Everyone at some time or another thinks about finding or landing their dream job.  It could be in the form of working for a great dynamic company with growth and opportunity (and benefits), or getting a high-paying salary to subsidize the life you envision, or others strike out on their own to seek their own entrepreneurial pursuits.  The key, they say, is to do something you love and learn to do it well, and the opportunity will come knocking on your door.  Of course, that's a metaphor, and opportunity knocks, but it is your "job" to get out there and knock on doors of your own.  One door closes, another one opens. 

In addition, you must be full in the game.  Pursue your path with passion and persistence, and someday it will all pay off!  This advice holds true today, and there are several things to do and steps to take to make this happen.  Another aspect, maybe my opinion, is luck, which is a relative term, and despite whether you believe you have luck on your side or not, you're gonna need it.  However, you must believe that by taking postive steps to build your network, your reach, your social engagements, your reputation and your brand you are basically creating your own postive successes that will translate into what we mysteriously call "luck"  To build these steps, you must first build confidence, self-esteem and be able to project this in the right situation!  This could start with telling yourself in the mirror that you are confident and will succeed.  Then, perhaps do something that at least puts you in the right direction - like exercise!  Nothing like a good workout to release those serotonins and make you feel good! 

So, I am really just sharing what I myself have learned, read about, gotten advice, observations, etc.  I am by no means an expert on the above-entitled subject.  And I can definately apply a bit of my own advice, well, to myself!  I cannot afford an infomercial showing off my palatial mansion, olympic size swimming pool, and five cars in the garage, surrounded by a staff of servants!  Ha!  But, I will share with you what I know are some good tips and advice, and I am reading up on.  My pursuits are still a work in progress.

First off, if you feel like you're in a rut, and going nowhere fast, a friend of mine shared this interesting and inspiring article with me recently: It's aptly entitled, "When Life Sucks", from NerdFitness.com.  It starts out with this lead in:

"There are times in your life where the deck is stacked against you:

• You can’t find a job.
• You’re out of shape and overweight.
• You forgot your umbrella and a sudden downpour appears.
• You live in your mom’s basement
• You stepped in dog poop while a bird pooped on you."

It's a quick read, and lot's of good tips to just level set the basics in your life for the things that are under your control.

Next, if you really want some excellent industry advice from one of our #sqlfamily colleagues, well then you need to download Steve Jones' excellent slide-deck on "Branding Yourself for a Dream Job - The Modern Resume"  Of course, better yet if you could catch his presentation live at one of the SQLSaturday events locally, or another event at which he is appearing at.  Wonder if Steve is still delivering this particular session.  He's blogged quite a lot on the topic, so I'm sure there are some of his writings available.

Another colleague of mine, Brian Moran, CSO of Linchpin People, has a dedicated blog maintained on SQLServerPro (aka SQL Mag.com) talks a lot about and gives some insightful advice on professional development. L.E.A.P. Think explores ideas, advice, tips, tricks, and questions around the topics of leadership, entrepreneurism, and professional development. Many posts will be of interest to a wide range of careers and professions, but the goal is to explore and present topics that are particularly relevant and interesting to technical professionals.

Finally, I found this via an email link from Simply Hired - which in itself is a valuable jobs aggregator search engine resource - that was specifically entitled, The Best Way To Get Your Dream Job, which talks about an interesting concept, called, the "advice appointment".  Now this may be more of a marketing ploy, but it does talk about a non-conventional way to break into an industry or field.  "An advice appointment ^TM is a 15-30 minute meeting (in-person

is better than by phone) where you interview a successful executive who

is a current/former employee for one of your ideal employers. "

So, that's all for now.  I hope this information is helpful to you.  I am trying hard to take my own advice.  I actually had this blog entry in mind, before I actually found myself searching for a new project, but now am in the same situation where I am still searching for the ideal dream job.  My previous blog let's you know that I am available for your database project needs - so if you do need a decent DBA resource, please read SQL MVP Available for your database needs....  Operators are standing by!