April 14, 2011 at 6:25 am
Thanks for this informative article. Is it possible you could give some salary expectations for various levels of experience and various areas of the US (midwest corn country?)? An article on that would be great, as would more in-depth examination of what to look for as reasonable expectations (for both sides) in the job search.
April 14, 2011 at 6:26 am
Grant Fritchey (4/14/2011)
I hate to say this, but doing the rewrite, we missed tons of stuff in the Exec Plans book. But you're right, Tony is incredibly strict. It really helps the quality of the product.
When I wrote the performance articles, Tony and I went back and forward on them 3 times. Finally he was happy. the articles were then published and on the very first day I noticed a glaring grammar error that we both had missed 3 times.
Gail Shaw
Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
SQL In The Wild: Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability
April 14, 2011 at 6:38 am
Koen Verbeeck (4/14/2011)
fname lname-1111520 (4/13/2011)
I get it: "then", "than", "there's", "there are". Stop reading (and I did), it can't be coherent.Oink? You stop reading a technical article about some (minor) grammar issues that 90% of the entire world wouldn't notice?
You must be missing a lot....
Tht's the wndrfl thng abt humn teh mind, we cn ndrstnd wrds nd phrss rgrdlss of hw thyr spelt. Yre piont is stll delvrd. :hehe:
I nticed teh frist error rite off, but ndrstnd nad agre wth wht yuo re sayin.
al n al, good werk!
Nice article Craig. 😀
______________________________________________________________________
Personal Motto: Why push the envelope when you can just open it?
If you follow the direction given HERE[/url] you'll likely increase the number and quality of responses you get to your question.
Jason L. SelburgApril 14, 2011 at 7:10 am
Great Job Craig... I am sure people would go nuts if they read my blogs since I have the tendency to swallow some words. 😀
-Roy
April 14, 2011 at 7:22 am
Additionally, more and more I see references to the front-end languages used in the development shop. Experience with Cold Fusion desired..... Knowledge of Java perferred..... space capsule design exper.... I'm exagerating now but you get the point.
John
John A. Byrnes
April 14, 2011 at 7:45 am
😛 You've obviously been reading the same job posts I looked at. I usually assume 30% or so is reality on what they are going to get and use that as a basis to evaluate.
No matter how much experience you have they tend to through a monkey wrench in the mix somewhere so obscure it is like asking you can run the snow maker while creating the disaster recovery plan for monsoon season.
April 14, 2011 at 7:53 am
One of my favorite stories about job hunting was years ago during the bubble (dot-com not housing). I saw a job posting for what looked like a bunch of positions in one ad. I figured the guy was trying to save a little scratch by posting more than one opening in a single ad. He wanted a network guy, a windows admin, a unix admin, a hardware admin, a dba, and a developer. I was a dev at the time so I sent my resume over.
20 minutes later I get a call from the guy. He asks questions about all the areas he posted. Of course I didn't know the answers. I told him I thought he was looking for more than one person. He got MAD. He started yelling at me because I was apparently the 3rd person to respond to his ad with an "incomplete skill set" and he was tired of it. I actually managed to calm him down and asked him how much he was looking to pay for one person who could do all those jobs.
Ready?
It's embarrassing.
$29k
I started laughing...he started yelling again. I just hung up.
April 14, 2011 at 7:57 am
kent.kester (4/14/2011)
One of my favorite stories about job hunting was years ago during the bubble (dot-com not housing). I saw a job posting for what looked like a bunch of positions in one ad. I figured the guy was trying to save a little scratch by posting more than one opening in a single ad. He wanted a network guy, a windows admin, a unix admin, a hardware admin, a dba, and a developer. I was a dev at the time so I sent my resume over.20 minutes later I get a call from the guy. He asks questions about all the areas he posted. Of course I didn't know the answers. I told him I thought he was looking for more than one person. He got MAD. He started yelling at me because I was apparently the 3rd person to respond to his ad with an "incomplete skill set" and he was tired of it. I actually managed to calm him down and asked him how much he was looking to pay for one person who could do all those jobs.
Ready?
It's embarrassing.
$29k
I started laughing...he started yelling again. I just hung up.
What 29K / month for part time is decent for that skillset! :w00t:
April 14, 2011 at 7:59 am
that's nothing, yesterday i got a new job as a DBA. troubleshooting an exec's iphone. only because i used to have one
April 14, 2011 at 8:08 am
A few years ago I was interviewing for a SQL Server position and the initial phone interviews went fine. I was able to answer all their questions to their satisfaction and they seemed like a place I wouldn't mind working. After the final phone interview I was all set to set up the in-person interview, but the next phone call I got from my agency was that there wasn't going to be an in-person interview. I asked why, had they gotten someone else? Had they lost funding?
