November 2, 2011 at 7:44 am
Reading Steve's editorial[/url] he mentions how he use to manage a nightclub.
This got me thinking about how people get to where they are. How do you get from a manager of a nightclub to a SQL Server Farmer? What else have you done in your life that isn't remotely connected to the databasing world?
One of my first jobs was at an R/C racetrack. I not only worked at the track/shop but I also raced. I was lucky enough to be able to travel around the country for races, mostly off-road 1/8 gas but my favorite was 1/12 carpet. This was about 12 years ago. Unfortunately, not too many (none) RC tracks in NOVA 🙁
What else have YOU done?
November 2, 2011 at 9:37 am
I was a sign and textile screen printer early in my career, before I decided to get serious about school. I really miss it, too. It gave me the chance to be creative, work with my hands, be technical...and there's just something to doing manual labor that's certainly rewarding. I'd love to build a press and buy a drier and do my own shirts in the garage. Maybe some day.
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November 2, 2011 at 9:43 am
Nothing exciting like that for me. Stock and bag groceries and then manage a convenience store. Then I got into IT very early in my career.
Jason...AKA CirqueDeSQLeil
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November 2, 2011 at 9:44 am
calvo (11/2/2011)
Reading Steve's editorial[/url] he mentions how he use to manage a nightclub.What else have YOU done?
Ha ha!!! Good topic!
Among other things, I'm a musician in my spare time (well, whatever "spare" time is)! For me, it's more than just a hobby; it's also therapy, and I occasionally get paid to play! I play the clarinet in a large professional-level community concert band, and I play the piano -- my regular gig is in church on Sunday morning, but I also play in a local bar every once in a blue moon. I also get hired out to play weddings, cocktail parties, etc.
I also teach part-time, but you did specify "nothing to do with databases" -- I did teach a basic spreadsheets and databases course -- so I don't think that qualifies!
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November 2, 2011 at 10:01 am
I didn't start working in IT until my mid-20s, so I had a few jobs before and learned something from each.
I worked in a service station in my teens, back when they did service and repairs along with selling gas. I learned about cars and basic mechanics. Next, I worked in a lumber mill sorting and grading wood that was used to manufacture doors. I can still tell fir from hemlock and grade it #1 or #2 🙂
I managed a convenience store for a while and got an education in dealing with the public and supervising employees. That helped me realize that I wasn't cut out to be a salesman.
Finally, I worked at a UPS hub sorting packages and loading package cars for delivery. That was while I was finishing my IT schooling and I quit when I got my first programming job.
Greg
November 2, 2011 at 10:27 am
Basically been in IT my entire career. There was a stint after I got out of the Air Force (was a computer operator) where I worked a a 7-11 while going back to college. Worked as a Program Advisor will in college helping students with computer related issues, anything from helping with logic or syntax issues to hardware problems, mostly logic issues.
November 2, 2011 at 11:00 am
I've been a computer hobbyist and "power-user" since I was about 8 years old, but I only got into actual IT (DBA) work 11 years ago.
The way I got into being a DBA is I was a sales and marketing person, and I needed a way to keep track of my customers and their orders. The company I was working for was new, and the managers and other salespeople were using post-it notes and pads of paper to keep track of things. I had too much volume for that, and I thought "if a database is what I think it is, from the name, then that's what I need".
Built an Access database. Everyone else wanted to use it too. Upgraded to SQL Server with an Access front-end.
Went from there.
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November 2, 2011 at 11:20 am
SQLDCH (11/2/2011)
I was a sign and textile screen printer early in my career, before I decided to get serious about school. I really miss it, too. It gave me the chance to be creative, work with my hands, be technical...and there's just something to doing manual labor that's certainly rewarding. I'd love to build a press and buy a drier and do my own shirts in the garage. Maybe some day.
I did that for awhile myself. I had a 4 station - 6 color press with a dryer. Helped put me through school. Oddly enough I am still in the business, just not as a printer anymore.
