April 18, 2017 at 7:53 am
For a while now I've been thinking about become more involved in the SQL Community. I've been working with SQL since 2000 as what I'd call a Development DBA with an emphasis of working as a BI Architect recently. I was recently laid off and figure this is a good time to get started as it'll help me keep my SQL up, I've been encouraged by coworkers (now former) to blog. I was also thinking of answering forum posts.
There are two hurdles I need to overcome, shyness and feeling intimated by the community intelligence out there. I feel like anything I'm going to say has been done by someone else and done better. I'm looking for advice as to how to overcoming these obstacles and where to best get started.
Thanks.
Tom
April 18, 2017 at 8:18 am
Personally I found answering questions here really helpful. I'm not going to pretend I have anywhere near the level of expertise, or experience (I'm probably quite a few years younger than some of you guys (sorry!)) that the others here have, but I find answering questions really helps my skills. If I find a question that I don't know the answer to but think I might be able to with a little research, I go away and do the research. If I manage to find a solution, then I'll post it. If i don't, but want to know the answer, I'll subscribe to the topic and see what answers others give. Then I can learn from those instead.
Reading other peoples solutions to questions you've answered is also extremely important in my view. yes, you may have provided a solution, but was it the best solution (definition of best)? Was it the fastest? Was it the most efficient? Was it concise and readable? These are all questions that you should be asking yourself when you answer. Someone may well (will) come along with a completely different answer to you that performs better or worse. If you don't understand, or you disagree with their answer, ask about it (even if it's not your topic). The OP may not understand the answer either. Some of the best knowledge I've got here has been because a debate has started out on an OP's question. The OP has been and gone but you have several users talking about all the merits and cons of the different solutions, and they provide some really good insist. Some of the users give some amazingly great detail on the hows and whys, and that's the really invaluable stuff.
Try answering the QotD's as well. Some, I admit, don't fall in my remit but I still guess at them. The ones that you want to know more about have a look at the discussions and see what people post about it. Have a research on the topics that really interest you, after you've answered they normally have a link to BOL or documentation, so that you can see why the answer is what it is (unless Steve ticks the wrong box for the answer :laugh: ).
SSC isn't the only place you can get a lot of knowledge from, but I find it an incredible starting point. If you're worried/not confident enough, to post answers at the moment, I would at least suggest reading the questions and trying to answer them. You don't have to post your answer if you don't want to, but have a look at what others do post, and compare your answers. When you get confident, then have a go at posting, either with your answers, or maybe ask someone for more detail on their answer so you can get more from them.
Of course, you also have the Microsoft Certifications, but that isn't something I've started yet. I'm planning to within the next year, but unfortunately I don't have anywhere at home to study at the moment (awaiting to get a new place, but the UK property market is a competitive and expensive land), so I'm actually hoping someone else might come a long and discuss those. :rolleyes:
Thom~
Excuse my typos and sometimes awful grammar. My fingers work faster than my brain does.
Larnu.uk
April 18, 2017 at 9:20 am
April 18, 2017 at 9:28 am
Another good thing to look for is local SQL Chapters or SQL events. Some are free (SQL Saturday for example) while others cost money (PASS Summit, SQL Cruise, etc). They are great ways to meet people and get your name out there.
If you have no local SQL Chapter, start one up. I'm a horribly shy guy and I started my own chapter and I have 15 members, of which between 2 and 5 come to each meeting. So the group is small and it helps me overcome my shyness.
I also agree with Thom A; the QOTD's are a great way to get more knowledge and have fun and answering forum posts is another good way to learn and share knowledge. I try to do both daily and I realize I don't know as much about SQL as I thought I did. I get a lot of the QOTD's wrong, but the ones I do get wrong are usually related to technology we don't use where I work such as replication or log shipping or pretty much any 2016 specific feature.
As for certificates, I got my MTA in Database Fundamentals and if you've used SQL Server for a bit, you can pass that with ease. I'm now working up the certification ladder mostly because I like the challenge and it look sgood on a resume (at least where I live it does). Since you have been working with SQL since SQL 2000 (which I assume means you have been working with SQL since 2000 as well, not that your company was still using SQL 2000 when you were let go), you should be able to get your MTA quite easily.
If you want to do training, I did online training through code academy and it was done really well. A lot of reading on there and then practice tests. If you are more of a visual learner and like videos to learn, icollege.co is a nice cheap alternative (they are changing websites at the moment and I do not know the new URL, but I expect the old one to redirect once it is live).
The above is all just my opinion on what you should do.
As with all advice you find on a random internet forum - you shouldn't blindly follow it. Always test on a test server to see if there is negative side effects before making changes to live!
I recommend you NEVER run "random code" you found online on any system you care about UNLESS you understand and can verify the code OR you don't care if the code trashes your system.
April 18, 2017 at 9:38 am
You've been in the industry for a long time, so I very much doubt that you'll provide answers which will make you look at all bad. Before clicking on POST, scan all of your answers for the words CURSOR, WHILE and NOLOCK just to be sure!
Take a deep breath and go for it. I remember feeling the same way as you, but now I'm glad I took the plunge, for all of the reasons already stated above by Thom.
If you haven't even tried to resolve your issue, please don't expect the hard-working volunteers here to waste their time providing links to answers which you could easily have found yourself.
April 19, 2017 at 7:00 am
Write a blog post on backups. Two reasons. It gets you started. People still don't do backups correctly, if at all, so your addition to the accumulated avalanche of information out there will help.
Don't be intimidated by the community. There are a few people who are truly more than a few steps above us mere mortals. However, all the rest of us are just people who have the helper gene. If you have it to, exercise it. Blog, record videos, anything. Absolutely answer questions here on the forum. Get involved with your local PASS Group. Volunteer at a SQLSaturday. Offer to speak at both.
Overcome the shyness. I myself am an introvert (no one believes that, but it's true). You just have to muscle through that crap. Not only will it help with your involvement in the community, it'll help at interviews and in finding the next job.
Welcome to the party pal!
"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
- Theodore Roosevelt
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