Spot on. I learned it all the hard way doing desktop and field support. You burn out way too fast if you don't pay attention.

In a roundabout way,...

There's an obvious parallel between this editorial and the "From Hairdresser to DBA" article. Though it deals with career changes, it is largely relevant to choosing a career as...

Some things never go out of style - pardon the roundabout pun.

The entire section "Great Oaks From Little Acorns Grow" should be mandatory reading for anyone contemplating an IT career...

On a slightly different note, I wonder how much fiscal "constraints" play into this. Think of rather small businesses who are unable (or probably more correctly unwilling) to procure...

Only if you try an update directly through...

Attended my first one in DC back in December and it is well worth the time.

I was pretty shaky on backup/restore strategies and one of the sessions there was extremely...

It should also be remembered that the methodology in gathering and analysing the data is as important as the data itself (Google Flu Trends anybody?).

Yet one more who "grew up with Access".

I still use Access when prototyping front-ends for SQL server based solutions. Some of the data-related objects in Visual Studio aren't quite...

Living this out right now in a way.

After watching our Facilities people cringe every time someone asked them for a report on repairs and maintenance, I finally walked into their...

This brings to mind the old saw: "Good programmers write code. Great programmers steal it."

Maybe we could add the corollary: "Awesome programmers share it."

It also need be said that a high-tech solution isn't always the best solution or even a better solution.

I work at a bio-repository with literally hundreds of ultra-low temperature freezers...

aochss (7/3/2014)

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All,

At my current job and in past jobs, the best method for letting people know what is possible is to venture out of the IT area into the...

Craigmeister (7/3/2014)

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For a bunch of us, our focus is on doing our job the best we can and our own PR is not what we are about. So we have...

Ian Massi (7/3/2014)

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This is exactly the kind of stuff that gave me the idea to write the editorial. Hammering together existing reports in Excel when something can easily be...

When I was doing help desk and field support, a majority of people fell into one of two categories:

1. Those that felt embarrassed because they didn't know how to...