Today, I want to blog about something I have only limited knowledge of … confidence.

Okay, I understand what confidence is, and I have seen it before in the real world and not just in biographical movies. In fact, I have met quite a few highly confident people. In almost every case, it was immediately evident because each of these people had this unmistakable aura about them. You could see on their face they knew what they knew, they knew what they wanted, and they generally believed that they could do anything. (Assume I mean this only positively, just for the sake of this editorial!)

When I think of extremely confident people, I think of Walt Disney. October 16, 2023 is the 100th anniversary of Walt and Roy founding their Disney Brothers Studios. For many years, they failed big. But they kept at it through thick and thin and built an empire. Were they always confident they would make it huge? Who knows, but they didn't give up, and you know how it turned out.

But let's be reasonable; I am not suggesting that every DBA/Data Programmer needs to have the confidence of the Disney Brothers or Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak when starting Apple. Personally, I am absolutely not that confident personally. I'm confident with my technical skills and I know SQL Server and relational databases very well. But I question those skills every time I use them. You want to know how <blank> works? I am very sure I know but let me verify that.

Many people reading this blog likely feel the same way as I do. I have found that a lack of confidence can be an incredible driver in your life to push you to build up confidence by building competency. At the very least, if you lack confidence but don't lack drive, you are likely to make sure you are right before you say or do things. Too often, in a crisis (which most DBAs know a thing or two about), a very confident person rushes headlong into a substandard solution because they believe it to be right.

A person with average confidence levels tends to make sure of any solution first. This often saves a lot more time than cleaning up a mess. I admit to always testing out the concepts I believe to be true, no matter how confident I am that I know what I am talking about.

Just because you don't have the confidence to go out on your own and start a movie studio, major consulting firm, or whatever should not get in your way of being confident in your abilities!