Learning Priorities

  • +1 for Yao's advice.

    I'll add that in any aspect of IT you shouldn't just be preparing for possible career change... You should be actively planning for it. You can be predator or prey.

    ortek (12/16/2008)


    I could not agree more with the previous comment. I am a SQL Server Developer based in the Uk, and have invested in training, including SSAS. Having invested in this training I have not been able to find a contract where I can utilise these skills. Also, should I invest more more money in training, perhaps SharePoint, only to find that I am not using these newly aquired skills.

    It sounds like you're doing the right things, IMO. Not being in the UK, I don't know what the current contract climate is like there, but you might consider signing up with one of the larger Microsoft partners as a consultant where current-version skill sets are more likely to be valued and actively encouraged by the company. I don't know if MCS is hiring in the UK at the moment, but somebody is always hiring, even the week before Christmas. In the US, it's much more likely that companies will add heads after the first of the year, though.

  • Geez, I almost forgot about needing to learn Oracle administration on our AIX box, and I'd like to play with DB2 on our 400. Gotta figure out the document system on that 400, apparently it has Domino and that'll be a factor in migrating the beast to an archive system.

    What was the question again? 😀

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    [font="Arial"]Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves or we know where we can find information upon it. --Samuel Johnson[/font]

  • What was I working on again? Where am I? What am I doing here on my birthday?

    Happy Birthday, Wayne!

    :{> Andy

    Andy Leonard, Chief Data Engineer, Enterprise Data & Analytics

  • Andy,

    I must be one of your exceptions. As a DBA and a Developer I view change as inevitable, and therefore I usually embrace change but not for the sake of change. I try to stay current with the technologies I use or could potentially find myself having to use.

    I try not to depend on my employer to keep me update with technologies. I am responsible for keeping myself relevent in my chosen career field, so if I have to expend some of my own resources, then that is what I need to do.

  • Lynn Pettis (12/16/2008)


    Andy,

    I must be one of your exceptions. As a DBA and a Developer I view change as inevitable, and therefore I usually embrace change but not for the sake of change.

    Hi Lynn,

    I think there's a small minority of technology professionals that qualify as both software developers and database administrators. A very small minority. You may be a member. I'm not - I'm a database developer who dabbles in software development from time to time.

    The people in this minority have, in my experience, the best balance regarding change. I look to those people for advice when I'm all gung-ho on implementing some change (as I am of the Developer persuasion).

    :{> Andy

    Andy Leonard, Chief Data Engineer, Enterprise Data & Analytics

  • Andy Leonard (12/16/2008)


    Lynn Pettis (12/16/2008)


    ... I must be one of your exceptions. As a DBA and a Developer I view change as inevitable, and therefore I usually embrace change but not for the sake of change.

    ... I think there's a small minority of technology professionals that qualify as both software developers and database administrators. A very small minority. You may be a member. I'm not - I'm a database developer who dabbles in software development from time to time.

    The people in this minority have, in my experience, the best balance regarding change. I look to those people for advice when I'm all gung-ho on implementing some change (as I am of the Developer persuasion).

    Seconded! The only development that I do outside of database design and T-SQL is Access, taking existing databases and porting them to SQL Server, maintaining their existing front end or developing Access fronts for query-only and reporting systems.

    I took a class this year in VB.Net 2005/2008, and I was stunned at the changes and progress the language has made. I haven't used it since the VB 3/4 versions, so it was a whole new world for me. But I wouldn't want to develop in it because it would require "devotion to the cause" and I think would be detrimental to my job as a DBA.

    Some people can do that, but I don't think they're going to do as good a job as a specialist administrator or developer, pick one. The generalist stands too large a chance of missing out on some very important minutia on both sides, and that minutia is too important to what we do. (IMO)

    (and thanks for the HBD, Andy!) :hehe:

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    [font="Arial"]Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves or we know where we can find information upon it. --Samuel Johnson[/font]

  • Wayne West (12/16/2008)


    Andy Leonard (12/16/2008)


    Lynn Pettis (12/16/2008)


    ... I must be one of your exceptions. As a DBA and a Developer I view change as inevitable, and therefore I usually embrace change but not for the sake of change.

    ... I think there's a small minority of technology professionals that qualify as both software developers and database administrators. A very small minority. You may be a member. I'm not - I'm a database developer who dabbles in software development from time to time.

    The people in this minority have, in my experience, the best balance regarding change. I look to those people for advice when I'm all gung-ho on implementing some change (as I am of the Developer persuasion).

    Seconded! The only development that I do outside of database design and T-SQL is Access, taking existing databases and porting them to SQL Server, maintaining their existing front end or developing Access fronts for query-only and reporting systems.

    I took a class this year in VB.Net 2005/2008, and I was stunned at the changes and progress the language has made. I haven't used it since the VB 3/4 versions, so it was a whole new world for me. But I wouldn't want to develop in it because it would require "devotion to the cause" and I think would be detrimental to my job as a DBA.

    Some people can do that, but I don't think they're going to do as good a job as a specialist administrator or developer, pick one. The generalist stands too large a chance of missing out on some very important minutia on both sides, and that minutia is too important to what we do. (IMO)

    (and thanks for the HBD, Andy!) :hehe:

    Let me qualify that a bit. I am a developer that became a DBA. My development work today is limited, but having been on both sides I have an appreciation for both regarding change.

