Earlier this month I announced that I was leaving my former company in order to join Confio Software. Last week, Brent Ozar wrote a blog post where he mentioned my transition. Today, Brent announced that he, too, was changing jobs. Brent is giving up one dream job for another. And Brent has written about everything that went into making this possible, both for himself as well as for me. None of this happened by accident. We didn’t respond to a job advertisement. We were offered positions where none existed, only the need for someone was there. I still don’t have a formal job description, and I doubt Brent has one at SQLSkills, either.
Despite the efforts that we took in order to put ourselves in the position to have such opportunities, there is still a luck factor involved. Well, some call it luck, but I still subscribe to the theory that luck is nothing more than when preparation meets opportunity. If anything, it is the opportunity part where people tend to focus their use of the word “luck”. But there is a part to the opportunity that people overlook, and that is the timing.
Timing is everything, no matter what you are doing. You need to be able to prepare yourself so that at the time the opportunity presents itself you are ready. If you do, some people will look at you and say “wow, how did you get so lucky?” Others, like myself, will say “wow, how can I prepare myself to be ready when the time comes?”
For Brent, the timing was right, and as a result he is joining SQLSkills. For me, the timing was perfect for me to join Confio.
If the opportunity presented itself tomorrow, would you be ready? If not, what would it take for you to get yourself ready? Even better, do you want the opportunity to present itself? If you don’t like where you are, and want to have a dream job like Brent (or myself), then what steps can you take to make it happen?
It is rare that success falls into someones lap without some measure of work. Unless you are Ashton Kutcher, it just isn’t going to happen.
Ha! Yeah, timing is indeed everything, and nothing ever happens when you want it to. You just have to try to be where the ball’s going, not where it’s at right now.
IT, business, management, it’s all in flux all the time. The skills you need to get a certain job today can be totally different than the skills you need two or three years from now.
I sat out of the dot-com rush and felt like I missed a huge opportunity. I kicked myself for a long time for not being better prepared, and I didn’t think I’d ever get a chance like that again. I was wrong – these chances always come up, but you have to be running long before the train comes by.
Thanks for the reminder about the preparation part of luck. Brent, you and quite a few others in the SQL Server community continue to be inspirations for me and my career.
Thanks, Mike! 😀
My problem is…I don’t know where to be and when so that I’m there when the opportunity presents itself. Right now, I want to get started in IT so bad I can taste it…but no one is insterested in giving me a shot to show them what I can do.
Stephen – so instead of getting someone else to give you a shot, you have to load up your gun and start taking your own shots. Build something – it’s never been easier to get started with a web site, turning a business idea into money, doing social media, or starting a consultancy to help small businesses.
On the flip side, I don’t think it’s ever been harder to break in as an employee. The competition is just way too fierce from kids fresh out of college willing to work for nothing, plus offshored employees.
Your question “do you want the opportunity to present itself?” resonates especially well with me. It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement seeing so many people change jobs recently, yet at the end of the day it’s still a very introspective process.
My lovely bride keeps something on our fridge so we see it every day: “Most people don’t recognize opportunity when it comes knocking because it often comes disguised as hard work”.
Congrats to you & Brent. For a similar perspective, bing my name & “choices”. Believe me, if you knew where I came from, you’d know there’s hope for all of us!
Tom – Keep living the dream. Maybe in my next life I will comeback as Brent O. Good Stuff! 🙂
I actually saw this in reference to a book review for a sci-fi novel about time travel, but it really resonated with me: If any little change in the past has a significant impact on the present, imagine how much of an impact everything you do each day has on your future.
What are you doing in your present to control what you do in your future?
good point Jon, everything we do today has an impact on our future.