What did you do before SQL?
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Prior to DBA work, I was a Software Developer and supervisor. But more interestingly was my pre-college jobs.
Installed/removed Major Appliances
Installed cupboards
Grocery store Produce Stocker
Wendy's fry guy (1st job)
But the best one was a 3 week temp job trimming Christmas trees. I'm originally from Minnesota and my parents friend's family owned a tree farm. Once a year in the summer they have to trim all the trees. To do these, we yielded 2 huge machetes. And of course, huge knee pads for protection. We whacked all sides of the tree until they were even all around. A couple swings put big dents in my knees but no damage to speak of.
Darren
Darren -
I had done lot's of things before I even finished High School.
Roofing
Appliance Repair
Building Construction and Renovation
Concrete mix facility (front end loader, got to drive the gravel and mixer trucks around the facility)
Short Order cook for Whataburger (like McDonalds but much better tasing)
Videographer
Photographer
Computer Repair
Farm Hand (Yes I got to drive tractors, and combines, and many other peices of biiiiiigggg equipment. I however hate hay dust.)
We owned a horse Arena, stable, Summer Camp and Mud Pit Race course. I have worked with horses, including breaking and training wild ones (that is a trip to do Steve). Did anouncer, juding, setup and maintainence duties. (Won an FFA award for Outdoor Recreation but was pived when our FFA leader had it held back at the state level for fear a first year turn in never wins at the national level, but then where would I be now).
After High School I attenedd my first year at the local community college for the area on a Creative Writing scholarship and the secound on an Art one.
At that point I got a job with a Local Long DIstance provider doing telemarketing (boo, hiss, got to ^*&&), survived long enough to move to customer relations, then to customer service, and on to paging, cellular and internet service.
During that time I got married (before I finished my 2 year degree) and divorced less than a year later. Met another girl and got married (sameone now after 6 years). Went into the hospital, watched the company I was working for tanking (stupid people in power) and was inspired by my loving wife to find a job on the internet. Checked locally and even thou I was making 18k a year no one wanted to hire anyone for more than 15k a year. Hit the internet and found a job in Charlotte, NC with First Union National Bank in the Proactive Netowkr Monitoring support desk (I watched everything from VSAT (sattalite communication) to lan, wan, man, voice, frame relay, hissi mainframe (everything) and prodded it until I determined states and corrective action. They dropped that group and I was displaced so I decided to do the MCSE but chose SQL as my elective (SQL 7 Beta at the time and not a far stretch as I had worked with flat file and Access databases previously). Eneded up getting a job with Y2K aS a customer mailing clerk (hah thought this would be good huh). While there I made improvements to all the Access databases we used to make them more user friendly, faster and was eventually approached to help desgin and build an Access DB for problem management during the rollover. Did a lot of VBA stuff with that. Then as it got nearing some managers started complaining that there were these 3 differenct Problem Management systems but no common place to monitor them.
At that point it was set out on the tabel we need to collect all the data and pushe to the web group for displaying. I stepped forward and suggested we use SQL to talk to all three systems and by filter and cleaning combine them for display. They asked me to put the idea together which I did with and Eval copy and they decided to put me in charge of this task (foot in the door). No issues arose from my work and things went well. Now this would have been bad for me except shortly before one of the groups I dealt with egtting information on one of the Problem Management systems was the developement group behind all our tools for our internal help desk. Tey decided to make me aware of an opening they had and I interviewed and got the job. Transitioned right in and have been there since (sql and all).
(Sorry no spell check in notepad)
Edited by - antares686 on 09/08/2003 7:19:35 PM
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Hi all
Pretty boring on my side but...
left high school and attended technical college 3 yrs, then off to uni for another 2 for a degree in comp sci... was actually enrolled for the military as a musician but got hooked on computer games and programming at the last minute (yes - chickened out)
move to the city (was a country lad), programming in oracle and a splash of c and c++, moved "up" the ranks to dba then senior dba for a tech consulting firm. married a "user" (sorry - they are call clients or customers now), and 2 kids later have a slowly recessing hair line to match my old mans reverse mohawk 🙂
Chris Kempster
Author of "SQL Server 2k for the Oracle DBA"
Chris Kempster
www.chriskempster.com
Author of "SQL Server Backup, Recovery & Troubleshooting"
Author of "SQL Server 2k for the Oracle DBA" -
What did I do before SQL?
