In April 0f 2012 I was fortunate enough to be asked to become Linchpin People LLC’s first ever TeamMate. (blog). I was really cool to become part of a great group of guys like Andy Leonard (blog | twitter), Brian Moran (blog | twitter) and Mike Walsh (blog | twitter).  Over the past year Linchpin has grown and added several more awesome TeamMates. You are correct, I didn’t corrupt the program too bad since the partners kept the program.

Over the past year as the teammate program continued to grow, so did my list of mentors. Each teammate brings a unique set of skills that we all benefit from. We have teammates that specialize in administration, tuning, development, HA/DR, security, SSIS, BI, VMware, etc. When one of us runs into an issue we haven’t seen before, everyone is willing to offer help. That help may be step by step instructions, links to a blog post or a prayer that you find the answer.

In addition to sharing things about our SQL work life, we are all friends. We share life events with each other. Celebrate our kids birthdays, anniversaries, funny stories the kids have done, and other life accomplishments. One of our teammates recently started an initiative for us to run, read and write.

Over the past year the partners would mention that one day they would like to see me become a partner myself. That conversation picked up a bit over the past couple of months and this past Friday I was officially asked to become a partner of Linchpin People.

So what does this mean for my current W2 job?

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< They are getting a better Tim! >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I love my current job and that is what makes me more appealing to Linchpin. I am not quitting my W2 job. As Linchpin is growing and building a WellDBA ™ program, I get to offer feedback and a great deal of real world experience.  The challenges I am faced with day to day at my W2 job are the same issues Linchpin is building a practice around. As I help build sweat equity into Linchpin, Linchpin is investing sweat equity into me. I am becoming a better boss to my team and a better data professional for my W2 employer. Being a Partner at Linchpin does not cut into my W2 job and my W2 job doesn’t cut into me being a Partner at Linchpin. This is a win/win for each of us. I have direct access to some of the best SQL minds in the community, I am getting mentored by them too.

I ask myself everyday how I got so lucky to be able to become friends with such great people. One day I hope to understand it.

No one knows what may happen in the near future with the economy, mergers and acquisitions, etc, but what one should be doing is always planning ahead.  As Lowe’s motto states “Never stop improving”.