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Are you an Apprentice DBA?
in WOxPod!, episode # 003 – The Data Guild we discuss the SQL Server community and how it is drastically different than most technical, or skill set based, communities we have ever been a part of.
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Transcript
You are listening to WOxPod!, episode # 003 – The Data Guild.
Today I’m talking about the SQL Server community and how it is drastically different than most technical, or skillset based, communities I have ever been a part of.
Hey everyone, Chris Bell here. The WOxPod! podcast is produced for your enjoyment. Show notes can be found at /podcasts
Come back often feel free to add WOxPod! to your favorite RSS feeds or iTunes. You can also follow us on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn, all which are linked through our website: WaterOxConsulting.com
Now let’s get on to the show.
Some of you may know that I grew up in Nova Scotia, Canada, and my father is a master goldsmith. Because of this I spend many a day as a child, before having a computer, learning the ways of precious metal working and a lot of ways you could seriously injure yourself.
Needless to say I survived. With all my parts too.
Growing up with a crafts person as a father meant there were lots of craft shows we would go to as a way for my father to go and show his wares outside of his shop in our back yard and get known in the community. It is a lot like our community’s SQL Saturdays.
If you are not familiar with SQL Saturdays, they are a fantastic way to get a lot of free SQL Server training.
SQL Saturdays are run by the local users of SQL Server. Sometimes it is head up by a user group, other times it is an individual that wants to grow the local community. Regardless of who they are, These people go and get sponsors to offset the costs of the venue, meal and prizes to give away at the end of the day, and organize everything so you can have a great learning experience. The speakers come from all around the world, and are at all different levels. You have some of the superstars of our world show up, and you have speakers just breaking into the world of presenting to groups. What a lot of people attending don’t realize, is that these speakers also volunteer their time and expense to be there to help grow the community even more.
As I record this I am about to head to Rochester New York to their SQL Saturday. Just last week I attended a Business Intelligence focused SQl Saturday in Baltimore. I go to these events for a few reasons.
Just a few years ago I didn’t know anything like SQL Saturday existed other than the large, super expensive conferences that my places of employment would never send me to. I started attending the Saturday events, obviously on my own time, and eventually got suckered, I mean asked, to start presenting to a user group. I actually accepted and here I am now, doing podcasts, running my own company and trying to make a go at it all. So far so good…
I think…
I hope….
At SQL Saturday I noticed something very different than what I grew up with happening. In the world of trade skills, the secrets you learn over the years are what make you unique in the industry and can help to escalate you to the higher levels of respect, expertise and pay.
At SQL Saturday, everyone was freely sharing their knowledge and skills.
Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! This is not right! How can you just give away that which makes you more valuable? I couldn’t get my head around it. It was a complete, polar opposite from what I grew up with. I still struggle with it, but as I spend more time with this community, I am getting better with it.
What helped me to really start to understand, was to think of things in a different way. An older way. A way I propose would be worth seriously considering in the data community.
My father held onto his skills, much like a magician keeps their secrets, from the general public and few folks not in the profession that wanted to know how to do things. The people he shared that knowledge with though, were part of an elite group. A group of people vested in their learning of their skills. This group was the Metal Arts Guild of Nova Scotia.
This was a group of people dedicated to helping each other learn the art of metal working. They would get together, share their stories, skill and knowledge, all while having a good time.
Sound great right? Sure it does. This is why I propose “The Data Guild”.
It isn’t anything hard to setup or do. We are doing it already, but just don’t have anything more formal to pull it all together.
The data guild concept is based on the old skillset guilds, some of which still exist. The premise is you are a member of the guild and progress through levels as you spend more time honing your skills.
One of the naming conventions we have for a new DBA has slightly bothered me a little the more I hear it. The Accidental DBA. I get where it comes from. There was no intention of being the DBA, but now you are. Just don’t forget that it was an accident, and not possibly the best thing to happen.
In the world of the data guild, you would be considered, and called, an apprentice DBA.
That sounds a little nicer doesn’t it? I think it does.
As you work on your skills, learning from the journeymen DBAs and master DBAs, you can rise through the ranks and eventually begin to help others as a journeyman and eventual master yourself.
What’s cool about this data guild idea is that you could be an apprentice DBA, but if you had a lot of experience working in business intelligence, maybe you start there as a journeyman or master of BI skills, with an apprentice level of DBA. You don’t have to cram yourself into any one niche, you can stretch across the disciplines and grow in each at different paces.
All of this has been floating around in my head for a while, and I think it has bearing and could become something if we all work together to change how we all think.
We also would get to have cool names for our levels, and a way to tell the world that not only do we care about our skills, but we care about each other in our SQL Family.
And that’s the show! Thanks for listening.
If you have any Questions or suggestions of topics or people to talk to email us at [email protected] or hit me up on twitter at @CBellDBA.
Until next time, keep yourself and your data safe!