How to Grow In Your Career

  • Comments posted to this topic are about the item How to Grow In Your Career

  • Thank you for these tips. I can't read them at work (all social networks are blocked) so I'm leaving the pleasure of reading what Jim Burger wrote until this weekend.

    Kindest Regards, Rod Connect with me on LinkedIn.

  • There's a quote I've always liked about the mindset to work. I'll paraphrase from Mark Cuban - remember while you are working that "you are getting paid to learn". This kind of mindset help continuous improvement.

  • My primary goal for 2018 Q1 (what I'm working on when I'm not doing the obligatory day to day DBA stuff) is to learn the basics of Cosmos DB, identify a business process that could leverage it, build a prototype, and then deliver a lunch and learn for the organization. There have already been some application developers talking about Cosmos DB, and we felt our DBA team needed to jog out ahead of user demand. The writing is on the wall, and the day will come when being a Microsoft centric DBA means (at least) SQL Server, Azure SQL, and Cosmos DB.

    Cosmos DB is huge ocean for potential exploration; there are a handful of different data models (ex: DocumentDB, graph, key-value, column-family), and how the platform in general allocates, uses, and bills resources in terms of resource units (RU) is a new concept that the DBA needs to grasp. But what keep my learning focused is solving a specific business problem. We tend to retain what we learn easier when we apply our leaning to an application, and the reward for learning is greater. Rather than just aimlessly reading blogs and following step-by-step tutorials, I'll familiarize myself with at least one implementation path from end to end (at this point it's looking like DocumentDB), and I'll have an actual deliverable that can be shared with others. Maybe I'll blog about my experiences here.

    "Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho

  • Eric's description of what he plans on doing was encouraging to me.  I'd like to share what I hope I'll be able to do here. I have written before in these forums about the lack of training where I work. That they don't pay for anything, send anyone anywhere, etc. Well, after literally decades the state agency I work at has decided to try providing online training for us!! They've chosen Lynda for the training. They're allowing us to take up to 2 hours per week on training, work permitting. All I can say is, good for them!!! Really, kudos!!! Now, its up to my fellow workers and myself to make good on using this training. If we don't we'll loss it. I've taken the 2 hours per week and done some on the weekends, learning the fundamentals of some of the work I do. Filling in the gaps in my knowledge. My state employer has stepped up to the plate and delivered. Its ours to loose.

    Kindest Regards, Rod Connect with me on LinkedIn.

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