August 19, 2010 at 8:27 pm
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Personal Investments
August 19, 2010 at 11:39 pm
Career? Do real people even have careers anymore? That sounds like a Boomer concept that briefly made an appearance between 1950-1980. These days, a "career" is more like a series of temp jobs linked together (linked if you are lucky). Which, makes training & upskilling all the more valuable as an individual. It also explains why "managers" are loathe to pay for training. Why bother training a "temp" to do anything other than what they were hired to do? If you want something else done, get rid of your current unskilled temp and replace with a skilled temp. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.
One could exchange the word "temp" with the word "monkey" without losing any of the meaning.
James Stover, McDBA
August 20, 2010 at 1:32 am
I have done the following things the past year to improve my skills:
* read technical books (Kimball, SSIS et cetera) in my free time
* studied for a certification in my free time (although the exam itself was paid by my employer)
* spend time on this site, answering questions in the QotD and in the forums (which has learned me a lot)
Luckily I currently have an employer who is not afraid of investing in the talent of young people. We can go to several trainings per year and also visit some conferences.
Need an answer? No, you need a question
My blog at https://sqlkover.com.
MCSE Business Intelligence - Microsoft Data Platform MVP
August 20, 2010 at 4:11 am
Reading lots and lots will broaden your knowledge.
At uni one of the teachers said he use to keep a diary/log of problems and solutions at work. I think i might start to do this.
August 20, 2010 at 5:36 am
I've only just started a new job this year, but since I've started, I've been keeping notebooks with different tips and tricks that I find. I have one for SQL, one for Oracle and one for .Net. So far it's been good, I can look back in there when I'm trying to remember how I previously solved a problem.
August 20, 2010 at 5:52 am
I have always looked at my job security as to what skills and knowledge I have to sell. Attitude plays a large part in the job security also. I currently have a subscription to LearnDevNow and the SQL Server 2008 courses give a broad overview to the different aspects to the new features in 2008. Also I plan to take some of the VB courses and an intro course in SharePoint. I subscribe to newsletters, have a tecknet subscription and buy books, both hard and electronic. About $500 per year, which, when you look at other professions and what they have to spend in licensing, required continuing education, etc. is chump change.
John
August 20, 2010 at 6:48 am
Probably two things - started learning/utilizing powershell for automation.
And I read, read, read some more. Lots of great blogs out. In addition, try to read/reread a whitepaper at least once per month. http://www.sqlskills.com/whitepapers.asp
And, despite the perception that people tweet things like "going to bathroom", twitter has proven to be useful, not just from the standpoint of asking SQL questions, but periodically people post a link to something I have not come across before; some really interesting idea or problem they solved.
Get better or you will end up programming in Delphi.
Cheers
http://twitter.com/widba
http://widba.blogspot.com/
August 20, 2010 at 7:06 am
I have been in situations where Managers have been more willing to match my investment in training and conferences dollar for dollar. If I'm willing to spend my own money on an event that the company I work for could potentially benefit from, it creates a win-win situation. Once a company has invested in training dollars, make sure you submit a "post-conference" report that conveys some of the concepts, ideas and suggested changes to your environment as a result of the conference. This will reinforce that they made a good investment in the training and make future requests easier to get approved.
August 20, 2010 at 7:06 am
James Stover is correct – a ‘solid career’ today is only as good as your own personal self-improvement/focus in yourself, on your own time, while linking a series of temporary gigs together to buy the groceries. Gold watches and the retirement party, merit and longevity raises, and company loyalty went out of style long ago, unfortunately.
Today it is important to narrow your interests to become the best you can at a specific set of skills. This is now your career path, not the company’s office where you arrived today. I have noticed this pattern repeating with MVP’s backgrounds – hum, perhaps they know this already?
Personally, I have decided on this approach, to build my skills and build my personal brand. I studied for MCITP exams for SQL2005 and SQL2008 [passed 3 so far, working on the next], soaked up FREE training at 3 SQL Saturday events, attend our local PASS chapter regularly, volunteered to help and plan SQLSAT#46 in Raleigh [Sept18], catch 1-3 webcasts a week from big-name MVPs, built an e-book laptop folder and Script library folder for easy reference and daily use, jumped ‘on-board’ [literally] for SQLCRUISE [http://www.sqlcruise.com/] with Brent Ozar and Time Ford to soak up more tips from the masters, started a blog at waynestarnesblog.com [well, at least I have a presence!], and mounted training wheels for Twitter.
All this is at my own expense, and at my own pace. It is a serious long term investment in myself – the most valuable asset I know. I am in total charge of my destiny, which is the way it should be.
