Are you taking care of yourself as an IT professional? We try to cover all aspects of your SQL Server career here, not just the technical stuff. Longtime SQL Server guru Michael Coles brings us some health tips in an interview with Dr. Jerry Sanders   Read more...

Are top notch programming skills innate or can they be learned? Janet Wong takes a look at the skills and capabilities of great programmers in this essay.   Read more...

Longtime SQL Server author and expert David Poole takes a break from SQL Server to bring us a few life lessons for software development.  Read more...

Most of us DBAs have worked on our career to get where we are. A DBA is usually a second or third step in IT and we we've looked to advance our understanding of technology. Jeffrey Yao now brings us a new level of database work to which we may aspire.   Read more...

A few notes from a consulting engagement that might get you to think about what to expect from your next contractors.  Read more...

Everyone has a set of handy utilities and tools that they use with their SQL Server, but sometimes convincing an employer to purchase tools is hard. Longtime DBA David Bird brings us a list of the tools he likes to use and are FREE.   Read more...

Dice.com recently completed a salary survey for 2007. If you didn't participate, Steve Jones summarizes the results for DBAs.   Read more...

As a SQL Server DBA or developer, how do you measure the success of your projects? What about your users? Here is an interesting look by Janet Wong at a few of her projects and how their success was perceived. See if any of your experiences are similar.   Read more...

Are you ready to move into management? The jump from tech worker to management is a large one and Andy Warren shares some of his experience in making the leap with you.  Read more...

How can IT get along better with the rest of the business? Often a SQL Server DBA isn't in charge, but you can influence others and make everything work smoother with a little effort. Andy Warren gives you some tips and tricks that have worked well in the past.  Read more...

There's a shortage of IT workers, which should lead to a pay raise for some people. Steve Jones takes a look at some recent news about IT salaries.  Read more...

How do you decide who gets hired? Do you get the best candidate? Steve Jones says that most of us don't necessarily hire the best person that applies for a variety of reasons.  Read more...

It's not easy to lose your job, but it can be done if you aren't performing. What concerns Steve Jones is someone recently lost their job for their behavior on their own personal time.  Read more...

Life at college is good. It's a time in many people's lives that they'll never forget. Steve Jones asks if you'd want to go back to your adult roots.  Read more...

Does it suck to be a corporate programmer? Joel Spolsky things so, but Steve Jones takes issue with it.  Read more...

What will happen in the job market for DBAs this year? Steve Jones gives a few opinions based on what is happening in the industry.  Read more...

It's important that you manage your career and not just leave it to chance. Steve Jones talks about what you might do to ensure that you'll be successful in the IT world.  Read more...

What makes a good manager? In response to a recent thread, Janet Wong takes us through some of the good and bad managers she's had during her career and talks about the problems today with technical managers.   Read more...

We often see ways to improve your career, but there's a flip side as well. In the spirit of our "worst practices" series, Steve Jones takes a look at ten skills that could cost you your job if you can't perform them.   Read more...

The first part of a great video series from Chris Shaw of SQL Oncall that walks you through a mock interview and gives advice on how you can present yourself in the best light.  Read more...

Everyone has a set of handy utilities and tools that they use with their SQL Server, but sometimes convincing an employer to purchase tools is hard. Longtime DBA David Bird brings us a list of the tools he likes to use and are FREE.   Read more...

We often see ways to improve your career, but there's a flip side as well. In the spirit of our "worst practices" series, Steve Jones takes a look at ten skills that could cost you your job if you can't perform them.   Read more...

Longtime SQL Server author and expert David Poole takes a break from SQL Server to bring us a few life lessons for software development.  Read more...