June 24, 2023 at 12:00 am
Comments posted to this topic are about the item The Best Career Advice
June 24, 2023 at 4:19 pm
Have the attitude "If I make my boss successful, I will also be successful". This worked for me in my IT career of over 50 years. Roy
Roy Fulbright
Computer Consultant
June 25, 2023 at 2:33 pm
Good advice, but not always achievable. I remember hearing early in my career about seeking a mentor. I tried by asking some older developers to see if they'd mentor me. They politely declined. Now that I'm the senior developer I've offered to mentor others. They've politely told me they're not interested. This is in different companies, same results.
The culture in my area is everyone will be a lone wolf.
Kindest Regards, Rod Connect with me on LinkedIn.
June 26, 2023 at 4:38 am
I have three.
June 26, 2023 at 4:50 pm
Be a person who doesn't just rest on intimate knowledge of their chosen technology path, but also has a serious grasp of the business logic driving the need for that technology (and by extension, you). In my application (real estate), knowing SQL Server isn't enough, I have to know how agents and brokerages work, the property sales cycle, have a reasonable understanding of the laws and regulations, all the data elements and how they are to be acquired, stored, indexed, triggered, searched, displayed, calculated, and shared... and why. I need to be able to talk to a multiple listing service director as much as I would another DBA.
Be a person who first reads the manual/documentation, googles for answers and information, and can demonstrate at least some degree of effort before going to a coworker or mentor for answers. Be a person who can say "I've gone over this several times, I know I'm staring right at my problem but I'm not 'seeing' it, can you please take a look because I need fresh eyes" when they ask for help. All the senior people above you had to go through that (and may of us still have to on occasion), but don't ask first without a serious effort on your own part, As we used to say, RTFM.
And have fun. Yeah, there will be deadlines, stressful shifts, all-nighters/weekenders, Dilbertian bosses, incomprehensible customer requests, co-workers from hell, and code to debug from a deeper hell, but you're doing what you love to do (I would hope), you're being challenged on a daily basis, you get to be creative, and you're solving real world problems for people and hopefully making it a better place.
June 26, 2023 at 5:43 pm
Good advice, but not always achievable. I remember hearing early in my career about seeking a mentor. I tried by asking some older developers to see if they'd mentor me. They politely declined. Now that I'm the senior developer I've offered to mentor others. They've politely told me they're not interested. This is in different companies, same results.
The culture in my area is everyone will be a lone wolf.
I think that's true for you, Rod, but finding a mentor, or being one, doesn't have to be in your org. Reach out in your community.
I'd like to think we are happy to mentor you here, and also learn from you.
June 26, 2023 at 5:44 pm
I have three.
- This first is a quote, which I think is from Oscar Wilde: Know something about everything and everything about something;
- The second is from an ad I saw but is quite applicable: Find a job you'll like and you'll never work a day again in your life;
- The third is advice from a teacher: Always be learning.
I've tried to do all these, though not really everything about something. More a lot about a few things.
June 26, 2023 at 5:45 pm
Be a person who doesn't just rest on intimate knowledge of their chosen technology path, but also has a serious grasp of the business logic driving the need for that technology (and by extension, you). In my application (real estate), knowing SQL Server isn't enough, I have to know how agents and brokerages work, the property sales cycle, have a reasonable understanding of the laws and regulations, all the data elements and how they are to be acquired, stored, indexed, triggered, searched, displayed, calculated, and shared... and why. I need to be able to talk to a multiple listing service director as much as I would another DBA.
Be a person who first reads the manual/documentation, googles for answers and information, and can demonstrate at least some degree of effort before going to a coworker or mentor for answers. Be a person who can say "I've gone over this several times, I know I'm staring right at my problem but I'm not 'seeing' it, can you please take a look because I need fresh eyes" when they ask for help. All the senior people above you had to go through that (and may of us still have to on occasion), but don't ask first without a serious effort on your own part, As we used to say, RTFM.
And have fun. Yeah, there will be deadlines, stressful shifts, all-nighters/weekenders, Dilbertian bosses, incomprehensible customer requests, co-workers from hell, and code to debug from a deeper hell, but you're doing what you love to do (I would hope), you're being challenged on a daily basis, you get to be creative, and you're solving real world problems for people and hopefully making it a better place.
I like these. Thanks
June 27, 2023 at 10:00 am
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June 27, 2023 at 10:23 am
I've tried to do all these, though not really everything about something. More a lot about a few things.
I miss the SQL Server MCP exams. They were good at exposing those aspects & features of SQL Server that I hadn't come across as a part of work. I first tried out log-shipping, temporal tables & columnstore-indexes (amongst other features) while studying for these exams.
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