March 14, 2008 at 7:37 am
I served mainly on pretty small boats & ships (short time on an LST) so I didn't see any of the crews I worked with die. Considering some of the egregiously stupid stuff I saw and did, the gods and Murphy were VERY kind. However, I knew a few guys that died on other boats. Still, it's nothing like what our guys over in Iraq have been doing.
More importantly, you served. You stepped up, did your job, got an honorable. That puts you one up in my book. It's just luck that we weren't involved in some type of combat.
"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
- Theodore Roosevelt
Author of:
SQL Server Execution Plans
SQL Server Query Performance Tuning
March 14, 2008 at 8:05 am
Agreed. Looking back, I have no regrets and would do it all again.
😎
March 14, 2008 at 9:38 am
March 14, 2008 at 9:46 am
Lynn Pettis (3/3/2008)
Actually, I haven't even thrown in SSIS, SSRS, or SSAS. If I added those in, my score would drop. On SSIS (2 or 3 of 10), SSRS (1 of 10), SSAS (1 of 10). We are using SSIS, and I am learning a lot. We will be using SSRS and SSAS, and I will need to learn those well also.
I know how that can feel... on basic SQL server I might put myself in a 6/10... on a good day... sitting here in a team of developers sometimes I rate myself a -2/10... Yet where I was before I'd have called it 8/10...
As for SSIS... My biggest problem is the basic stuff isn't too hard... but after 8 years using DTS I find myself asking a lot of "huh? why? wtf?"... I'd have called myself 7.5/10 on DTS... but maybe 2/10 on SSIS. I honestly wish they had completely retained DTS as well as added SSIS... sort of a "if you don't need SSIS... then DTS is still fully supported.. if you need more.. go use SSIS."
Never used SSRS... Not very interested in it... I became a Crystal Reports Guru and after 10 years of that and numerous training seminars and whatnot... I'll stand Crystal Reports and Business Objects Enterprise up against SSRS anyday. SSAS I like... as a backend for the tools from BO XIR2.
Can somebody point to good articles on Indexes? To me I learned what one was, how to create it, and how to use it to improve performance... But if you asked me how to explain how the heck the DBMS stores it? Pfft -1/10 there.
March 14, 2008 at 9:48 am
Grant Fritchey (3/14/2008)
And everytime you're eating chicken fingers... you're having Chernobyl Chicken.
It would have to be Chernobyl Chicken. Everybody knows normal chickens don't have fingers. Fish do.
For fast, accurate and documented assistance in answering your questions, please read this article.
Understanding and using APPLY, (I) and (II) Paul White
Hidden RBAR: Triangular Joins / The "Numbers" or "Tally" Table: What it is and how it replaces a loop Jeff Moden
March 14, 2008 at 9:50 am
Chrissy (3/14/2008)
Hi guys,I am very much a newbie, and I just wanted to say this forum has actually given me confidence to start training as a SQL DBA in my own time.
I have been in a general dogsbody role for five years (support, troubleshooting & maintenance of some truly terrible software packages) and have wanted to specialize but not been too sure if I am suited to the role. I am a hard worker, very willing to learn, honest, and love to tackle difficult problems, but right now feel as if I am not being used to my full potential by my employer.
After reading this discussion, I have been shocked (at how far people will try and BS their way into a job just for money!), encouraged (at comments that honesty is the best policy) and overall surprised that people at how humble people can be about their own knowledge.
It is obviously true that the only intelligent people are those that can admit they will never know everything...
So thanks for the insight! 😀
Outstanding feedback, Chrissy. Thank you for all of us. Don't be afraid to ask just about anything to get help on SQL here... you've got some very talented folks that were in the same position as you and look at them now.
--Jeff Moden
Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.
March 14, 2008 at 9:51 am
John Rowan (3/14/2008)
I just wanted to thank you all for your military service.
Awesome, John. Thank you, Sir!
--Jeff Moden
Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.
March 14, 2008 at 10:32 am
Jeff Moden (3/14/2008)
John Rowan (3/14/2008)
I just wanted to thank you all for your military service.Awesome, John. Thank you, Sir!
Just want to add my Thank You as well.
True story: I came home on leave from England, and went to dinner with my folks a day or two after arriving home. Dressed in civilian clothes, pissing and moaning about the service. Went back to the same restaurant a couple of days before going back to England, dressed in my Class 1 uniform. We had the same waiter, and he was suprised to see me in my uniform. I told, I may piss and moan about the service, but I was damn proud to wear my uniform.
(Gosh, I actually started to choke up a little with that memory!)
To all who have and are serving in the military: I salute you, and will always stand with you!
Edit:
On another note, my oldest daughter (a juniour in high school) is already planning on joining the Air Guard when she graduates. Her plans are to go into nursing.
I also salute all those who plan on joining as well. All the best!
😎
March 14, 2008 at 10:49 am
Well Brainbench makes me feel better...
Not a god like some of you folks around here... but I will take this... and feel good. And thank all of you for letting me read all the stuff you post around here while I mostly lurk... and learn... 🙂
Test: MS SQL Server 2005 Administration
Date: 14-Mar-2008
Score: 3.71
Weights: 100% MS SQL Server 2005 Administration
Elapsed time: 23 min 45 sec
MS SQL Server 2005 Administration
Score: 3.71
Percentile: Scored higher than 89% of previous examinees
Demonstrates a clear understanding of many advanced concepts within this topic. Appears capable of mentoring others on most projects in this area.
