The talk of the pending demise of the DBA (not) leads us to, “OK then, how do we keep up??!” I know for me, and for those I work with, this has been one of the single biggest topics of discussion when it comes to professional life.
Things are moving fast (no kidding) and going very broad. I think we’ve looked at this a bit before on how to get started, how to keep going with SQL Server, and of course other data platform areas as well now.
So if the DBA isn’t going away – but the expectations (or at least the needs of the data professional) are racing forward, you have to ask…
What is “forward” and how do I be there when I need to be? There’s a quote from hockey from Mr Gretzky that you may have heard:
“I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.“
That’s true of where you can put your efforts in this profession too. I think it comes down to a couple of steps, which of course makes it sound so simple. Clearly it’s not, but without a plan, it’s impossible IMHO.
First step? Identify what you really love doing. Is it pulling meaning out of data? Is it security? Is it performance of systems using data platforms? What is it that you really enjoy?
I think this has to be step 1. The old Dharma and Greg show (geez, I’m just full of… references today) talked about “finding your bliss.” You’ll find that the effort it takes to succeed is so much more worth it if it’s about chasing your bliss with data stuff.
Once you’ve identified that, you can look ahead and think about what a “perfect world” will look like *in that area* if all goes well. If it’s security, perhaps you can see where systems self-administer and are hardened and constantly improving themselves. (I’m just putting the ideas out there; security is NOT my thing, so these are probably pretty near-sighted.)
Try to identify the end play in 5 years, 10 years, even 15 years. Once you have that, you can sort of reverse-engineer your learning path. Figure out what it would take to get there from here? From today… What’s needed? What software, what techniques?
Not on an extremely specific basis, but rather on big, broad brush strokes. These will identify the areas you should start working toward.
It doesn’t matter that the end points may arrive sooner, or later, or look different – you can still put the work in to learn the path between here and there. Learn it, dig in, read, blog, speak about it. All of this helps you apply it.
But for me, the second step is to apply it. Find the first steps, even if it’s for a personal project just for that purpose – and do it. What does it take to do that first step on the way to your vision of where things go in the first steps? By putting it into play, and then expanding on that to learn more about the pieces along the way, you’ll find out about reality. You’ll learn what works, what doesn’t. Talk to people about how they work around what doesn’t work. Vendors, others in the field, all of it. Reach out and dig around.
Be relentless pushing forward. It might be on your own time, it might be company time, a little of both. Whatever it takes. These lessons you learn help set you up for the next small steps forward, and the ones after those.
These steps are what employers and clients want to know that you know about. They want to know you’ve “been there, done that” and can apply those learnings to their projects. It makes you an expert, and you’re on your way to riding the wave out beyond just what’s going on today.
You have to move to where the puck, or industry, is going, not where it is.