Celebrate Success

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Celebrate Success

Steve Jones - SSC Editor

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September 28, 2019 at 3:02 pm

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Comments posted to this topic are about the item Celebrate Success

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skeleton567 SSCertifiable Points: 5868 More actions · Answer 1

Actually, doing this very thing was what got me the largest salary increase in my 42-year career. I had been 16 months without any mention of my salary or a raise, so I took things into my own hands. I prepared a list of specific accomplishments and also the activities that I regularly performed at work, including the results that made things better. Scheduled a meeting with my boss, we sat down and I presented my data, then asked for a $6k per year raise. Boss looked over the list, and said there was no problem and he would handle it, which he did immediately. My wife and I had quite a celebration after that meeting.

Rick
Disaster Recovery = Backup ( Backup ( Your Backup ) )

peter-512402 SSC Rookie Points: 33 More actions · Answer 2

I love this post. A lot of IT gigs can have an unhealthy and negative energy. These thoughts on turning to the positive are much needed. Celebrating our achievements, staying positive, and building good relationships should remain as of a priority as technical skills. Thank you Grant and Steve for bringing this to the light.

-Peter

mikep7 Valued Member Points: 63 More actions · Answer 3

It's great to celebrate successes and a really good idea.

However we have negative news because we have issues. How about focusing on prevention and fixing issues? How about proper capacity planning so servers don't run out of space.

If people spent more time on planning, standards and fixing issues then we wouldn't have "negative news".

joe 96447 Newbie Points: 1 More actions · Answer 4

I'm thankful to have a job in a small shop (~50). It's very much like a family even though the pressures of production are there. I'm often told how much they appreciate what I do, and I'm paid a nice rate. That said, I should probably take more time documenting the day-to-day both for my sake and theirs. Working in tech is like a lot of other jobs, in that most folks don't know what you do and therefor whether you are being effective. Thanks for the post.

David.Poole SSC Guru Points: 76000 More actions · Answer 5

I have been putting together a list of things my department has achieved in 2019. It has cheered me up no end. I've asked my colleagues to review the list and add anything that I have missed. I've laid it out in a simple tabular format

Where we were at the start of the year
Where we are today
What we will do in 2020

I think it is a good idea to keep a work journal. Sit down on Sunday night and write down everything you achieved or what went well in the previous week. Not only will it help with the Monday blues it will help you review your CV and as Skeleton567 mentions, give you ammunition for any performance/salary review.

If you are a manager then it helps to write down what your reports have achieved during the week as well. Sometimes the benefit of a quiet (and honest) thank you far exceeds the effort it took to say it.

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Mike Good SSCertifiable Points: 7415 More actions · Answer 6

Thoughtful posts like this make me love this site. Thanks, Steve.

Steve Jones - SSC Editor SSC Guru Points: 736172 More actions · Answer 7

I've been suggesting this to some customers, and the SQL Monitor team, for a few years. We want to report on positive metrics where we can. It's easy to get alerted or called because something breaks. It does, we need to fix things. However, we can sometimes forget the positive things we do on a regular basis and it's worth highlighting those and celebrating at times.