At this time of year I find myself doing what most people are doing, stand in line, return gifts, and reflect upon things I am thankful for, such as store credit. I am also thankful for gift cards, for mild weather to keep the snow away, and for my beautiful, healthy children. But today I was struck by the thought of something else to be thankful for, and that is for my job.
All my life I have enjoyed learning. I am not certain, but I think every human being enjoys learning. If you have an interest in something, then you are interested in learning, pure and simple. For some, ‘learning’ can mean ‘schooling’, and they might say no. But that same person most likely makes a living doing something they enjoy (or at worst, tolerate), and along the way they learn things whether they know it is happening or not.
So, for me, it has always been about understanding something. No matter what it was, I would always try to break something down into pieces, usually my toys. But as I got older it was understanding computers, calculus, and women. I’m still working on that last one, but you get the idea. No matter how complex something may appear to be, it is always a collection of smaller pieces, and once you break it down it becomes easier to understand and work with. This logical approach served me well when I was coaching basketball, as you really need to focus on very small details in order for the team to function well together.
Today I stumbled upon a system stored procedure, sp_validatelogins. Chances are many of you are already familiar with this login, but I was not. After playing with it, I started to think about how I can utilize this procedure, and then it hit me. How lucky can one guy be?
It seems as if every day that goes by I get to learn something new. And little by little, that knowledge makes me a better administrator. So, in theory, every day and week that goes by means I am a better DBA than I was the week before. And the more you learn, the more people start to leverage off your knowledge, and the more your time is in demand. Still, not necessarily a bad thing, but it can be frustrating when you are hoping to learn something new and you find yourself explaining the difference between TRUNCATE and DELETE to a developer.
Anyway, I said I was lucky, and I believe that. I fell into my role here, and I would like to think that it was for a reason. It just seems to be a natural fit for me, although I do aspire to move on from this position into something more senior. But for the time being I can sit back, watch the snow clouds roll in, and reflect upon just how lucky I am to have a job that satisfies my innate need for knowledge.
I wish you a very happy holiday season. Enjoy this time of the year, reflect upon where you have been and where you are going, and read your kids an extra story at bedtime tonight.
