October 30, 2012 at 9:46 am
The ultimate irony of being an experienced production DBA is that you almost invariably work your way out of a position unless the company continues growth at a staggering pace.
October 30, 2012 at 10:11 am
Miles Neale (10/30/2012)
Travis,
I started in the business in 1972. I have never been fired. I have left a job or two and gone elsewhere but only by my own choice. I have faced numerous layoffs and have wondered but my number has not come up, and from what I understand it has never been close. I am not a weasel nor do I think the attributes of a weasel are appropriate in the office at any level or any position. If I were to guess why this has happened I would say it is because I try to solve the problems people have or point them towards a solution if I do not have a clue. I honestly say I do not know when I do not, and if I state an opinion I make certain that they know that it is an opinion. As long as I help others solver their problems as well as be productive in what I am suppose to do things have worked out well.
I can say the "That more often then not has been the case". But I cannot say that it is always the case.
I can thus say that I agree for the most part but not completely.
M.
Miles,
I absolutely agree that what you say is the way things "should" be. I'm also glad you are one of the lucky ones that have NOT been laid off in all that time. My point is, that it does happen out there, and it is not always based on your aptitude, dedication, or even your attitude for that matter. Many times it just comes down to the good ole' boy network you are not a part of, or office politics 101, or simply just who is playing golf with who on Sunday. I don't like it anymore than you do, and yes, it is unfair, but unfair has got nothing to do with reality in this business. It's a dog-eat-dog world out there in this industry, and I can honestly say that after just celebrating 28 years in the IT industry, that good people get laid off everyday and it has very little to do with their technical skill set, their dedication, or their business knowledge.. That's just the Real World. 😀
"Technology is a weird thing. It brings you great gifts with one hand, and it stabs you in the back with the other. ...:-D"
October 30, 2012 at 10:28 am
TravisDBA (10/30/2012)
It's a dog-eat-dog world out there in this industry
And as I say, I agree. I can speak of a time at an aerospace company just north of here that use to lay off people by project. Entire teams would be told when they arrived for work in the morning that their project had been cut and the entire team was to report to the relocation center. There they would be offered another job and it might be in IT and it might not, but it was a job.
And at another place a little farther north if you did not work out you were met at the door in the morning by a security guard with all the things from your desk, your key card was taken along with any other company property, you were given your last paycheck and you were done. You had no idea as to why or who else was released all you knew was that you were gone.
It is a hard world out there, and in IT it can be very hard. I have worked with many who have had to take some serious lumps and move on. And there have been storied of cronyism and favoritism all along the way. The world is not fair. It is what it is. Sometime the best are let loose and the worst are kept. What has worked for those I have seen when this has happened is to take inventory of where they are and what they have and make the best decision for themselves in the now. It is better to forget what is behind and to press on into the dreams and adventures that are ahead.
All that to say I agree with you. It is "dog eat dog" out there".
Not all gray hairs are Dinosaurs!
October 30, 2012 at 10:34 am
Agreed. Well said.:-D
"Technology is a weird thing. It brings you great gifts with one hand, and it stabs you in the back with the other. ...:-D"
October 30, 2012 at 10:45 am
Being competent and getting along well with others are the best bets for job security, and for getting a new job fast if the old one goes away.
However, I have also seen job security achieved through backstab-lie-betray-everyone-around-you combined with playing golf with the owners of the company. I've also seen job security through the ego of the manager who hired the person too tied up in "they can't be as incompetent as they are, because that would make me wrong for having hired them".
Personally, I stick with competent and friendly. It's worked well for me so far. One job (my first DBA job, actually), my job was so secure that, when my employer went bankrup and out of business, the biggest competitor hired me a week later and paid for my move to their city. So, actually, the job continued even though the employer shut down and laid everyone off.
Too bad the link the editorial is out of date. Would be interesting to see what it originally went to.