Amazingly much of this is FREE from the SQL Server community helping each other, and several vendors with vested interests in seeing us all succeed. All it takes is first, a commitment to yourself, and second - get going!
For motivation, read Brent’s blog - http://www.brentozar.com/archive/2010/04/rock-stars-normal-people-and-you/
Wayne Starnes
August 20, 2010 at 7:18 am
If by career you mean moving up in the management ranks at a single company, that went out with the depression-era generation. If by career you mean continuous learning about what you need to do your job better or faster or differently whether your current employer values what you are learning or not, then yes careers are very much alive. The last three jobs that I have held were based on my past experience nad what I had taught myself in the previous job in order to do my job better and faster.
August 20, 2010 at 7:45 am
I'm lucky in that I work for a small company, who's willing to reward hard work and effort. Not necessarily with bonuses, but sometimes with out-of-band pay raises, or allowing me to be more flexible in how I spend my time.
In order to invest in myself, and my job, I've gone out and picked up several MS certifications, which to an extent I chose based on what my job is. So, I've now got an MCSA on Server 2003, MCITP on SQL 2005, and I upgraded my MCSA to Server 2008. Currently, I'm attending online classes for a Bachelors of Computer Technology in SQL through University of Phoenix.
I'm also working on teaching myself Powershell, and thinking about upgrading my SQL2005 certification to SQL2008 in my copious free time;-)
While my employer won't help pay for my classes, I can understand that. They are willing to pay for when I take MS certification exams.
The rest of the time, I prowl the various SQLServerCentral articles, briefcaseing the ones I find interesting or handy, saving SQL queries that I think might come in handy, and occasionally playing with the AdventureWorks DB. At some point, I'm going to finally settle down and throw together a DB to track mine and my wifes books and movies, including a VB front-end.
Basically, I just try to keep learning.
Seems to work, so far, as I'm still gainfully employed, with no indications that I may be heading for trouble.
Jason
August 20, 2010 at 8:32 am
jberg-604007 (8/20/2010)
If by career you mean moving up in the management ranks at a single company, that went out with the depression-era generation. If by career you mean continuous learning about what you need to do your job better or faster or differently whether your current employer values what you are learning or not, then yes careers are very much alive. The last three jobs that I have held were based on my past experience nad what I had taught myself in the previous job in order to do my job better and faster.
Great distinction between career definitions, jberg. Why does staying at a single company for many years seem to come across as a bad thing? I've noticed that in several editorial posts, even aside from today's topic. I love my job and hope to be here for many years to come.
Unless your training will specifically and greatly benefit the company you're currently with, it seems almost fraudulent to have companies pay for your training, especially if you know you plan to leave soon.
On the other hand, if they're willing to pay for it...
August 20, 2010 at 9:16 am
I pay for my own certifications, and I find that the big investment here is time and my employer can't realistically do anything about that. The dollar cost is relatively trivial. I also jump at every chance I get on the job to learn something new, like when my boss says, "Does anyone know anything about...." (fill in the blank). If no one does, be the first to find out!
You must always be prepared to invest in yourself. It would be nice if employers were willing to do it, but if they aren't that still shouldn't stop you from taking care of yourself!
August 20, 2010 at 9:35 am
I buy my own books, and then bring them into the office to share with co-workers. Read a lot, cruise the forums, any free training I can find. My job duties have shifted and I actually don't do much coding anymore, unless a "crisis" occurs - which means I have to keep my skills sharp without much opportunity to practice them! Sharing and consulting with others helps, though; training other people is a good way to keep skills fresh.
Steph Brown
August 20, 2010 at 9:53 am
I think personal investment in training and conferences is great, and people should absolutely do it.
But don't think of it as a way to impress the boss or get him paying for more training. Budget considerations are generally only part of the story of why bosses won't shell out for training. For a lot of roles, they also think you have sufficient knowledge for what they need, and that further education will just make you harder to retain or qualify you for higher salary.
Now in some jobs and some companies that is fine. They want to foster your growth and development and have a defined structure where you can grow or move up. But at many others they want their technical staff to do job X and dont have any plans to have you do anything else.
That doesnt mean you shouldnt invest in your own development. It just means that instead of thinking "wow, this guy is committed to learning, lets meet him halfway", a lot of bosses will be thinking "wow, this guy is really working on his resume. I'd better make sure we're not screwed when he jumps ship".
If you're in a job that is looking to foster your personal goals and development, then going above and beyond what they'll spend is a good sign you're a comer. But if you're not at a job like that, you're probably better off making a business case of why they should pay for it and the reward they can expect from you taking the training. And if you want to pay for development they won't, it may be best to do it completely "off the radar".
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