Today, August 1, 2013, marks my one year anniversary as a member of the SQLskills team.\u00a0 Simply put, it\u2019s been a great year.\u00a0 Challenging in many ways, exhausting at times, but absolutely what I wanted (and expected) to be doing in this role.\u00a0 Over the past year I\u2019ve been asked many times, \u201cHow\u2019s your new job?!\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s not-so-new now, but since I didn\u2019t blog much about the non-technical side of life during the past year, I thought I\u2019d use this post to tell you about my new job.\u00a0 Specifically, the five most important things I learned during the past year.<\/p>\n
Talking, out loud, is important<\/strong><\/p>\n Working for SQLskills means I work remotely, therefore I work from home.\u00a0 This was quite an adjustment.\u00a0 I knew it would significantly change the rhythm of each day, but I had no idea what it would look like.\u00a0 I\u2019ve considered writing about it many times, but a few months ago Merrill Aldrich<\/a> wrote a post, Telecommuting, Month 9<\/a>, that explained \u2013 very well \u2013 many of my own thoughts and observations.\u00a0 In the comments my friend Jes Borland<\/a>, who also works from home, clearly articulates one challenge of working remotely.<\/p>\n I found out that what I miss is being able to say, out loud, “I have this idea. What do you think of it?” and getting immediate feedback.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Yes.\u00a0 YES!\u00a0 I love the solitude of my office\u2026having the entire house to myself.\u00a0 Some days I don\u2019t even turn on music or anything for background noise.\u00a0 But when I want to talk about something, I want to talk about it right now<\/i>\u2026out loud (funny sidebar, this video<\/a> makes me laugh\u2026let\u2019s taco \u2018bout it).\u00a0 Trying to discuss ideas over email or chat isn\u2019t the same.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t create the same excitement, or the cross-pollination of ideas that occurs during a true conversation.\u00a0 As Joe says, \u201cit\u2019s where the magic happens.\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s true.<\/p>\n Half the battle is realizing the problem.\u00a0 The other half is figuring out what to do about it.\u00a0 I make notes about what I want to discuss, and then fire off an email or set up a WebEx.\u00a0 Jon and I have had numerous late night WebEx sessions where we talk through something, and suddenly at 1 AM I find myself with a litany of post-it notes spread across my desk and ideas churning in my head.\u00a0 I love those moments.\u00a0 They are not as organic or spontaneous as they were in an office setting, but I can still make them happen with a little effort.<\/p>\n When theory meets execution<\/strong><\/p>\n SQL Server is a vast product, and many of us have seen and done a lot\u2026but we haven\u2019t seen and done everything<\/i>.\u00a0 As such, there are scenarios and tasks that we\u2019ve read about, that make sense, but we haven\u2019t actually walked through on our own.\u00a0 We know what\u2019s required to set up an availability group.\u00a0 We have the checklist, the steps are logical, we can estimate how long it will take, and we\u2019ve read every supporting blog post and technical article we can find.\u00a0 But I\u2019ve yet to find anything that replaces the actual execution of the task.\u00a0 In some cases, what\u2019s expected is actually what happens.\u00a0 And that\u2019s a wonderful thing.\u00a0 But there are other times where what is planned is not <\/i>what occurs.\u00a0 I like this quote I just read in Bob Knight’s book, The Power of Negative Thinking<\/a>:<\/p>\n Don’t be caught thinking something is going to work just because you think<\/em> it’s going to work.<\/p>\n Planning beats repairing.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Theory and execution are not always same \u2013 it\u2019s certainly nice when they are and when the implementation goes as planned.\u00a0 But don\u2019t rely on it.\u00a0 Ultimately, practice and preparation are required to consistently ensure success.<\/p>\n Nothing can replace experience<\/strong><\/p>\n If you\u2019ve worked in technology a while, you know that a core skill is troubleshooting.\u00a0 And to be good at troubleshooting, you must have an approach, a methodology that you follow as you work through an issue.\u00a0 But to be really good at troubleshooting, you also need to recognize patterns.<\/p>\n I came into this role with many years of experience troubleshooting database issues.\u00a0 But I spent the majority of that time looking at the same database, across different customer installations (if you don\u2019t know my background, I used to work for a software vendor and as part of my job I supported the application database).\u00a0 I became familiar with the usual database-related problems, and knew how to quickly identify and fix them.\u00a0 We typically call this pattern matching, and I found it well explained in this excerpt from The Sports Gene<\/a>, where it\u2019s defined as \u201cchunking.\u201d\u00a0 From the article:<\/p>\n \u2026 rather than grappling with a large number of individual pieces, experts unconsciously group information into a smaller number of meaningful chunks based on patterns they have seen before.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n In the past year I\u2019ve seen a lot of new patterns.\u00a0 And some days were extremely frustrating because I would look at a problem, get stuck, and then ask another member of team to look at the issue with me.