October 5, 2024 at 12:00 am
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Being an extroverted introvert at a conference
October 5, 2024 at 11:15 am
In my 42 years in IT with most of it as a DBA I never got to go to a conference. The closest was a very few meetings with 2-3 folks from another company down the street. And got to go to classes on company time maybe 5 times. My main interaction was taking specific courses at community colleges evenings after work at my own expense. We had two of those within driving distance of home.
Rick
Disaster Recovery = Backup ( Backup ( Your Backup ) )
October 6, 2024 at 3:02 pm
I've always found attending conferences to be valuable. I've learned lots at the conferences I've attended and have made life-long friends.
Which is why it is strange that my current employer doesn't send any individual contributor to any conference or training, ever. Upper management can, and so, go to annual conferences, but not their subordinates. This situation has existed for longer than anyone who currently works here, remembers. I talked to some people who worked here for over 30 years; none of them remember a DBA, developer, or anyone who isn't a manager, going to a conference. So, this state of affairs has been going on for so long that no one around knows what the genesis of this state of affairs is. It's too bad.
Kindest Regards, Rod Connect with me on LinkedIn.
October 6, 2024 at 5:05 pm
Rod, and what could be more productive that sending 'upper management' to conferences?
Rick
Disaster Recovery = Backup ( Backup ( Your Backup ) )
October 7, 2024 at 7:05 am
Being an introvert at a conference is exhausting. Utterly and completely.
And totally worth it.
No one believes me when I say I'm an introvert because I'm always up on stage, running around, working the hallway track as hard as I can, talking to people, all day long. And yeah, including starting conversations with utter and complete strangers. I do all this. And it takes a toll. Because I'm an introvert.
I will regularly disappear for a bit. Hell, sit on a toilet seat extra long, just to get some time alone to recharge my batteries. Hide from everyone at breakfast so I can read some space marines stories. Whatever I need to recharge and dive back in again.
Why?
Because in-person events are about being there, in-person, and taking advantage of the fact that we're still monkey's and communicate like monkey's. In-person communication is the most effective communication. Period. Tons and tons of science backs me up on this. No matter how introverted we are, we communicate better in-person.
And, it's a chance to build connections with other people. You may be extremely smart and capable. However, you don't know everything. You can't know everything. So, know other people who know things that you don't. Have a connection with those people so that you can reach out to them when you need some of their brain power. Yeah, you're going to have to reciprocate, but that's how it works.
Best way to build those connections is also the best way to communicate and that's in-person. So, yeah, I go to those things and pretend that I'm extroverted for 1-5 days, crawling away at the end, completely exhausted, but better off.
"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
- Theodore Roosevelt
Author of:
SQL Server Execution Plans
SQL Server Query Performance Tuning
October 7, 2024 at 7:07 am
In my 42 years in IT with most of it as a DBA I never got to go to a conference. The closest was a very few meetings with 2-3 folks from another company down the street. And got to go to classes on company time maybe 5 times. My main interaction was taking specific courses at community colleges evenings after work at my own expense. We had two of those within driving distance of home.
Wow! Not even a DataSaturday or a SQLSaturday or one of those?
It'd be worth it to try one. Just to see what all the fuss is about.
"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
- Theodore Roosevelt
Author of:
SQL Server Execution Plans
SQL Server Query Performance Tuning
October 7, 2024 at 7:07 am
I've always found attending conferences to be valuable. I've learned lots at the conferences I've attended and have made life-long friends.
Which is why it is strange that my current employer doesn't send any individual contributor to any conference or training, ever. Upper management can, and so, go to annual conferences, but not their subordinates. This situation has existed for longer than anyone who currently works here, remembers. I talked to some people who worked here for over 30 years; none of them remember a DBA, developer, or anyone who isn't a manager, going to a conference. So, this state of affairs has been going on for so long that no one around knows what the genesis of this state of affairs is. It's too bad.
Ooh, I'd kick and scream against that policy so hard it would be gone, or I would be.
"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
- Theodore Roosevelt
Author of:
SQL Server Execution Plans
SQL Server Query Performance Tuning
October 7, 2024 at 1:58 pm
Couldn't have said it better.