The agency told me they said they had one person who'd written books on SQL Server and were looking for another person who'd written books on SQL Server.
Talk about unreasonable expectations.
--------------------------------------
When you encounter a problem, if the solution isn't readily evident go back to the start and check your assumptions.
--------------------------------------
It’s unpleasantly like being drunk.
What’s so unpleasant about being drunk?
You ask a glass of water. -- Douglas Adams
April 14, 2011 at 8:14 am
Stefan Krzywicki (4/14/2011)
A few years ago I was interviewing for a SQL Server position and the initial phone interviews went fine. I was able to answer all their questions to their satisfaction and they seemed like a place I wouldn't mind working. After the final phone interview I was all set to set up the in-person interview, but the next phone call I got from my agency was that there wasn't going to be an in-person interview. I asked why, had they gotten someone else? Had they lost funding?The agency told me they said they had one person who'd written books on SQL Server and were looking for another person who'd written books on SQL Server.
Talk about unreasonable expectations.
You should have given the contact details of another person who writes books whom we always discuss in the water cooler. I think you know who it is... 😀
-Roy
April 14, 2011 at 8:19 am
Roy Ernest (4/14/2011)
Stefan Krzywicki (4/14/2011)
A few years ago I was interviewing for a SQL Server position and the initial phone interviews went fine. I was able to answer all their questions to their satisfaction and they seemed like a place I wouldn't mind working. After the final phone interview I was all set to set up the in-person interview, but the next phone call I got from my agency was that there wasn't going to be an in-person interview. I asked why, had they gotten someone else? Had they lost funding?The agency told me they said they had one person who'd written books on SQL Server and were looking for another person who'd written books on SQL Server.
Talk about unreasonable expectations.
You should have given the contact details of another person who writes books whom we always discuss in the water cooler. I think you know who it is... 😀
Heh, I don't know if he's local. It'd be hilarious if that's who they already had.
It is a shame too, I was looking forward to working with and learning from that person. I don't think they were serious about hiring someone and that's something people should also look out for. I've had quite a few interviews in the past where as you meet their expectations, their requests increase until they find a reason not to hire you or just decide to keep looking even though you've shown you know what they need you to know. Sometimes companies just want to test the waters and see what's out there and they don't care that they're wasting your time.
--------------------------------------
When you encounter a problem, if the solution isn't readily evident go back to the start and check your assumptions.
--------------------------------------
It’s unpleasantly like being drunk.
What’s so unpleasant about being drunk?
You ask a glass of water. -- Douglas Adams
April 14, 2011 at 8:23 am
Stefan Krzywicki (4/14/2011)
A few years ago I was interviewing for a SQL Server position and the initial phone interviews went fine. I was able to answer all their questions to their satisfaction and they seemed like a place I wouldn't mind working. After the final phone interview I was all set to set up the in-person interview, but the next phone call I got from my agency was that there wasn't going to be an in-person interview. I asked why, had they gotten someone else? Had they lost funding?The agency told me they said they had one person who'd written books on SQL Server and were looking for another person who'd written books on SQL Server.
Talk about unreasonable expectations.
Sorry Stefan, we really wanted to hire you, but.... 😛
Seriously though, that's stupid.
"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
April 14, 2011 at 8:35 am
Great job, Craig! This is a great idea for a topic. One that isn't discussed often. I cannot count the number of horrendous job postings that I have perused over the years. Your article is very well written and really drives home the point of how important it is to be able to identify the good SQL jobs from the bad. And as a corrallary, maybe some employers/head hunters/recruiters will read this and post more reasonable SQL jobs! Wishful thinking maybe... Anyway, I hope you do follow up this topic with more articles. I look forward to reading them.
Thanks,
Greg
April 14, 2011 at 8:52 am
Grant Fritchey (4/14/2011)
GilaMonster (4/14/2011)
Grant Fritchey (4/14/2011)
I'm looking at multiple books and articles and blog posts over the last eight years or so and I don't doubt for one second I've got horrific English in all of them.The Simple-talk books are probably fine, considering how picky and good Tony is. Blogs posts, I agree with you, the most appalling spelling and grammar sneak into those (mine too)
I hate to say this, but doing the rewrite, we missed tons of stuff in the Exec Plans book. But you're right, Tony is incredibly strict. It really helps the quality of the product.
Really? *looks over at his kindle* I've never had trouble reading the Exec Plans book. It's clear, and for a subject that can get as obtuse and sometimes dull as a technical subject like SQL server, I find it a pretty good read.
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