I used to repair industrial cranes, tower cranes etc etc. If it lifted things, I would repair it.
Small change in career.
James, just saw your post. I think you beat me in diversity!
Cheers,
Crispin
Edited by - crappy on 09/08/2003 10:43:26 PM
Cheers,CrispinI can't die, there are too many people who still have to meet me!It's not a bug, SQL just misunderstood me!
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Well, after all, I'm not full time into SQL business. But that's something else!
I'm looking to fix this.
I guess, you call this a bum or lazybone. I spent my time studying business sciences and working in the evening at the local post office. So I had enough money to live. Met my wife and she kicked my a*s to finish with university and look for a job. That's then what I did (I'm a good husband
). Not sure what happened to me when things went different?At that time I was already working part-time as an Access developer programming property management software. Mere coincidence made me aware of an small job offer for an Access developer. I called the company, we met, and some days later I started. That was in 1997. So professionally working I started late at the age of 29. But it's okay, I have no great ambition to make career ?!?. I like having my own mind and opinion. And I think both things collide very often.
Right now, I'm working as an Asset manager. I oversee a portfolio worth some 2 billion EURO. I am responsible for risk management strategies, performance measurements, benchmarking. I report directly to the management, which isn't desirable most of the time
I'm seriously looking for an opportunity to get my hands on a DBA position.Frank
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Frank Kalis
Microsoft SQL Server MVP
Webmaster: http://www.insidesql.org/blogs
My blog: http://www.insidesql.org/blogs/frankkalis/[/url] -
quote:
That is very cool stuff, Thomas. You should be very proud of that to speak of.I think it was by far the best job I ever had, in many ways. I was straight out of University, and was being paid a real wage to be, in effect, a post-grad student and part-time unix admin.
quote:
When I was at KSC, I actually served on the team that helped design and implement the Space Station Processing Facility. That was very exciting!Now that sounds far more interesting than the stuff I went on to -- motor insurance systems, then document management systems for "receivables management" (debt collection to the rest of us), and now handling conveyancing (the legal stuff when you move house / remortgage).
Thomas Rushton
blog: https://thelonedba.wordpress.com -
Started off as a programmer (Woolworths UK) in 1976 with ICL 1900 mainframe using COBOL and ICL IDMS databases, progressed to ICL 2900, ICL ME29. Made redundant, Joined Colt and started with ME29's again with IDMS databases and then back to ICL 2900 mainframe. Later on progressed to PC's and Access (self taught) and then to SQL 6.5 (again self taught) and now on SQL 7.0 eagerly anticipating SQL2K.
Christ, I could write volumes for the 27 years of employment and guarantee you would fall asleep before the end of chapter 1.
BrenBart, Know what you mean, always like to fix things by disassembly and reassembly. But it's always the left over bits that got me, could never fix anything without something left over.
Far away is close at hand in the images of elsewhere.
Anon. -
Well, it was cool stuff, but unfortunately at the Space Center, you end up staying in the same job until you die because no one else will move out of your way until they die. So, I left. I went on to become a Library Systems Specialist at Brevard Community College and put them on the client/server map by implementing the first Windows NT enterprise collegewide. Got a Special Achievement award from the Florida Association of Community Colleges for that. However, those people were no where near the fun that the folks were at the Space Center. From there, I went on to become the Info Sys Manager for the City of Titusville, FL. Same thing, the people were just not as fun. After that, I went to work at a software development company for a year, and now, for the past 3 yrs. I've been doing nothing but SQL and development for a start up company. We are doing very well. I really do love SQL and development but kind of miss full time management and even Systems Administration (I did that for 10+ years, MCSE, etc.)
I would have to say that the Space Center was the most rewarding and fun job of my career. My husband still works out there as a Branch Chief for NASA but it's not the same as being there.
However, SQLServerCentral.com really fills the void for fun at work. I like the interaction!
