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RE: Blogging in your career

Jeff Moden — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 07:45:00 GMT

Heh... good catch... I "pasted" the wrong key

RE: Blogging in your career

Steve Jones - SSC Editor — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 09:08:00 GMT

Maybe that's how you get 6000 posts: paste!

RE: Blogging in your career

Matt Miller (#4) — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 08:46:00 GMT

Select all then paste? Oh master poster of over 3500 posts, surely you meant "Select all, then copy?"

RE: Blogging in your career

Wayne West — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 09:18:00 GMT

If you work in government (man, I just realized I've got close to 15 years in working for gov't!), anything that you write might be public domain and could be seen via a public records or FOIA request. The data behind it might not be public (for example, law enforcement, or your neighbor's electrical bills), but why shouldn't the code be? We send people to conferences showing off cool things that we've done, so why not? And no, I'm not in the "information wants to be free" club, though aspects of it do appeal.For myself, I have to find the right software that will make it easy enough to manage a professional blog. I installed five packages on my site last night and two of them look pretty nice. Since what I write are specifically to help me do my job as a DBA (maintenance and such) and are not problem solving coding, I see no problem with sharing the info.And I like the idea of an internal wiki. I'll have to think about that and discuss it with the higher-ups.

RE: Blogging in your career

Andy Warren — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 05:45:00 GMT

Yeah, normally I do the copy, but got interrupted and was merrily typing away, just lost track. Ouch again.

I think a professional development blog should be external, and you should - legalese or no - be a little careful about what you post with regards to work. Short of posting the source code to some super duper algorithm or revealling a proprietary business processs, I suspect most of it would be of little interest to anyone except you and your next employer. Lists of articles read, interesting threads (hey, who will post this thread to their blog?), magazines, classes, etc - plenty of stuff that has nothing to do with our current employer.

Jeff, thats interesting about the wiki and perception. I think the hard thing about wikis is deciding somehow about what goes in or not. Wiki's for internal apps might make sense, especially if maintained by the help desk! Maybe the trick is to substitute something for 'blog', so maybe you have the 'Database Critical Incident Web Page'. Update 'the web page' instead of 'posting to my blog'! Sometimes it IS all about labelling.

RE: Blogging in your career

William Rayer — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 04:19:00 GMT

>>> I do like the idea of a 'professional development' blog that is a lot more like a diary and a lot less about come read what I wrote. ... It's a great way to keep track of little bits and pieces, and it sure would be nice to have that available for the next job interview.

In theory this is a nice idea but if you're an employee this may not be allowed. As an employee, if you create a work-related professional development blog this will count as the IP of your employer (since it was created during course of employment as an employee). So if you left the employer, you should not (in theory) retain access to the professional development blog.

The only cases where a professional development blog would work is if it was non-work related, or if you were a contractor who had retained rights over the works created during your contract.

I would be happy to be proved wrong by anyone with legal knowledge

RE: Blogging in your career

Jeff Moden — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 22:22:00 GMT

I guess I'm a lucky Man... I don't have that type of problem at work and this is the 3rd company in a row I've worked for that actually embraces the idea of taking suggestions. If you're not working for such a company, perhaps it's time to start looking.

RE: Blogging in your career

Jeff Moden — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 22:14:00 GMT

I agree with both Andy and Steve (thanks for the feedback, guys). A blog at work could certainly be useful to the company as well as allowing the individual to get some well deserved recognition. Some folks would do well in that they'd realize that it would be read by many at work and maybe make a decent effort at making their blogs stick to the point they were trying to make instead of turning it into a bitch session or a diary. But the others... oh my!

The idea of a Wiki has taken hold at work... whilst it's a bit up to the author as to what format to use, I think it'll work better than a simple blog maybe even just because of the name... Because blogs are, thanks to some folks, perceived at work to be rants and diaries instead of the sharing of technical expertise. Wiki's are perceived, at least my place of work, to be somewhat more professional and, therefor, better received by management. Another perception at work is that because blogs are considered less professional, anyone who attempts to write a good strong blog with lot's of examples, might be considered to be wasting time or not doing their primary job.

I guess it's a matter of what the local perception of blogs are.

So far as sharing infomation goes, people should try it at work... it's amazing how much you can get done when folks understand how each other thinks. Blogging and Wiki's are certainly one way to do that... but, it's a little impersonal... before I publish something on our Wiki, I have to have a reason to believe that the article would be useful to what we're doing and that people don't already know the material. There's only one way to do that and that's to talk with peers, supervisors, and subordinates. Seems like a lot of folks are afraid to leave their cube to go sit with an SME or even pick up the phone, anymore... the instantaneous feedback of dialog is much more effective than the 20 or 30 emails it may otherwise take to clarify even simple points.

