Awhile back I did a post on my Fab Five – was one of my favorite ones I’ve done to date because it dealt with individuals who have made a tremendous impact in my professional career in some form or fashion. I am not ashamed to admit I am a sports fanatic; lived it my whole life both playing basketball at a high collegiate level, soccer, football, baseball, and golf. Sports has been good to me and some of the lessons I learned early on has carried over into my data professional career.

Teamwork

Have you ever been part of a team at work? Even if you are your own department there are other vendors or departments that you have to work with most likely in order to achieve a goal. One thing that always stuck with me and humbled me at an early age is that “there is no I in team”. Being a past point guard one of my jobs was to facilitate the rock and get people involved in the offense. Little did I know how much those lessons on the court would carry over to my day to day work.

Worth Ethic

I was fortunate enough to be surrounded by some stellar people early on who “invested” (there is that key word again) time in me. My normal routine in high school was waking up at 3 a.m. to get to the gym; meeting my assistance coach. Working out and shooting 800 threes, 200 free throws, countless conditioning drills and the list goes on. Running wind sprints in the street with strength shoes on to gain speed; wearing blind folds as I dribbled the ball to believe in my skill set and handles so come game time I would be sure and capable.

As I sat at my locker I could see a saying that said, “Somewhere somebody is improving getting better each day and one day you will meet that person; what will you do to get ready?”

You know what? All that has carried over into my SQL profession. Don’t get me wrong, a balance has been drawn. Things are different now; I have a family who depends on me and my time is important, but that fire and work ethic is still there – always will be.

Accepting New Ideas

Do you think I walked into college and knew everything that was going on? Ha, back then I thought I did, but quickly realized the level I had to play was nothing I’ve ever seen before. See in high school you could get away with taking a play off, scoring at will. However at this level everyone can do what you do; so what can you do to stand out?

Each day I try to learn something new from someone. The community is filled with brilliant individuals, and so is most shops for that matter. Don’t ever reach the point that you feel you have arrived? If you do than it is then you will start to fail.

Impact Player Series

So, to the point at hand, how do you become an impact player? My Fab Five are top tier individuals, but there are more out there who has helped me with their encouragement and their knowledge. Each month I plan on picking a community member who is just that – an impact player in the community and who goes above and beyond the call of duty.

Individuals who get the job done, not afraid to fail, and continuously work to hone their craft.

At the end of the year I will have a 12 person team assembled of impact players that hopefully will benefit others in the SQL Community that they to can learn from.

Until then…