January 7, 2009 at 8:28 pm
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Don't Let the Economic Downturn Get You Down
Brad M. McGehee
DBA
January 8, 2009 at 2:29 am
He, he
I can just see the new posts being typed right now
"Dear SSC
Plz tell me what makes a good DBA and what else I need to know to become one.
No, I'm not going to give you any more information.
No, I'm not going to be any more explicit.
No, I haven't done a search to see if any part of my question has been has been answered in other threads.
Yes, posting this is all the "research" I've done.
Yes, I expect you to put in all the effort for me.
Thanks in advance
:D:D:D
Semper in excretia, suus solum profundum variat
January 8, 2009 at 6:17 am
As much as I commend Brad on a good editorial encouraging people to work hard and show their value, there is a dark side to what he is suggesting and I have been dealing with just that for the last couple weeks. The 'dark side'? Information Hoarding.
As a manager and executive I have dealt with this problem before and will have to deal with it now yet again, but I would encourage others not to engage in this as any means of ensuring job security - quite the contrary - it destroys the team dynamic and breeds contempt between workers. Every company is suffering in this economy and the best way to get through it is to tighten the team and produce good efficient work. But when an employee (or worse, a manager as in the case I am dealing with) starts hoarding information from others thinking that appears to increase their importance and value to a company, nothing could be further from the case.
Keeping information from others and failing to delegate tasks to capable workers goes a great distance to showing a manager that there is a people-problem, NOT that some particular worker is somehow the Superman (or woman) in an organization. And I, like many managers, am experienced enough to know a hoarder is not any superstar - they are more a 'fly in the ointment'.
So I would say yes, work hard, show your value, and pull together as a good team member - whereas inhibiting your co-workers efforts so you might look more important is not going to fool any good manager, and will likely get you to the unemployment line faster than merely a bad economy.
January 8, 2009 at 6:21 am
I work for the regional transit company heavily depends on state funding and the state budget just cut 17% of funding to my company. Should I be worried? Even there is rumor that Microsoft is going to cut 17% of its global workforce and this is the company is on the profit margin. No job is safe. There may be IT jobs available but the competition will be high and the pay will be low.
January 8, 2009 at 6:25 am
I agree with blandry. One of my co-worker refuses to share information and it is considered to be his job security. The team dynamic is really affected by his behavior. No one likes to work with him.
January 8, 2009 at 7:21 am
I also agree with blandry. We are all replaceable, no matter how much we try to hide the secrets of our position to others.
As far as training and upgrading skills goes, we shouldn't wait around for a financial crisis. As technology-lovers, we should be pursuing our interests year-round.
One thing that I really liked about this editorial is the comment about not worrying about things that you don't have control over. If you can do this, you have made a major accomplishment in your life. The amount of stress that you will relieve yourself of is seriously substantial. My personal favourite example of this is getting stressed at other drivers on the road. You can't control what they do, so don't stress about it.
'Other drivers' are the reason why I will never get a gun license. :hehe:
Mia
I have come to the conclusion that the top man has one principle responsibility: to provide an atmosphere in which creative mavericks can do useful work.
-- David M. Ogilvy
January 8, 2009 at 7:38 am
Both times that I was laid off due to the economy, I embraced it as an opportunity to learn new things and do something different. And although I am a loyal employee, I did leave one company because after 12 years because they put me in a rut of maintaining legacy mainframe systems and I wanted to learn relational databases, Oracle and MS SQL in particular.
I spend an hour every morning before work reading articles and following links to other articles. Many thanks to SQLServerCentral.com and all the people who post articles: I have learned so much from you!
January 8, 2009 at 7:48 am
Good editorial, Brad, and thanks for the break.
I completely agree with blandry and I used to tell people that worked for me if you decide not to share information or document something you're supposed to, we'll just replace you now before it's a big problem.
As far as taking advantage of this, if you're worried, now's the time to buckle down and add a skill to your resume, and get ready to look for a job. I have heard MS is looking to let people go, but I've heard 10-11%.
There are already lots of talented people out there from the financial areas and consulting. ATT, HP, a few others have let people go and I know people still looking for jobs from last fall.
