The Employment Contract

  • Comments posted to this topic are about the item The Employment Contract

  • I personally do not want my job duties to be spelled out that completely. Most of the more interesting work I've done has been because someone dropped by my desk and asked 'Hey, got a second? I've got this idea...'

    Add to that I'm not sure software is ready to be equivalent to assembly line work yet. One of these days we'll probably have enough standardized code (delimitedsplit8k comes to mind as an example) of methodology that it'll simply be recognizing the necessary components and assembling them, but we're not there yet. Data would need to be standardized before the tools applied to them could be. Imagine if every bolt you ran into had a different number of sides on the head.

    I think as long as there's a reasonable understanding of the work to be done and the time expectations to perform it, things will muddle along just fine.


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  • I have signed a contract but, probably like most people's, it's a little vague.

    I like it that way.

    I always make sure there's a line that basically reads "and anything other job as necessary" in my contracts. It gives me a lot of scope for doing other things when I have the time.

    I think contracts are a good idea for working hours, working conditions and things like that, but specifying actual duties may be a step too far.

  • I would not like to have my duties spelled out exactly because I like different challenges as long as it's within my area of expertise, if I were asked to clean the toilet I would say no. If all duties were explicit for all jobs then we would have no accidental DBA's ;-).

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  • Well.. I would probably had said no a year ago.

    This year however, my boss told me he was thinking about having me take over some share point tasks as well since the consultant doing it is leaving. That I am not so keen on doing. It's a product that might be replaced in 3-10 years and it's not a smooth product to work with at all..

  • andagr (12/9/2011)


    I would not like to have my duties spelled out exactly because I like different challenges as long as it's within my area of expertise, if I were asked to clean the toilet I would say no. If all duties were explicit for all jobs then we would have no accidental DBA's ;-).

    We might have a slightly different perspective on this since I once was a janitor. You want to pay me my contract rates to grab a mop and take out the trash? Ummmmm.... sold.

    I call myself a million dollar janitor on occassion when I get inquiries as to do I mind doing mundane work instead of the 'interesting stuff'. I'm down with the within my area of expertise, I'm certainly not feeling qualified to go do some OOP integration to EF and getting rated on it.

    You want me to haul around Accounting's computers and get all the wiring re-hooked up in their new office while you pay me my current rate? 'eh, sure. Mind if I use a mail cart?


    - Craig Farrell

    Never stop learning, even if it hurts. Ego bruises are practically mandatory as you learn unless you've never risked enough to make a mistake.

    For better assistance in answering your questions[/url] | Forum Netiquette
    For index/tuning help, follow these directions.[/url] |Tally Tables[/url]

    Twitter: @AnyWayDBA

  • Hi,

    I have to sign a 6 month work programme which lists out what I am going to achieve in this time. I invariably miss the deadlines for these and have been regarded as over promising and under delivering. I do feel like it is pretty harsh considering with all the other work outside the scope of my work programme comes across my desk.

    The fact that each 6 month period I get 9-10 months worth of work come across my desk forcing me to prioritize and ultimately let someone down in the office. So collectively amongst the staff, I have over promised and under delivered which gives the appearance that I am not good at my job.

    So, what goes into my 6 month work programme doesn't take any other work under consideration and as mentioned above, sometimes the best work achieved is being reactive to those really good ideas that help people in their job and the business even though it is not in the work programme.

    I am not sure how to handle this issue (and if anyone has any ideas I would like to hear about them) but I do believe sticking to the work programme only and ignoring any other tasks is a failure. I know I am managed badly but my thoughts are that the most important/essential work should be prioritized whether it is in your contracted work programme or not. After all, we do what we do for the greater good of the company, not just to tick a box.

  • Certainly in my last two posts I have had job specifications consisting of short clauses covering my responsibilities such as "Assist in maintaining and safeguarding the backup and recovery routines, testing and enhancing as appropriate"

    in both cases the final clause is "Other duties commensurate with the grade and post as detailed by the Line Manager".

    In my previous employment this was always item 10 in our job specs and whenever we had to do anything unusual we just said "Clause 10 again" - usually with a grin.

