I don't have a computer science or IS degree and I am not fresh out of college. Working in data is a second career for me. I was a musician and music teacher for 12 years, 4 of those in southern California where I fell in love with Longboarding, prior to getting into working with SQL Server. In 2010, I was telling a friend of mine, who is a MicroStrategy developer, how I was burned out and wanted to change careers. He told me, "learn SQL and you will always have a job." I had no idea what SQL was. I bought some books and studied for about 9 months and took the SQL Server 2008 Development test. I passed and that helped propel me into a job as a SQL Server DBA in Dallas, TX. I never in a million years thought I would be doing this. It is actually quite rewarding. I love the process of trying to solve a problem.
So why the Surfing DBA when I live in land locked Dallas, TX. I have my Harbour 10.0 Banana hanging up in my garage. When living in SoCal, just about every weekend I was either surfing at Bolsa Chica Tower 22 or San O' or was snowboarding at Snow Summit. When my wife and I had kids, we moved to Dallas to be closer to family. I have never lost my love for the water and miss the ocean terribly. I have recently found DFW Surf Club and will dusting off the old board soon to try some wake surfing and a stand up paddleboard.