Then, there's the matter of "Prima Donnas" and folks in fear of their job... neither of them will share info... but that might not be a bad thing, now that I think of it

RE: Blogging in your career

Jeff Moden — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 21:52:00 GMT

Heh! More than 6000 posts and you still haven't got it down to {Ctrl-A}{Ctrl-C} before you hit the Submit button?

RE: Blogging in your career

Wayne West — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 10:08:00 GMT

Myself, I've isolated my personal blog/email from my job application process (not that I'm doing that right now). I don't want my employer looking at my blog before I'm hired as I have some strong political opinions that they may or may not agree with, so I bought a vanity domain name and use an email address through there, forwarded to my normal email, for all job applications. My vanity site has my resume and will shortly have a CMS system so that I can post cool stuff that I discover or write in SQL Server.So let 'em find my personal site, let 'em find my posts here at SQL Server Central. They won't be able to link to my personal blog through there.Two things drove me to do this. First, getting ridiculous amounts of spam from Monster, Dice, etc. Second, a friend of mine lost out on a tech writing job for a major national radio show because of some content in his blog.Isolation for me, baby!

RE: Blogging in your career

K Foster — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 09:02:00 GMT

Hi Steve - Maybe the editorial should become part of SQLServerCentral.com blog then you don't have to worry about neglecting the blog in favor of the editorial. Just make the editorial a thread on the blog.

RE: Blogging in your career

Steve Jones - SSC Editor — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 07:47:00 GMT

My thoughts when writing this were that some companies are promoting blogs. Not all of them, but some are. It's a marketing effort to be sure, but it does allow some people to express themselves. For places like Microsoft, it gives them a little more human face.Not all developers want to write, or speak, or share what they do. But some do and a blog is an easy way to do that. You might want to get into speaking or maybe show off some knowledge without the formal editing that comes with other publication methods. Or you may not want to lead a brown bag session, but you'll write. Or you may not want to do either.The thing about technical blogging is that you can promote yourself in a way that can be hard to do elsewhere. Publication is a hassle and having someone change/edit your words can be annoying. Some don't care, some do, so as Andy mentioned, this gives you another medium to communicate.You definitely have to be careful about what you write. You don't want to write things that offend people, but you can explain how you figured something out. And promote yourself as well. To some extent the company takes a chance by allowing you some exposure. You might leave for another job!I'd say that blogging (personal, professional, or corporate) is worth trying. You might love it. Might hate it. Could be a team building thing. Might be a way to get FAQs out there quickly. Might be a way to show off your own project and even get help. I've seen all of these. Jamie Thomson (http://blogs.conchango.com/jamiethomson/) does a great job of professional blogging as a consultant and we track his stuff in the Database Weekly newsletter. Oren Eini has a project he blogs about (http://ayende.com/Blog/category/486.aspx), though I think he mixes things up with personal stuff too much. Jonathan Schwartz does a great corporate blog (http://blogs.sun.com/jonathan/), but he's the CEO. I think the PSS engineers for SQL Server have a great blog (http://blogs.msdn.com/psssql/).Just for the record, Andy wrote this Doing the CTRL-A, CTRL-C thing now.

RE: Blogging in your career

Andy Warren — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 07:35:00 GMT

Jeff, thats a fair question. Dont know that my answer will do it justice, but here goes. I can see a few developers posting code bits, but you're right, probably not a lot. I think a blog about db related critical incidents would be very valuable, what happened, how long to fix, what was the fix, something that goes beyond the 'server is up again' email. Or a blog about perf improvements, what you tuned, how much gain, how it impacts the company/application.

Blogs are about communicating and we can pick our media; email, IM, blog, web report, conference call, in person meeting, wiki (sorta). Each have their place but we tend to overuse email. It's a great thing to allow senior mgrs to see a bit of what goes on 2 or more levels down, and definitely to see what goes on with their direct reports - things that wouldn't merit an email. Results of a team building trip. Someone speaking at a local user group event. New employees joining the team. Blogs are an easy and informal way to communicate some stuff that might be technical or to personalize what can be a very faceless business. The more transparency we can create the better the business will do.

Different standards for internal vs external blogs. Internally posts should be professional, but its absolutely ok to voice frustration occasionally, just think about who would read it and are they seeing enough of the story to see where your frustration comes from. External blogs are different, look at the recent Google fiasco around medical records.

I work at very small company so we do email and phone, no need for blogs internally at this point. Externally we communicate monthly to our customer/prospects, and we issue the rare formal press release. My SSC blog kinda splits the difference, they can see some of my professional thoughts that relate to the business, but it's a me blog, not a company blog.

Blogs don't take a lot of time, I spend maybe 5 minutes typing in each of mine. I'd think most companies would be ok with that, but worse case you come in 5 mins early to work!