- Gus "GSquared", RSVP, OODA, MAP, NMVP, FAQ, SAT, SQL, DNA, RNA, UOI, IOU, AM, PM, AD, BC, BCE, USA, UN, CF, ROFL, LOL, ETC
Property of The Thread
"Nobody knows the age of the human race, but everyone agrees it's old enough to know better." - Anon
October 30, 2012 at 10:52 am
Agreed, there ARE no guarantees in anything in life, besides death and taxes:-P It's mostly a roll of the dice anyway. The only thing you can do in the meantime, as you say, is stay on your A-game and hope that good karma comes back and treats you well in the end, like it did for you.:-D
"Technology is a weird thing. It brings you great gifts with one hand, and it stabs you in the back with the other. ...:-D"
October 30, 2012 at 11:13 am
TravisDBA (10/30/2012)
Agreed, there ARE no guarantees in anything in life. It's mostly a roll of the dice anyway. The only thing you can do in the meantime, as you say, is stay on your A-game and hope that good karma comes back and treats you well in the end, like it did for you.:-D
I don't believe in karma, and all its variations, but I have seen very strong evidence that competent, friendly, well-educated people are much more likely to retain jobs, and have an easier time getting new ones when things do go against them, in most cases. Sure, a few incompetent/hostile/backstabbing people get to unfairly obtain or keep jobs they should never have had in the first place. But that's really just a very noisy exception that drowns out the much more common rule.
The main thing that will keep good people down is unethical, ill-intentioned people who convince them to "just give up" or "you're too nice" or "X group is going to screw you anyway so just grin and bear it since you can't do anything about it anyway". Anyone ever tells you any of those things, just assume they're the actual bad guy, avoid them like the plague, and your life will be much less stressful and much more successful. Seems like rough advice, because that personality type will also always tell you things like, "I don't want to see you get hurt", or "it's for your own good", "I'm just watching out for you", or "you just need to face reality". Again, treat that like finding out the person has Black Plague.
(There are other symptoms as well, but those phrases are really reliable red flags.)
We're human beings. The smartest, most amazing species this world has ever seen. Even our "dumb" are so amazingly intelligent that you can't begin to compare them to any other organism on the planet. We're built to survive, even thrive, in conditions that should be consistently overwhelming. And we do it by conquering and changing conditions so they match what we want. Too cold to live somewhere? Most critters would die out or be forced to move away, we just put on more clothes and build houses and fireplaces. Too hot? We invent air conditioning and ice tea. Too dry? We irrigate. Nothing to eat? We plant farms. And so on and so on.
Any time your faith in yourself or humanity fails or dims, remember that no tiger has claws that can compare to a rifle (or even a good spear), no turtle has armor like a simple car much less a tank, no bird can fly as high as a rocket or as fast as a jet, and no eagle has eyes like the Hubble telescope. Those are all our legacies and birthrights - the intelligence, competence, and sheer willpower to accomplish things like that.
So if anyone ever tells you, "there's nothing you can do about it", think about what we can accomplish, and realize that person is just trying to cut you down to a size they, in their cowardice, don't feel threatened by. You'll have a happier, more successful life.
- Gus "GSquared", RSVP, OODA, MAP, NMVP, FAQ, SAT, SQL, DNA, RNA, UOI, IOU, AM, PM, AD, BC, BCE, USA, UN, CF, ROFL, LOL, ETC
Property of The Thread
"Nobody knows the age of the human race, but everyone agrees it's old enough to know better." - Anon
October 30, 2012 at 11:28 am
Well, I do believe in it, good or bad. I have seen it in action. Karma is a boomerang, it will smack you right in the back of the head right when you are not looking, or expecting it..sooner or later.:-D
"Technology is a weird thing. It brings you great gifts with one hand, and it stabs you in the back with the other. ...:-D"
October 30, 2012 at 3:50 pm
Just a suggestion - when you republish a past editorial you may want to check and update any links contained within the article.
October 30, 2012 at 6:05 pm
Might want to tell that to Microsoft ...
October 31, 2012 at 5:11 am
Nice post GSquared, I enjoyed reading it anyhow, obviously an area you've given a lot of thought to. Indeed it is often a good idea to be outwardly receptive yet maintain your own clear opinion when faced with the supposedly sympathetic persuader.
I'll agree that karma in terms of a higher force that tries to balance things out is simply a way people try to rationalise their chaotic lives. However if you just read the concept as 'be nicer and your life will improve, be nastier and that will also be reflected back to you' then I can accept that!
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