September 30, 2010 at 11:41 pm
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Measuring Career Growth
Tim Mitchell, Microsoft Data Platform MVP
Data Warehouse and ETL Consultant
TimMitchell.net | @Tim_Mitchell | Tyleris.com
ETL Best Practices
September 30, 2010 at 11:46 pm
Early in my career I kept a portfolio. Now, I keep a blog. That reminds me - I need to get some more stuff published there.
Jason...AKA CirqueDeSQLeil
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I have given a name to my pain...MCM SQL Server, MVP
SQL RNNR
Posting Performance Based Questions - Gail Shaw[/url]
Learn Extended Events
October 1, 2010 at 2:17 am
Wait - you opened presents on Christmas Eve? CHRISTMAS EVE? A day early and you're complaining about the 15 minutes!
🙂
October 1, 2010 at 3:04 am
Well jealous about you actually getting your presents on Christmas Eve - how cool!!! Might keep that secret from my kids.....
Another way of measuring career growth is setting targets as part of your personal / management development plan. This is not necessarily to learn abc software, but rather other skills. Over a number of years this can also be referred to and progress can be measured.
Great article and food for thought.
October 1, 2010 at 8:35 am
Personal rant about blogging is how long it takes. I'm already reading SQL mags and studying for a cert, and all this after putting in 40+ hours per week. The blog posts I've written tend to take at least 2 hours to write, because I do a lot of research to link to sources and images. I wish there was a faster way somehow, although I'm pretty sure there isn't!
I've been thinking about blogging just once per week. I guess that would be doable.
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My SQL Server Blog
October 1, 2010 at 8:55 am
My Mom used to allow us to open one present from the family on Christmas Eve, with Santa bringing other stuff the next morning that wasn't under the tree that night.
It was a fun trip, though we don't do that now. My wife likes the "all on Christmas morning" time.
October 1, 2010 at 8:57 am
amenjonathan (10/1/2010)
Personal rant about blogging is how long it takes. I'm already reading SQL mags and studying for a cert, and all this after putting in 40+ hours per week. The blog posts I've written tend to take at least 2 hours to write, because I do a lot of research to link to sources and images. I wish there was a faster way somehow, although I'm pretty sure there isn't!I've been thinking about blogging just once per week. I guess that would be doable.
Here's what I'd recommend to you. First, write shorter posts. Don't spend 2 hours trying to exhaustively research something that's large. Focus on something smaller.
Second, write 5-10 posts and hold them back. You can use LiveWriter for offline work, or draft them for your site, but hold them. Once you have 5-10, schedule them out, say one every two weeks. It doesn't matter when they publish.
Third, set a reminder to write for 15-30 minutes once a week. Go over what you've done, what you work on, write some things up. You might work on 2-3 posts in that time, none completely done, but you'll be documenting what you learn, or what you do.
October 1, 2010 at 9:13 am
Tim,
What a wonderfully article. I enjoyed the story of your life possibly the most. Does your family still have possession of the "utility room" or has it past out of the family? When we moved recently we had to transfer out son's growth chart. I was tempted to cut out the drywall but my wife just recorded the measurements.
<><
Livin' down on the cube farm. Left, left, then a right.
October 1, 2010 at 9:18 am
amenjonathan (10/1/2010)
Personal rant about blogging is how long it takes. I'm already reading SQL mags and studying for a cert, and all this after putting in 40+ hours per week. The blog posts I've written tend to take at least 2 hours to write, because I do a lot of research to link to sources and images. I wish there was a faster way somehow, although I'm pretty sure there isn't!I've been thinking about blogging just once per week. I guess that would be doable.
Document what you do at work.
Take that document and generalize it - removing company specific information from it.
Use that for your publications.
Work once, rewarded twice is my motto!
I was on a consulting gig once and developed some general purpose techniques and code to help them solve a problem. I went to the client's manager and said, "I can show your staff how to use these utilities, but they won't have to deal with them for another 6 months or more, and they'll most likely forget by then. Would you like me to document them for you?"
I'll never forget the response he gave me, "You would do that for us?" He was utterly amazed at the idea of a developer documenting something.
I'm thinking to myself, "Hey, not only am getting paid to write this up to provide top notch service, but I know a publication that will pay me $250 a page for it."
Boy, did my woodshop get a lot of new tools that summer. :w00t:
October 1, 2010 at 9:59 am
Steve Jones - Editor (10/1/2010)
My Mom used to allow us to open one present from the family on Christmas Eve, with Santa bringing other stuff the next morning that wasn't under the tree that night. ....
We did the same thing with our son when he was young and still believe in Santa.
For best practices on asking questions, please read the following article: Forum Etiquette: How to post data/code on a forum to get the best help[/url]
October 1, 2010 at 10:12 am
Good article, you're right about our need to see progresss.
This made me think of the time that I thought that I'd finally become a "real" programmer when I could create and use arrays. As it turns out, they weren't really worth the trouble, but I could do it! 🙂
The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge. - Stephen Hawking
October 1, 2010 at 11:13 am
i do it by updating my resume once or twice every year even if i am not looking for jobs. just to try to summarize what i have accomplished at my work, what skills (both technical and soft skills) I've learned, and let me have a chance to think about whether I am making progress in my career. I agree with Tim that it's a process of accumulation, sometimes you don't know you are making progress when you are doing the same kind of job everyday, but after a big project or two, you know you achieved something and learned something.
October 1, 2010 at 1:35 pm
Never understood the christmas eve gift opening.
1) Its not christmas yet
2) 'Santa' hasn't come yet
3) Give me something to play with christmas eve and good luck getting me to bed.
4) On a related note, getting children to go to bed is way easier when they know that its just get to sleep and next thing they know, its opening presents.
Our family was all about christmas morning, even after we were all well past Santa age. And the family had to go downstairs to open presents together (which means you had to wake my dad up). The parents would take extra long getting up as we waited on the top stair held back by an invisible barrier.
October 4, 2010 at 11:46 am
Tim, I agree it's worth documenting and love the story you use to start it with. The thing I'd add is that "blogging" often seems to equate to visibility and not everyone is ready or comfortable with that. Blogs can be private. Think "professional diary" even though it doesn't sound as cool, and that might just be a Word doc. However you do it, it's worthwhile to set goals and measure progress by writing.
October 4, 2010 at 12:27 pm
I keep a code library of problems I have solved, or new approaches to the same old problems. I also keep a portfolio of some of the more interesting work I do. I try to contribute to forums where I can.
I like the idea of blogging, I haven't done that yet, although I have been considering it for some time. I have a small (and growing) bag of tips & tricks that I think others coming up might find useful. I am concerned that even a simple blog, or article, would take a fair amount of time if well written.
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