Looking at this, Im not sure I've said it well - which is generally a sign that I need to have a good conversation about it with someone to help crytalize whats important, or not!

RE: Blogging in your career

Andy Warren — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 06:53:00 GMT

The SSC timeout just ate my long winded reply - who built this thing anyway!

RE: Blogging in your career

Loner — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 06:00:00 GMT

Jeff, I agreed with you. These days are totally different, no one shares information anymore. Going to work is no more fun !!!!! You have to be careful what you say and what you do. Even I suggest something that it can make the system perform faster, the DBA, the manager may not like it because they are afraid you will take over their job !!! Just pretend to be dumb and do what they tell you to do.

RE: Blogging in your career

Jeff Moden — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 22:12:00 GMT

Like what, Andy? Not challenging you here... I'd really like to know...

I find that most developers are very protective of what they know because of job security and all that... what makes folks think that developers will actually post anything useful? And, where would YOU look for information on a subject like maybe tuning a query or paging in a GUI? A company sponsored blog area?

RE: Blogging in your career

Andy Warren — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 18:14:00 GMT

Not srue I agree with that. Replace "blog" with "easy way to post web content" and there are lot of situations where it makes more sense in the corporate world.

RE: Blogging in your career

chauchnet — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 18:03:00 GMT

I think blogging might not be good idea in a corporate world. It puts too much emphasis on the individual person writing the blog. It's not organized and not consistant. If companies want to post technical information for people to share. Then software programs like Wiki's or Microsoft Sharepoint would be the ideal candidate. Blogs are more personal and should be kept out of the corporate culture.

RE: Blogging in your career

Steve Jones - SSC Editor — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 15:44:00 GMT

There are some tools that help. I know that if you were to have a Blogger or one of the popular sites, Word 2007 can actually publish to that site. I'm sure there are other tools that work with different sites.However I'd think it would be different content on different sites. My personal site is mostly for family and friends. The SSC one is really for work/career. I never give out my personal site in an interview. Just isn't relevant.

RE: Blogging in your career

Tim Mitchell — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 14:28:00 GMT

Steve, I don't necessarily disagree with posting blog data on multiple sites as you described (Personal blog = personal + career, career blog = just career), especially for less than consistent bloggers like me. However, I'm a little on the lazy side and don't want to log into 3 sites and enter the same data 3 times (even if it's copy/paste). Do any tools exist to help me centrally manage and publish multiple blogs?

RE: Blogging in your career

Bob Hoffman-209065 — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 11:28:00 GMT

I enjoy living next to our bog. We can see moose, coyotes, eagles, geese, lynx, fox and the occasional bear. Even had the kids watch two cow moose trying to attract a bull during the fall rut. You don't see that in your backyard every day!

Wait, you said blog.

Sorry, I get those two words mixed up because when you dig into either one of them (corporate blog), it really starts to stink up the place quickly.

Just because you read it in a blog, doesn't make it true. I read that someplace on the Internet.

RE: Blogging in your career

Andy Warren — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 08:24:00 GMT

I think good blogs are pretty hard to do. Most of us don't solve interesting problems all that often, and blogging about something you read elsewhere isn't very exciting. I pretty much fall into that boat too! I've been blogging for a couple months to see what I could make of it and the answer so far is Im not sure. I've been mixing SQL and user group posts, but out of all of those Im not sure that if someone else was writing it I'd read it directly, though it would have higher value if found as part of a search (due to relevancy only). Blogs work where personal web sites usually fail only because RSS makes it painless to check for new content and it makes loading content super easy.

I do like the idea of a 'professional development' blog that is a lot more like a diary and a lot less about come read what I wrote. One of my fav interview questions is to ask someone what kind of professional development they do to sustain and astonishly few have much of a plan. If you blog about articles you read, some nice tip, etc, it gives you a focus for your blog and conceivably would be helpful to someone following the same path but not quite as far along as you are. It's a great way to keep track of little bits and pieces, and it sure would be nice to have that available for the next job interview.

I agree with Grant that a lot of the 'good stuff' is far more likely to be seen and used when posted as content vs blogged. One thing you might consider is doing an SSC based blog, Steve aggregates all the blogs into one feed (in addition to the standalone blog feed) so it might increase the chances of people seeing it.

RE: Blogging in your career

Loner — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 07:57:00 GMT

My former manager found out I wrote some articles and submitted questions on SQLServerCentral and he kept encourage me doing it. My new manager the first thing he said was 'I knew you posted questions on some website, but people may give you the wrong answer so I don't think you should keep doing it'.I was thinking this guy did not want me to post the question because one time he asked me to do something, I posted the question here and everyone said it was bad idea. I knew it was a bad idea, I posted the question to make sure. He did not want his people to post the question because he did not want his people to know he was not good.As far as the company, not to mention about the blog, if you talked to someone next to your cube and some people overheard it, they may immediately told your manager that you were not working.So everyone in the company was frustrated but was afraid to say anything. They did not welcome new employee either because they viewed it was a threat to their job. That's the reason why I am looking for another job. Each company has its corporate culture. Some are opened door but some are totally closed.