Strong Areas
Index Management
Administrative Tools and Utilities
Backup and Restore
Architecture
Weak Areas
Security
Replication
March 14, 2008 at 3:01 pm
I have been reading through this thread and I agree with what most of the responses have been about being honest. I have interviewed allot and you can tell in the first few min what they know. Then 2 months ago I got laid off and I had to go and interview. Boy was that crazy. But I got the first job I interviewed for on pure experience. Good luck
March 14, 2008 at 6:35 pm
20 years in the Air Force - limited IT skills (if I told you what I did, this whole site would have to be shut down 😀 ). Just before I retired I asked a few HR people at a job fair, what skill would be best for me to learn if I wanted to work for their IT company. They all said Oracle programming. I took training as an Oracle Programmer. Retired from the Air Force and had trouble getting a job. No kidding all of those companies and more said - great that you have training, come back when you have experience.
One company hired me as they were getting a new product that used Oracle. Turned out they wanted me as a DBA. Unlike SQL Server, being an Oracle Programmer does not truly qualify one as a DBA. Luckily, my few skills let me document that the vendor was developing their 'finished' product on our time and with our resources (I had proof that they even stole my work).
The company I was working with ended up with a SQL Server database environment and seeing the writing on the wall, I told them I don't know Microsoft SQL Server or TSQL, I've never learned how to be a DBA - BUT I was willing to learn.
I self taught myself everything I could and let them know that it would be a benefit if they sent me to classes. They did so and here I am eight years later, at another company, working as a Senior SQL Server DBA. And I honestly feel I have the knowledge and experience to be a SR DBA. Still don't know everything, but I do know a lot.
-SQLBill
March 15, 2008 at 9:57 am
Wow, I drop off for a couple days and the thread goes crazy!
I'll add in a few more job stories here, though don't be surprised if any make them into an editorial as well 😉
No farting horse stories. That usually happens when you get them to move, which I don't try to do. Me having horses is proof that a man will do about anything for a woman. If I didn't have my wife with me, they'd be gone in an instant.
I did get the job of feeding horses by virtue of my wife leaving town. Got to carry in hay to the stall one day while a gelding was eating grain. We have these long plastic strips hanging over the doorways to limit the wind, rain, and snow that comes in. On a windy day they tend to move. At the right time, one cracked against the wall, the horse jumped, with my hands full of hay, I watched his right rear hoof come up in slow motion and extend back. 7 years of martial arts had me tense and exhale, which was all the reaction I had.
That is until I bounced off the wall behind me. He got sold; I'm not sad.
I got this job by creating it. About 4 years ago I went fulltime to manage the site. Andy, Brian, and I were all slightly burned out from part time work and we were thinking to sell or someone had to do everything. I got the nod only because my wife worked and benefits weren't an issue.
So I'm writing content, answering questions, starting Database Weekly, etc. and I got a little bored. We used to drop in advertisement stuff in the editorial space about 2-3 times a week. I decided to get creative, write some thoughts, and the rest is history. Apparently my rambling and blathering entertains a few of you over coffee in the morning, so Red Gate kept me on.
I've interviewed well in my life. I think there are a few key items that I've learned.
1. Sell yourself. I waited tables for a long time, including quite a few nights and weekends while starting out in this business, and learned a lot about presentation. Practice if you're not sure and have a friend/spouse/colleague critique you.
2. Know the job. Do some research on the company, the job, the industry, show that you have made an effort to learn something about the company. Don't drop every fact you know, but talk (somewhat) intelligently if it comes up. This also prevents you from asking questions like "so what do you do?", which make you look like you haven't bothered to prepare.
3. Interview the company as much as they interview you. Ask questions that will help you know if the job is for you.
4. Show what you know, admit what you don't. Don't BS people. Admit mistakes, show you've learned, and don't unload or vent about problems in the past. also don't show off your poor attitude. I once had a guy in an interview tell me that he got pissed at his boss, wrote a neat TSAPI app to page his boss randomly between 1-10 minutes all day. Didn't get hired by me.
March 16, 2008 at 9:41 pm
You people have lost your bloody minds. Axes and broadswords, intoxicated nuclear powerplant technicians, flatulence during job interviews, and something about a pork chop (what was the deal with that again??).
Brandie, if you remove the legitimate career advise from this thread, what's left should make good fodder for your next book.....
Seriously, to the original poster, your best bet is to be open and honest about your experience. The LAST thing you want to do is lie on your resume or misrepresent yourself in your interview. If you do bluff your way through the process, you'll be found out shortly after you start, and you'll have to explain in your next interview (if you even make it that far) why you were fired from your one and only DBA job after a week.
Not sure about where you are or how the job market is, but it's a pretty tight market for database professionals in my neck of the woods (north Texas). If you have a good understanding of set theory and understand the basics of how to administer SQL Server, I'd bet you can find someone to take a chance on you.
If you can't find a junior DBA position in short order, look for opportunities with your current position to use SQL Server. If you work somewhere with databases and no DBA, volunteer to do the DBA stuff in addition to your existing job. If you do have DBAs at your place, learn what you can from them. Take them to lunch, buy them a beer, let them beat you at poker... You'll learn the lingo, you'll learn what problems they encounter and how they fix them, and perhaps even build a strong reference for later.
Tim Mitchell, Microsoft Data Platform MVP
Data Warehouse and ETL Consultant
TimMitchell.net | @Tim_Mitchell | Tyleris.com
ETL Best Practices
March 16, 2008 at 11:07 pm
Tim Mitchell (3/16/2008)
Take them to lunch...
That's step 1 in the porkchop reference 😉
--Jeff Moden
Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.
March 17, 2008 at 6:46 am
Hello again guys,
Thank you for your kind responses and encouraging words. I think I had possibly forgotten what direction, motivation and encouragement felt like...just a pity I had to find it virtually and my boss isn't the one feeding back to me.
Anyway, advice much appreciated and understood, now if I can just find time around work to improve the old knowledge I'll be well on my way! 😛
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