    From this position, I think I can serve as a bridge between pure developers and pure administrators.

  • Lynn Pettis (12/16/2008)


    Wayne West (12/16/2008)


    Andy Leonard (12/16/2008)


    Lynn Pettis (12/16/2008)


    ... I must be one of your exceptions. As a DBA and a Developer I view change as inevitable, and therefore I usually embrace change but not for the sake of change.

    ... I think there's a small minority of technology professionals that qualify as both software developers and database administrators. A very small minority. You may be a member. I'm not - I'm a database developer who dabbles in software development from time to time.

    The people in this minority have, in my experience, the best balance regarding change. I look to those people for advice when I'm all gung-ho on implementing some change (as I am of the Developer persuasion).

    Seconded! The only development that I do outside of database design and T-SQL is Access, taking existing databases and porting them to SQL Server, maintaining their existing front end or developing Access fronts for query-only and reporting systems. ...

    Let me qualify that a bit. I am a developer that became a DBA. My development work today is limited, but having been on both sides I have an appreciation for both regarding change.

    From this position, I think I can serve as a bridge between pure developers and pure administrators.

    So much depends on the size of your shop. We have two people who could loosely be described as developers, I'm strictly DBA and odd-jobs. The only reason I took the class was so that I knew what our (then) three developers would be learning vis-a-vis the SQL Server side of things. It was a good thing that I took the class because the database side of the training was HORRIBLE. I had to hold classes to teach them the proper way of doing things in a database, and it has paid off tremendously.

    For the most part, we don't do application development. We tend to buy canned apps, and our developers are doing SQL queries and odd jobs and Crystal Reports. I honestly don't know if we will ever develop a VB/SQL Server application from the ground up, such a project being proposed would probably shock me into catatonia.

    It sounds like you have a large enough staff to have both a developer team and a DBA team. I came from a developer background, fortunately it was always mainly from a database developer background (dBase, FoxPro, Wang Pace, DataFlex, etc) with some VB thrown in. I think the mixed background is a great way to start in this profession to give you additional perspectives, but eventually you begin specializing and your job gets somewhat narrower and more focused. In my ever so humble opinion. 😛

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    [font="Arial"]Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves or we know where we can find information upon it. --Samuel Johnson[/font]

  • I think the shop I am in now is in the middle, but small enough that I still have to do development work or work very closely with the developers.

    My previous developer experience, dare I say, was COBOL. I also did a lot building our AIS (Advances Information System) using SQL Server 6.5/7.0/2000. Call it a zero generation warehouse. It was a repository of data from our legacy COBOL/ISAM system that allowed us to give the users the ability to write their own basic reports using Access, and for us to do more complex reporting 20x + faster than trying to do it in COBOL.

    I was the one responsible for maintaining AIS and did much of the development on it (plus the COBOL development/support).

    I'm always looking for that edge to try and help people do their job easier/faster/more reliably. Change is needed, but as I said not just for the sake of change.

  • I'm a consultant these days, so I have to know whatever the client wants.

    Right now I'm trying to get by BI skills up to a level where I can walk a client through creating a cube without having to refer to my colleague's notes :D. I also need to learn sharepoint (WSS and MOSS) well enough to be able to teach it and plan implementations. Add to that I need to work on my (non-existent) C# skills and get up to speed with 2008's policy management, extended events and auditing.

    Too much to learn, not enough weekends.

    Gail Shaw
    Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
    SQL In The Wild: Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability

    We walk in the dark places no others will enter
    We stand on the bridge and no one may pass
  • GilaMonster (12/16/2008)


    I'm a consultant these days, so I have to know whatever the client wants.

    Actually, you just need to know what they'll pay for 😀

  • Steve Jones - Editor (12/16/2008)


    Actually, you just need to know what they'll pay for 😀

    These days around here that mostly seems to be BI and ScarePoint. Did I mention I'm not that fond of ScarePoint?

    Gail Shaw
    Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
    SQL In The Wild: Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability

    We walk in the dark places no others will enter
    We stand on the bridge and no one may pass
  • But it pays well. If I was going back to work, those would be the two areas I'd focus on.

  • Steve Jones - Editor (12/16/2008)


    But it pays well. If I was going back to work, those would be the two areas I'd focus on.

    Yup, one of the reasons I'm completing the switch back to my old group. They now are responsible for SharePoint, too.

    K. Brian Kelley
    @kbriankelley

  • Technology is not one of those jobs where you can sit back and say now I've learned everthing and nobody can teach me anything anymore. In fact, I don't think you can do that in any job. There is always something new to learn. Even if you learn something and not use it in the immediate future I am sure you will come to a point when that knowledge is going to come in handy. Brad MacGehee wrote a book "How to be an Exceptional DBA" and in this book he wrote that a person has to specialize in one or the other thing. You cannot learn every single thing in SQL Server. I would say that if you specialize you're going to look for a job where you can use you speciality.

    A good positive attitude and willingness to learn has never done anyone harm.

    :cool::cool::cool::cool:

    :-PManie Verster
    Developer
    Johannesburg
    South Africa

    I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. - Holy Bible
    I am a man of fixed and unbending principles, the first of which is to be flexible at all times. - Everett Mckinley Dirkson (Well, I am trying. - Manie Verster)

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