Today we have a guest editorial from Stacey Gregerson.
It is Monday morning, you have just completed a nice weekend with little very stress (unless you count for putting in a ceiling fan, which your wife was told was quick and easy to do by the sales staff of the local box store, but 6 hours later you are still working on it and you are ready to... excuse me.. not the time or place.)
OK, back to Monday morning. You are just going through logs and emails to make sure everything is running as it should, and it is. This is going to be a good week. As you continue to read email, you receive an invitation to meeting with a title referencing something you have not heard of, and next you notice that you are a required participant. Your interest is peaked. You ask around but no one seems to know what this is about. In 30 minutes you will find out, so you go back to your logs and email.
It is meeting time, and you sit around the table with twenty other individuals you know as your VP starts the meeting. "We have just acquired ABC123 company based in Humid village. They are understaffed and over worked. Their last DBA quit 2 months ago. There are over 100 databases in two different office and they will be audited by a government agency sometime this year." He pause looks around the room and locks his eyes on yours. "so what is the plan to make sure that their systems are secure and that they will pass this audit ?" There is nothing but quiet for the next few minutes.
How would you respond to the challenge your boss has just put on the table. I have seen situations like this become the changing point in an individual's career, all based on what they did in this moment. I have been in this exact position. Remember you are hired for your opinions and expertise in your field. My first response was not the best in retrospect, but it was a response, which was more than most people had in the meeting that I attended.
While my ideas where not the ones chosen, my VP remembered that I was willing and able to make suggestions. He later thanked me for my input and gave me a few pointers. I have been on may projects since then and a number of my suggestions were rejected, but many others were implemented.
My point is that you should speak up and share your opinions. Those individuals that speak up at these meetings with solid ideas (right or wrong) are the ones that seem to stick around in a company even during these restructuring times. I have been with my current company for more the ten years now.
Life is a shared experience, and work is a part of life, so share your ideas and participate in life. You might just like it.
So what is your suggestion for ABC123?
Stacey Gregerson
The Voice of the DBA Podcasts
The podcast feeds are now available at sqlservercentral.podshow.com to get better bandwidth and maybe a little more exposure :). Comments are definitely appreciated and wanted, and you can get feeds from there.
or now on iTunes!
- Windows Media Podcast - 27.3MB WMV
- iPod Video Podcast - 23.6MB MP4
- MP3 Audio Podcast - 4.8MB
Today's podcast features music by Everyday Jones. No relation, but I stumbled on to them and really like the music. Support this great duo at www.everydayjones.com.
I really appreciate and value feedback on the podcasts. Let us know what you like, don't like, or even send in ideas for the show. If you'd like to comment, post something here. The boss will be sure to read it.