January 8, 2009 at 8:14 am
I don't think Brad meant hoarding information, rather being such a skilled and valuable employee that it wouldn't make sense to let you go. If you're the only one that knows how to work with SSIS (as an example) then you haven't hoarded anything but you have a skill that is essential for the company. When they look at cutting people, then they may skip you because they need to retain someone who can develop SSIS packages.
This is different than being the only one how knows how to produce the XYZ report for Mr. ABC. While you could be very proficient with it, something like that should be documented to the point that a lower level person could perform it or even automated.
January 8, 2009 at 10:33 am
Good advice Brad. And I wouldn't limit the focus to just DBA topics either. One must be able to see outside the box as well as inside.
January 8, 2009 at 10:42 am
As far as skill-building goes, I agree with Mia that it SHOULD be a full-time hobby for a serious developer or DBA. However, from personal experience I know it is very easy to procrastinate and play online games or chat with our pals on facebook with our home computer time instead. I think the point is well made that the energy wasted on worrying can be redirected into a fresh commitment to incrementing knowledge and strengthening our resumes. In fact, this is the only new years resolution I made, to put more time into education. Part of that is to cultivate (not simply expand) both my online and local networks and I'm glad to say that my new membership here at SQL Server Central is a part of that.
Thanks Brad for the reminder.
😎 Kate The Great :w00t:
If you don't have time to do it right the first time, where will you find time to do it again?
January 8, 2009 at 12:31 pm
Although it's not quite the same as playing online games, it can be easy to spend more time than necessary reading about world events, economic disaster stories, etc., which are all things we have no control over. On the other hand, some of that time could be spent on work or on work-related activities such as professional development, technical education, etc. There is no guarantee, but the odds are that spending our time on these things, which we can affect, is much more likely to have a corresponding positive effect on our own lives.
January 9, 2009 at 1:05 am
That's why it's important to boost your skill set. The broader your knowledge, the more marketable your skills will be.
Cheers,
Brad
Loner (1/8/2009)
Brad M. McGehee
DBA
January 9, 2009 at 1:07 am
I am not recommending information hording. Instead, I am suggesting that by having "great skills", that it makes it a little harder for a company to let you go. If a boss has to lay off some people, in many cases, they will lay off those that are less skilled (less valuable), so the more skills you have, the more valuable you become to a company.
Cheers,
Brad
blandry (1/8/2009)
As much as I commend Brad on a good editorial encouraging people to work hard and show their value, there is a dark side to what he is suggesting and I have been dealing with just that for the last couple weeks. The 'dark side'? Information Hoarding.As a manager and executive I have dealt with this problem before and will have to deal with it now yet again, but I would encourage others not to engage in this as any means of ensuring job security - quite the contrary - it destroys the team dynamic and breeds contempt between workers. Every company is suffering in this economy and the best way to get through it is to tighten the team and produce good efficient work. But when an employee (or worse, a manager as in the case I am dealing with) starts hoarding information from others thinking that appears to increase their importance and value to a company, nothing could be further from the case.
Keeping information from others and failing to delegate tasks to capable workers goes a great distance to showing a manager that there is a people-problem, NOT that some particular worker is somehow the Superman (or woman) in an organization. And I, like many managers, am experienced enough to know a hoarder is not any superstar - they are more a 'fly in the ointment'.
So I would say yes, work hard, show your value, and pull together as a good team member - whereas inhibiting your co-workers efforts so you might look more important is not going to fool any good manager, and will likely get you to the unemployment line faster than merely a bad economy.
Brad M. McGehee
DBA
January 9, 2009 at 6:34 am
Brad M. McGehee (1/9/2009)
... so the more skills you have, the more valuable you become to a company
Note: It is not only good to have those skills, but you must showcase those. Depending on your work environment, it may be difficult to do. They won't know what you can do unless you can SHOW them. And then, be prepared to be buried in work 😛
Mia
I have come to the conclusion that the top man has one principle responsibility: to provide an atmosphere in which creative mavericks can do useful work.
-- David M. Ogilvy
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