  • No way would I want to sign a contract for this.

    First, this particular issue has never been a problem anywhere I've worked.

    Second, I work for a large company and we're already strangled by red tape and bureaucratic policies. We don't need yet another thing to take attention away from actually getting real work done.

  • I don't want a contract specifically stating what I am to do or not do. My job description says that, but it only covers about 10% of what I do. My title is Oracle DBA and if I was limited to what is in my job description I wouldn't be able to switch to SQL Server as the company does. I do have annual performance reviews, however what my stated goals are rarely what I actually get assigned to do. Some tasks I would rather not have to do, but others have let me expand my knowledge base in completely different areas. You need to take the good with the bad.

    Having management that understands how valuable your contributions are gives you the flexibility to work on the things that best help the company and your co-workers. If management doesn't understand what you bring to the table and doesn't care or you are a poor performer I can see where a contract can give you a minimum set of tasks to keep your job. Personally I would much rather be given the freedom to learn and explore than be locked down.

  • Technology positions require knowledgeable professionals working together to meet goals and objectives and to do that it requires team work. Just keep your eyes on the ball. Do whatever it takes whenever it is necessary and pray that you are working for a boss and an organization that has integrity. I have been blessed to be in exactly that environment throughout most of my career. I say "most" because when I found that I was not, I moved on. Merry Christmas to all and to all a Good Night.

  • I think I would originally have said that I don't care if it's in the employment contract, as long as the goals set for me that affect my evaluation are clearly spelled out. In other words, I don't need all-encompassing descriptions of what I do, as long as I get time to do the important things, and we (me + management) have agreed on what those important things are.

    However, it would be nice if my job description actually listed all of the things that I actually do, so I could get credit for them when I move positions. It would also help to backfill the position. Perhaps all those crazy DBA postings that do way more than a DBA should be expected to do have evolved from people doing "other duties as assigned"? If every job actually listed what we do, more people might realize what is acceptable?

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  • If I'm asked to hand-collate or insert the "TPS Report" cover sheet in break points the middle of 2000 pages already printed, because the client output has to go out today, absolutely. It's happened before, there's no room for prima donnas if a responsible manager has made their decision to prioritize work, and I'm asked to work out of area or do something one might consider menial. I wouldn't want it to be routine.

    What I would absolutely insist upon signing on paper is if there are any airy promises at the negotiation or offer stage about comp time, flex time, work from home, or if there are periodic emergency or on-call schedules etc. Written up or no-go.

  • richardmgreen1 (12/9/2011)


    I have signed a contract but, probably like most people's, it's a little vague.

    I like it that way.

    I always make sure there's a line that basically reads "and anything other job as necessary" in my contracts. It gives me a lot of scope for doing other things when I have the time.

    I think contracts are a good idea for working hours, working conditions and things like that, but specifying actual duties may be a step too far.

    I am in a similar position, but the contract references the job title, when I joined I was SQL Server Specialist.

    This then gives a few more specifics but nothing concrete just gives systems supported and the like.

    Recently all the jobs were renamed and regraded I am now Application DBA specialist (what ever that is) and the job description is so vague as to be useless.

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  • I've worked with someone in the past who insisted on everything in her job responsibilities be written down and spelled out exactly with no 'and other duties' listed. She used that for all sorts of fun work-avoidance tricks

    - Walking out of the office in the middle of a server-down crisis because it wasn't her night to be on call and she'd already worked her 8 hours. The rest of the team worked til 4am.

    - Noticing but doing absolutely nothing about a failed job one night when on call because said job ran on a server that was not in her list of monitored servers, Never mind that the job in question wrote some files out that a critical job on one of her monitored servers needed later in the night. Net result DBA team manager gets call from angry business user at 5am

    - Refusing to assist with a project when she was the only team member who wasn't overloaded with work because it wasn't part of her duties.

    There's no place in the DBA/Dev world for those kind of shenanigans. Declining work because it's way out of your area of expertise is one thing. Declining just because it's not listed in black and white on a piece of paper, sorry, no.

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