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Cross Tabs and Pivots, Part 2 - Dynamic Cross Tabs - http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Crosstab/65048/
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November 2, 2011 at 11:23 am
My first job was as a sail plane mechanic. I basically helped rebuild wrecked gliders. That was in high school. I then became a chef and spent close to ten years in the kitchen. I decided I was tired of that much physical labor and decided to pursue programming and have been in the field now for a little over ten years. Spent a number of years as a bass player and singer in various punk bands through the 80's and early 90's too. 😛
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Need help? Help us help you.
Read the article at http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Best+Practices/61537/ for best practices on asking questions.
Need to split a string? Try Jeff Modens splitter http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Tally+Table/72993/.
Cross Tabs and Pivots, Part 1 – Converting Rows to Columns - http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/T-SQL/63681/
Cross Tabs and Pivots, Part 2 - Dynamic Cross Tabs - http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Crosstab/65048/
Understanding and Using APPLY (Part 1) - http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/APPLY/69953/
Understanding and Using APPLY (Part 2) - http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/APPLY/69954/
November 3, 2011 at 5:02 am
Customer service operator for 6 months before getting fired for having no tact (have improved greatly since then, I was 17).
Bar work (ranging from Bar associate, Bar supervisor, Door supervisor to Bar assistant manager) for 7 years, some of which time I was also studying at college then university.
The door work was fun, until someone shot at a bar I was working on the door for. After which time I quickly got myself a new job as an assistant manager at a different bar.
November 3, 2011 at 7:18 pm
LOL, tore up my shoulder playing rugby in college. Took two years away, bartending, managing a night club while I tried to decide what to do. Went back to grad school, then moved into IT.
November 4, 2011 at 8:20 am
While still in college, I worked for my opthalmologist as an assistant, got certified to put in and take out other people's contact lenses and train them to use and care for them. My favorite college job was as Bob Cratchit. I worked for an old millionaire in his Manhattan apartment copying the daily values of each stock in his tremendous portfolio from the NY Times into a VERY large ledger book with VERY tiny lines using an HB pencil, sitting under a tiny gooseneck lamp with a 40 watt bulb. [Was he very frugal or did light hurt his eyes? I'll never know.]
I taught high school algebra for a year after college as a short-term employee for a girls private school.
November 4, 2011 at 1:49 pm
🙂 Good question - fell into the DBA job about 11 years ago. Before that, was a networking engineer (worked on routers/CSU/DSU configs to get customer on the internet), French translator, customer service rep, fast food restaurant manager. Another good topic would be, what is your degree in. At my job, there are not many computer science majors.
Mine are a B.A. in French as a second language, concentration in translation and a graduate certificate in Biotechnology.
November 4, 2011 at 1:58 pm
I graduated as an aeronautical engineer and was hired as an aerodynamist. On the first day on the job I was switched from "70 percent aerodynamics, 30 percent computers" to "30 percent aerodynamics, 70 percent computers."
A week later I got an "amended" job description which said "systems programmer."
That system was IBM /360.40, 128k oif memory with eight 2311 disk drives for a total capacity of 60 MB.
November 4, 2011 at 2:08 pm
I was a lawyer, and before that, I worked in television production, directing local newscasts and such. I worked my way through college as a sound engineer and lighting technician at local concert venues. In high school, I was a station operator/disc jockey for a small AM radio stations and worked on a landscaping crew in the summer.
How did all that lead me into IT, specifically database development, you ask? I've always been interested in computers and remember well the excitement of first using the Apple II. I also owned an Atari 800XL and wrote simple programs in AtariBASIC (I used a 13-inch black and white TV for a monitor and saved my programs on cassette tape). In the late '80s, the large-scale sound reinforcement and stage lighting industries began moving to digital control platforms, so I learned a bit about communication and control protocols. At the time I worked in television, that industry was in the midst of replacing older, dedicated hardware with software-driven products for things like on-screen graphics and non-linear video editing, so I learned some about programming in quasi-declarative modes. As a lawyer, I preached the advantages of practice management and litigation support software. I spent a couple years as a consultant working with those systems, most of which use some sort of RDBMS under the hood. So, in just about job I've had, there has been some connection to information technology (except the landscaping job - we didn't use technology even as advanced as power steering for the pickup truck, much less computers).
Jason Wolfkill
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