When most people were young, they had someone telling them to "Mind your manners." Such classics as: "Keep your elbows off of the table," "Use a fork," "Put on deodorant," as well as "Don't chew with your mouth open" were bandied about like there were laws of nature. However, manners differ significantly from laws in […]
2023-08-12
95 reads
The other day, I was in a Twitter discussion interviewing people for technical positions. This reminded me of one of my favorite things to do in interviews… reading the list of qualifications/skills and asking questions about its contents. If you put it on the resume, I assume you know something about it and are willing […]
2023-07-15
91 reads
As computer scientists, it often feels like our job is to tell the business user, "No, we can't do that because the software you asked for, and we built, doesn't allow it ..." Then, after a long and relatively silly meeting where your soul dies a little, the business user typically gets 80% of what […]
2023-06-10
88 reads
An old sport saying goes like this “I could beat them with one arm tied behind my back.” Well, after six weeks with my arm in a sling, I am in awe of whoever tries that because everything is a lot harder. Like washing your hand and then drying it, becomes more of a challenge […]
2023-05-20
79 reads
Several years ago, I was brought in on a project to review a database design. I was provided a time for a meeting. No written requirements were available, but I generally knew what the system was supposed to do. No before/after schema images showed what was being changed were available. Still, I was assured that […]
2023-03-25
81 reads
The first time I spoke in front of a group of people over 20 years ago about a programming topic, I was scared to death. I could barely sleep the night before, obsessing about the material and practicing it repeatedly. When I finally did sleep, it felt like minutes before I awoke, and it was […]
2023-02-25
65 reads
Fear and aging. Two of the things that most human beings have in common is that we are scared and getting older. Most of us we fear getting older, but that is a very different conversation altogether. I want to talk about the fear of what if. Today I have two things I am keenly […]
2023-02-06 (first published: 2023-01-28)
170 reads
Practice makes perfect:” right? Well, not exactly. The reality of it all is that this saying is an untrustworthy aphorism. I discovered this in my “younger” days when I was a passionate tennis player, practicing and playing 20+ hours a week. No matter what my passion level was, without some serious coaching (and perhaps a […]
2021-08-14
202 reads
Leaving aside, for a second, Freud’s psychoanalytical definitions, the term “ego” generally refers to a person’s sense of self, and their self-esteem. In casual usage, however, it usually appears in the adjectival form, “egotistical” (most often followed by “jerk”). You don’t need to be a jerk to be a DBA; humility is important. However, ego is important […]
2021-06-26
268 reads
Of all the valuable attributes of a DBA, from passion to humility to practicality, perhaps one of the most important attributes may turn out to be the most seemingly nebulous: foresight. According to Free Dictionary, foresight is the "perception of the significance and nature of events before they have occurred". Foresight does not come naturally to most people, as the […]
2021-05-15
238 reads
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By Steve Jones
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