All the best,
Dale
All the best,
DaleAuthor: An Introduction to SQL Server 2005 Management Studio
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Ok here goes ...
Farm hand ( at parents farm )
Tractor Driver ( at an orchard )
Ski Hire Cashier
Petrol ( or Gas for you yanks) station attendant
Timber Grading Inspector
Saw-bench tailor-out
Computer Repairer
Ballon Machine operator
Process Line Worker
Mainframe Computer Operator
Macintosh Systems Administrator
Ropes Course Leader
Desktop Publishing Assistant
Accounts Payable
Systems Engineer
Database Developer
Client Manager
Access Database Manager
Whew ... and they were all for different employers. Kinda makes you think about how different things could have been. At the time I was driving tractors at the orchard, the owner wanted me to get my heavy tractor license so I could do more work for him at his other properties. I could have turned out to be the typical hayseed farmboy, instead of the database dude I am now
Hope this helps
Phill Carter
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Colt 45 - the original point and click interface
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Colt 45 - the original point and click interface
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Hmmmm... Baloon Machine Operator? That's got to be close to the prize taker. Although, I did think about selling Kirby vacuum cleaners at one point. However, Collector of Recycling, Whataburger, and fry guy at Wendy's come close too.
All the best,
Dale
All the best,
DaleAuthor: An Introduction to SQL Server 2005 Management Studio
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I've actually been in IT for going on 35 years.
Started as a junior operator for the High School district. Minimum wage, but look where it lead too. The perks were kinda good, I printed and or burst all of the report cards. You'd be amazed at how nice people (jocks mostly) are to you when their report card "accidentaly" got destroyed by the burster and couldn't be mailed home !!!
Since then, lots and lots of mainframe stuff. Programming, design, OS Support, CICS support, DBA (DBOMP, DL/I, IMS and eventually some DB2). Lots more programming and design. Some management and project leader type things, pretty good at it, but did NOT like it. I'm a techie at heart.
Got bored, learned PCs in the early days (Dos and Win 3.1), been pretty much working on Windows since. With some spurts back to MFs and even AIX.
Programming is still my number one love, I can code in most languages, a little rough in C++ and C#, but working on it.
It is scary to have watched this industry and technology change over the years.
KlK, MCSE
Edited by - kknudson on 09/10/2003 10:02:10 AM
KlK -
Was an AS/400 programmer analyst at a few different places.
Before that:
R & D at Cannondale Bikes
Boring job at a thermometer company
Tool & Die at Pratt & Whitney
Night job making snow & fixing stuff at little ski place in CT.
Bicycle shop mechanic
Dishwasher
Newspaper route (Long time ago)
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- Fruit picker
- Gardener
- Odd job man
- Commodore Pet Basic and 6502 programmer
- dBASE II/Clipper programmer
- HP3000 Image3000 programming
- Cognos Quiz programming
- VB Access SQL developer
- Dad
- Statistician
- Web DBA and CMS Specialist
Still doing the impossible for the ungrateful.
Have reached the stage where IT is more political than technical.
Having watched the way that IT has changed over the past 10 years (although there will always be room for some techies) I wouldn't recommend it as a long term career.
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Frank's recent "Brief History of SQL" article brought back bad memories.... SQL/DS.
Am I showing my age? Lucky I've kept it a closely guarded secret.
And before that, I was a barman in a rugby club, and a nachtportier in an Austrian ski resort.
Cheers,
- Mark
Cheers,
- Mark -
quote:
And before that, I was a barman in a rugby club, and a nachtportier in an Austrian ski resort.the world is a village!
What I take from this whole thread is that almost everybody had some ups and downs in his resume. And somehow came into computer business.
Maybe I haven't seen it, but is there also almost anyone with a straight plain vanilla career?
University (Computer engineering, computer science or informatics) -> DBA job?
Frank
Well, yes, apart from Chris Kempster
Edited by - Frank Kalis on 09/11/2003 02:32:00 AM
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Frank Kalis
Microsoft SQL Server MVP
Webmaster: http://www.insidesql.org/blogs
My blog: http://www.insidesql.org/blogs/frankkalis/[/url]
I'm seriously looking for an opportunity to get my hands on a DBA position.
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