\u00a0 It was usually Jon, who would often look at the issue for a couple minutes and then say, \u201cOh it\u2019s this.\u201d\u00a0 It was infuriating.\u00a0 And I would ask Jon how he knew that was the problem.\u00a0 And the first time I asked him I think he thought I was questioning whether he was right.\u00a0 But in fact, I just wanted to know how<\/i> he figured it out so quickly.\u00a0 His response?\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ve seen it before.\u00a0 Well maybe not this exact thing, but something similar.\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s pattern matching.\u00a0 It\u2019s chunking.\u00a0 It\u2019s experience.\u00a0 You cannot read about it.\u00a0 You cannot talk about it.\u00a0 You just have to go get it.\u00a0 And be patient.<\/p>\n I have a great team<\/strong><\/p>\n I actually have two great teams: my team at work and my team at home.\u00a0 I work with individuals who are experts in the SQL Server Community.\u00a0 Their support is unwavering.\u00a0 Their willingness to help knows no limits.\u00a0 I am always appreciative for the time and the knowledge they share, and I am proud to not just work with them, but to call them friends.\u00a0 To the SQLskills team: thank you for a fantastic first year \u2013 I look forward to what\u2019s ahead!\u00a0 (And happy birthday Glenn!)<\/p>\n My team at home is Team Stellato: my husband Nick <\/a>and my two kids.\u00a0 The first year of any job is an adventure, and for me there\u2019s a lot of overhead \u2013 a lot of thought around what I\u2019m doing, what I need to finish, what\u2019s next, etc.\u00a0 And much of that continues when I\u2019m not at my desk.\u00a0 I haven\u2019t always been 100% present this past year and over last 12 months I\u2019ve said, I don\u2019t know how many times, that I\u2019m still figuring it out.\u00a0 And I am still<\/i> figuring it out.\u00a0 It\u2019s hard to balance everything.\u00a0 It\u2019s hard to stay in the moment all the time.\u00a0 I firmly believe I can do it, but I also believe I can do it better than I\u2019m doing it today.\u00a0 Thank you Nick for just being you \u2013 being supportive, understanding, and patient, and for making me laugh.\u00a0 We\u2019ll get there.\u00a0 And thank you to my kids for trying to understand that being at home and being available aren\u2019t always the same thing.\u00a0 This year I will do better at being present during our time.<\/p>\n Make time for the gym<\/strong><\/p>\n The last item to mention is something I need to be successful, but it may not be necessary for everyone.\u00a0 It\u2019s exercise.\u00a0 It seems pretty straight-forward, right?\u00a0 For some reason it\u2019s a continual battle I fight in my head.\u00a0 I don\u2019t always have enough hours in the day to get done what I want to get done, so something has to give.\u00a0 I\u2019m very quick to sacrifice a run, a spin class, or a hot yoga session.\u00a0 My though process is: \u201cI will need 30\/60\/90 minutes for that workout.\u00a0 That\u2019s time I could spend working\/hanging out with my family\/having lunch with a friend.\u201d\u00a0 But when I give up that work out multiple days in a row, my mental and emotional health suffer\u2026more than my physical health.\u00a0 A work out clears my head \u2013 solutions come faster, ideas flow easier, I am more focused when I need to be \u2013 and it reduces my stress.\u00a0 It\u2019s ironic if you think about it\u2026making time to work out introduces this stress (\u201cCan I do everything?!\u201d) but the act of working out makes everything else I need to do so much easier.\u00a0 And it\u2019s not about how far I run, or how many classes I get to in a week.\u00a0 It\u2019s the workout itself \u2013 whether it\u2019s an intense 50 minutes of spin, a 1.5 mile run while the kids bike, or an hour in the yoga studio.<\/p>\n Year 2 and beyond<\/strong><\/p>\n So, how\u2019s my new job?\u00a0 It\u2019s great.\u00a0 In many ways it is exactly what I expected, and in other ways it\u2019s not \u2013 and that\u2019s not a bad thing.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t anticipate every challenge I would have in working from home, but I am not afraid of them, nor do I think they\u2019re unconquerable.\u00a0 I have learned how to step back and critically look at where I am in my career, and evaluate what\u2019s working well and what isn\u2019t.\u00a0 And this<\/em> is working well.\u00a0 It\u2019s hard \u2013 hard because I am learning\u00a0<\/i>a ton and juggling many things, and that can be exhausting.\u00a0 But I wouldn\u2019t want it any other way.\u00a0 I hate to be bored!\u00a0 I absolutely love working with people who know so much, because it reminds me how much there is to know and what I can learn.\u00a0 It is a fantastic motivator for me.\u00a0 And the SQLskills team is fun.\u00a0 A little weird at times \ud83d\ude42 but very fun and extremely supportive.\u00a0 I cannot explain the importance of that, for me, enough.\u00a0 And so begins year 2, let’s see what adventures this brings…IE0<\/a> anyone?!!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Today, August 1, 2013, marks my one year anniversary as a member of the SQLskills team.\u00a0 Simply put, it\u2019s been a great year.\u00a0 Challenging in many ways, exhausting at times, but absolutely what I wanted (and expected) to be doing in this role.\u00a0 Over the past year I\u2019ve been asked many times, \u201cHow\u2019s your new […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,35],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n