 11, 2012 at 9:47 am
I spend at least 8 hours a week just learning new stuff and playing with new toys.
That does not include the time that I spend on SSC, where I often have to dig onto BOL to answere the QoD.
May 11, 2012 at 10:35 am
Easy question, none (no hour per whatever period) are officially allowed.
You are granted to read something if it's directly related to the work being done right now (not tomorrow otherwise you won't work on what's urgent now).
Training is an obscure area.
You can request a book on the company budget but that is as far as you can go.
Either someone new comes in and bring new ideas so other can learn something (if they want to, some are totally against new ideas, some are reluctant to changes, most follows the boat, some learns)
Either you do it on your own time at home
May 11, 2012 at 11:48 am
Megistal (5/11/2012)
Easy question, none (no hour per whatever period) are officially allowed.You are granted to read something if it's directly related to the work being done right now (not tomorrow otherwise you won't work on what's urgent now).
Training is an obscure area.
You can request a book on the company budget but that is as far as you can go.
Either someone new comes in and bring new ideas so other can learn something (if they want to, some are totally against new ideas, some are reluctant to changes, most follows the boat, some learns)
Either you do it on your own time at home
Megistal,
Yep, that has been pretty much my experience too. As one boss told me once: "Were're not paying you the kind of money you are getting here to read books. Were're paying you to solve our production issues now. So, unless that book has those answers in it, please put it way. Do that on your own time." Real world. 😀
"Technology is a weird thing. It brings you great gifts with one hand, and it stabs you in the back with the other. ...:-D"
May 11, 2012 at 11:50 am
TravisDBA (5/11/2012)
Megistal (5/11/2012)
Easy question, none (no hour per whatever period) are officially allowed.You are granted to read something if it's directly related to the work being done right now (not tomorrow otherwise you won't work on what's urgent now).
Training is an obscure area.
You can request a book on the company budget but that is as far as you can go.
Either someone new comes in and bring new ideas so other can learn something (if they want to, some are totally against new ideas, some are reluctant to changes, most follows the boat, some learns)
Either you do it on your own time at home
Megistal,
Yep, that has been pretty much my experience too. As one boss told me once: "Were're not paying you the kind of money you are getting here to read books. Were're am paying you to solve our production issues now. So unless that book has those answers in it, please put it way. Do that on your own time.":-D
Luckily I haven't worked for bosses like that. If I didn't take dead time at work or my own time in the evenings (yes, I do that too), I wouldn't know what I know today.
May 11, 2012 at 11:55 am
If I didn't take dead time at work or my own time in the evenings (yes, I do that too), I wouldn't know what I know today.
When you are a high-priced database consultant, you don't have alot of dead time. At least that has been my experience in the past anyway.:-D
"Technology is a weird thing. It brings you great gifts with one hand, and it stabs you in the back with the other. ...:-D"
May 11, 2012 at 11:58 am
TravisDBA (5/11/2012)
If I didn't take dead time at work or my own time in the evenings (yes, I do that too), I wouldn't know what I know today.
When you are a high-priced database consultant, you don't have alot of dead time. At least that has been my experience in the past anyway.:-D
So if you are working 8:00 to 5:00 with one hour for lunch, you are spending exactly 8 hours doing nothing but work? I find that hard to believe.
May 11, 2012 at 12:01 pm
Lynn Pettis (5/11/2012)
TravisDBA (5/11/2012)
If I didn't take dead time at work or my own time in the evenings (yes, I do that too), I wouldn't know what I know today.
When you are a high-priced database consultant, you don't have alot of dead time. At least that has been my experience in the past anyway.:-D
So if you are working 8:00 to 5:00 with one hour for lunch, you are spending exactly 8 hours doing nothing but work? I find that hard to believe.
When you are charging the client $75 an hour to fix an onsite production issue, yes, basically thats right, and its not always 8-5 either.:-D
"Technology is a weird thing. It brings you great gifts with one hand, and it stabs you in the back with the other. ...:-D"
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