We are all facing the challenges of this new economy. There are very few people and industries in the world today that have been unaffected by the failures and poor management of some of our largest institutions. I would like to discuss an alarming trend that I have seen in organizations around the country.

Just being the Senior DBA will not protect you from a potential downsizing. Many people are not doing what they can to show the value they bring AND create for their company. There are lots of articles out there on how to stay marketable in this economy, but many of them revolve around getting training and improving your business skills. While those are good options they are not always cost effective and quick to implement. I have some suggestions for those busy hardworking folks whose firms will not be investing thousands in training this year as they look to cut costs.

Don’t just stay current, get ahead

This may seem impossible to you if you’re left on a team that has already been downsized, but I have some simple suggestions. First, invest in a good free RSS reader. So many experts and gurus have GREAT Blogs and feeds that many professionals still are not taking advantage of.  Check out NewsGator, Google Reader, and others.

Next, I would recommend looking for free IT magazines like Computerworld, EWeek,BaseLine, etc… These are great industry publications and offer a great perspective on the overall IT world. These are the magazines your managers are reading, among others, so get on the page with them. (Sorry for that horrible pun).

SQL Server Magazine is also a great resource and is very low cost for DBA’s. Find a friend that gets it and subscribe using the card from inside the magazine. It’s even cheaper. This is great to use in conjunction with all the great community sites out there. I am not going to list them all here but if you absolutely can’t find them just email me. 🙂

 

Find key folks in the business and ask them how their life could be improved by technology

Many times business staff and managers have complaints about their current technology that hampers their efficiency but don’t bring them up because they don’t understand them well enough or they just think what they have isn’t going to change. Show your interest in improving your companies’ operational efficiency by reaching “across the aisle” and asking key customers for recommendations on technology improvements. Then sit down with your management and discuss them and see how you might be able to make some of them a reality. This would be a big win and show your concern for the company and their success.

Mentor your teammates

Whenever I manage a team I am always looking for people who want to learn. I’ve had several instances where junior staff have come to me with a strong desire to learn and within 6 months they had surpassed my senior staff in many areas. This growth was critical to our team, but also to the firm. Management likes to see teams working together and growing organically. This can be rare these days and will make your team shine above the rest. Don’t be afraid to sit down with your management and your mentor partner and discuss the plan so it could be included in your annual performance goals. Nothing like killing two birds with one stone.

Teach your development peers

Developers are some of the most information hungry folks I have ever seen. Just look at the number of programming languages out there :).  In my experience, the men and women that have to spend their time fixing bugs want to write code with as few bugs and performance problems as possible. Offer to give them some guidance on best T-SQL Development practices during lunch or after work. Make it fun, see if your boss will spring for a new book to giveaway. Don’t know any best practices? Learn some and then teach others. If you are looking for suggestions, reply to this post and I”m happy to help direct you.

Look for internal training opportunities.

Many firms get a training package with their benefits provider. Companies like Administaff, Skillsoft, etc… are benefits outsourcing and training companies that also provide a large amount of free online training to their clients. These are great opportunities to take advantage of. Speak to your HR representative and your management about participating in these courses and their availability at your company.

Look for projects that don’t require a fulltime resource.

Many projects don’t require a fulltime resource to attack them, such as a new project, audits, performance tuning, new cluster or system setups. I prefer to use my full time staff for projects that require company knowledge and deep business process understanding. Reaching out to strong consulting teams can provide a great option for your management to get their projects done. Many managers can get overwhelmed at the number of things they are asked to accomplish with the limited amount of resources they will have. External partners can provide a great service at a fraction of the cost of a fulltime associate. Remember this should be to augment the great work you and the rest of the team are doing to accomplish your goals or help you reach the next level with your systems’ performance and capabilities.

Pair down.

This may sound like a no brainer but saving money in your day to day life can also give you some time back. Simple things like not going out to lunch and using that time to read or test a new concept is time you maximize to better yourself and shows your company that you are focused on the partnership between you and them. Don’t get me wrong, networking is a big part of a successful technology career, but make sure you’re doing it effectively and not wasting 10 bucks a day on casual dining when you could be getting a big head start on that newest feature or catching up on some things you haven’t used in a while.

The message is use what’s around you to make you the best you can be for yourself and your company. If you’re doing all you  can and the company still has to make a change, use the new skills you’ve found  to find a better position with new challenges.

As always please post comments and suggestions or feel free to email me atajorgensen@pragmaticworks.com