October 7, 2024 at 2:06 pm
Yeah, that is really weird and doesn't make sense overall. They probably had this idea that they send the one person and they share all they learned, but that is silly. And some organizations are probably concerned that their people will get poached. (Which is oddly more likely when you feel like you are not being fulfilled\progressing in a company).
What is nice is that there are a lot of free conferences out there you can go to, either close to you or close to places where you would probably like to vacation.
October 7, 2024 at 2:14 pm
Rod at work wrote:I've always found attending conferences to be valuable. I've learned lots at the conferences I've attended and have made life-long friends.
Which is why it is strange that my current employer doesn't send any individual contributor to any conference or training, ever. Upper management can, and so, go to annual conferences, but not their subordinates. This situation has existed for longer than anyone who currently works here, remembers. I talked to some people who worked here for over 30 years; none of them remember a DBA, developer, or anyone who isn't a manager, going to a conference. So, this state of affairs has been going on for so long that no one around knows what the genesis of this state of affairs is. It's too bad.
Ooh, I'd kick and scream against that policy so hard it would be gone, or I would be.
I've asked about other topics which I don't understand the reasoning why they are perused, without success. I might try pushing against this policy, I don't know. Sometimes I get the impression that trying to make a change in policy only resumes in at least subtle retribution. I'll think about it.
Kindest Regards, Rod Connect with me on LinkedIn.
October 8, 2024 at 8:24 am
Grant Fritchey wrote:Rod at work wrote:I've always found attending conferences to be valuable. I've learned lots at the conferences I've attended and have made life-long friends.
Which is why it is strange that my current employer doesn't send any individual contributor to any conference or training, ever. Upper management can, and so, go to annual conferences, but not their subordinates. This situation has existed for longer than anyone who currently works here, remembers. I talked to some people who worked here for over 30 years; none of them remember a DBA, developer, or anyone who isn't a manager, going to a conference. So, this state of affairs has been going on for so long that no one around knows what the genesis of this state of affairs is. It's too bad.
Ooh, I'd kick and scream against that policy so hard it would be gone, or I would be.
I've asked about other topics which I don't understand the reasoning why they are perused, without success. I might try pushing against this policy, I don't know. Sometimes I get the impression that trying to make a change in policy only resumes in at least subtle retribution. I'll think about it.
Oh, Rod. I'm not calling you out and saying you should do it. I'm saying I would. I didn't say it was a good thing, just, you know, my thing. I am the person who starts stupid wars. Paying the mortgage takes precedence over just about anything else.
"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
- Theodore Roosevelt
Author of:
SQL Server Execution Plans
SQL Server Query Performance Tuning
October 8, 2024 at 11:22 am
Being an introvert at a conference is exhausting. Utterly and completely.
And totally worth it.
No one believes me when I say I'm an introvert because I'm always up on stage, running around, working the hallway track as hard as I can, talking to people, all day long. And yeah, including starting conversations with utter and complete strangers. I do all this. And it takes a toll. Because I'm an introvert.
I will regularly disappear for a bit. Hell, sit on a toilet seat extra long, just to get some time alone to recharge my batteries. Hide from everyone at breakfast so I can read some space marines stories. Whatever I need to recharge and dive back in again.
Why?
Because in-person events are about being there, in-person, and taking advantage of the fact that we're still monkey's and communicate like monkey's. In-person communication is the most effective communication. Period. Tons and tons of science backs me up on this. No matter how introverted we are, we communicate better in-person.
And, it's a chance to build connections with other people. You may be extremely smart and capable. However, you don't know everything. You can't know everything. So, know other people who know things that you don't. Have a connection with those people so that you can reach out to them when you need some of their brain power. Yeah, you're going to have to reciprocate, but that's how it works.
Best way to build those connections is also the best way to communicate and that's in-person. So, yeah, I go to those things and pretend that I'm extroverted for 1-5 days, crawling away at the end, completely exhausted, but better off.
I'm in pretty much the same boat. Going to events, whether work (SQL) related or just for fun, at some point I have to run and hide from the crowd. Get me going on a topic I'm interested / passionate about, and I can talk your ear off, but not long after?
Yep, somewhere away from the crowds, quiet to recharge.
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