SQL Quiz Part 2

Well, he did it again, and I got tagged by Denny and Tim (who apparently does not read or subscribe to Denny’s blog). So I thought I should answer the bell and post a response, then tag someone else. The question at hand is: What are the largest challenges that you have faced in your career and how did you overcome those?

The largest challenge in my career has been allowing myself to understand that I do not know everything. When I was first tossed into the role the requests for my time piled up in a hurry. Many of them were urgent (of course!), and that led to long, long hours as people expected me to solve everything in a matter of moments. Or, if the problem was not solved, I had better be at my desk working on their problem, and not a problem for someone else!

So, because people expected me to solve everything, and quick, I began to think that I shouldbe able to solve everything immediately. It took a while before I was comfortable admiting that I did not know the answer to a question. Or how about that moment when you look around a room and think “Yeah, I am the dumbest guy in the room”, and you are comfortable with that notion?

My work life greatly improved once I became comfortable with my skills. And I think others became comfortable with me as time went on as well. See, I may not know everything, but I am fairly good at finding an answer in a respectable amount of time. Which leads me to the next biggest challenge…

Developing the soft skills necessary to be an effective DBA. Back when everyone wanted immediate answers my time was short, which led to be being quite short with others. Think of it as if you are working in a kitchen as the chef. Time is everything to a professional chef, they have little use of manners most nights. That would have been me. I still remember the time I had a manager calling me and demanding me to perform a data load in the way his programmer wanted it done to which I said “No, I would rather do it the correct way, and I will get it started right after I take care of three other things so let me get off the phone so I can do my job.”

Know what? It felt good to say that at the time, and it felt good to type, even after all these years.

Anyway, over time I have worked on soft skills. I have tried to overcome the fact that I am naturally shy and prefer to be alone most of the time. I have understood the power in networks, and how a group of like-minded people are, more often than not, going to achieve greater things than a person working alone. I have tried to find better ways to communicate, not only with my peers, but with my family as well.

I only wish that I understood the importance of these items a long time ago, but better late than never. Having the maturity to know you are not always right, and being able to play nice with others will get you a lot farther than always needing to be right and pissing everyone off all day long.

So, I need to tag someone else? How about TJay, Jeremiah, and Jonathan?