RE: Blogging in your career

Martin Vrieze — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 07:04:00 GMT

I wouldn't keep anything of a personal nature in a blog on the internet...HR departments use this stuff to weed out candidates/target employees for dismissal.

Keep your personal life personal...and private.

RE: Blogging in your career

Steve Jones - SSC Editor — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 06:42:00 GMT

I'm not sure it's a waste of company time. It does a few things. It lets the world see how employees view things, and shows your talent, which may increase confidence in your products.It's definitely a fine line between giving away secrets or competitive advantage and showing off your company.I think publishing is a great way to do things as well, but magazines and sites like this offer limited opportunities. As much as we publish, we couldn't publish from every DBA if they all sent in articles. If you can't get published or don't want to go through the editing hassles, then blogging makes some sense.Of course, we're pretty light on the editing here, so send in your articles!

RE: Blogging in your career

Grant Fritchey — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 06:16:00 GMT

I tried maintaining a professional blog but I found I didn't have something to say often enough to make it worth it. Instead, when I've got something I really want to share, I write it up & submit it to you guys as an article. I get more readers than I'd ever get on a blog and, in terms of a resume, it looks pretty good to say you're published as opposed to saying you run a blog.

RE: Blogging in your career

Andy Leonard — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 03:18:00 GMT

Another great editorial Steve!

Corporate blogging is a great way to get the word out about your product or service. It's the internet equivalent of word-of-mouth advertising. It can also provide powerful journalism / evangelism.

You're absolutely correct: it's always a good idea to maintain your own blog separate and distinct from any corporate blogging you do.

:{> Andy

RE: Blogging in your career

Jeff Moden — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 23:14:00 GMT

>>Lots of companies these days are looking to get their employees to blog...

Why would they enable yet another waste of company time using company resources?

Blogging in your career

Steve Jones - SSC Editor — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 16:47:00 GMT

I maintain a few blogs, well I maintain a personal one. The one here at SQLServerCentral.com doesn't get so much work, but I'm trying to get better at that. It's hard for me since this editorial is almost like a blog, so finding a whole separate set of things to write about, and then separate them from articles, is tough.

Lots of companies these days are looking to get their employees to blog, with various degrees of success. Some want the exposure, some want to show off, some think of it as another marketing channel, and some just do it because everyone else is.

However it's not that easy a thing to maintain for a company. I follow lots of blogs and I've seen so many die after a few months because people don't want to be bothered to write. I've got almost as many dead blogs to watch as I do live ones. Thank goodness for Google Reader to allow me to only see new items.

But allowing everyone to blog and express themselves doesn't always work out well. I saw this mention about Google and some employees that write something about the movie Sicko. I could see what the employee was trying to say, but it didn't sound good. And it makes you think that Google puts their profits ahead of the "right" thing to do by supporting companies that we feel aren't being fair with us.

There's also the side of things where bloggers talk about all types of things and get some benefit for their employers because more people read the blog. I guess that's what I kind of do here. I call this an editorial, and it is, but it's also a blog in some ways. It also keeps me busy enough that I tend to neglect my SQLServerCentral.com blog.

There are many thoughts on successful blogs and how to build one for your company. I think that can be good for the company, but what about you personally? What happens if you leave the company? Is your blog lost forever? Most likely it will be, slowly dropping out of the massive cache that Google maintains.

My advice has always been for friends that they should have a professional blog, but keep it professional. No stories about your cats, dates, etc. I know I blur the line here, but I think this forum is a bit of an exception.

My new advice is as follows: keep 3 blogs if you have a corporate blog.

Sounds like a lot of work, but really it's two blogs giving you some disaster recovery. First keep a personal blog if you want. Actually just set one up and put stuff in there that's not related to your career. Put the stuff in there that you wouldn't want someone to ask you on your next interview.

I think it makes some sense to have a corporate blog if you're asked. Use it to put out interesting technical things related to your job or company. But don't expect this blog will get you your next job. It probably works for Raymond Chen and Linus Torvalds, but for most of us this won't help. And you don't want to lose your great technical posts, so set up a third, professional blog for your career. Copy over those posts you want as a part of your online career CV and reference them when you are looking for a new job. Give out this blog to recruiters, interviewers, etc.

You should easily know where a new post should go and try not to mix your professional and personal documentation. Write a new SQL CE app? It could go on all three blogs, but your dog munching on your shoes definitely should only be in one place: the personal blog.

Steve Jones