T-SQL Tuesday #163 – What is the best piece of Career Advice you ever received

This month, Gethyn Ellis (T | L | B) invites us to write about the best career advice ever received.

To be honest, I’ve got two that are linked together in a way.

First

When I was 22, graduated and out of a job, a distant uncle suggested me to look into IT. His son was working in it, had no trouble getting a job and enjoyed it to the fullest. At that point in time, I was too stubborn to let go of my then current career path and kept trying to find a job in human resources. That failed miserable but, much later, for a good reason. The advice lingered for a number of years and at some point, things clicked and I ended up working with data.

And when you are, at some point you find that more knowledge is needed. So you start to read and/or attend conferences and precons.

Second.

When I attended a precon by Brent Ozar, he suggested to start blogging. He made that suggestion to the entire class, but reinforced it when I dared to talk to him at the end of the precon in 2018. This suggestion was a massive piece of advice. Not only forced this advice me into digging deeper into tech to create a blog post to explain stuff, it changed my way of thinking. Everything I read, not only did I try it out but I also wanted to understand more of what was happening in the background. I’m no Hugo Kornelis who digs into the deepest trenches of the SQL engine, but I’m not happy with just the top layer of ‘ooeers, it’s shiny and works’.

With writing blogs, my quality of work improved because I dug deeper into techy stuff. It also worked as a starting point for my speaking career. Something that hugely improved me both professionally and as a human being.

Now I won’t say that every blog I’ve written is a shiny diamond you cannot miss. And every blog I’ve written has missed chances to dig a little bit deeper to make it even more interesting. But I do have a full-time day job as well. And a family. This means for me, at some point I’m declaring it being good enough. And usually read other peoples blog with awe who are digging much deeper.

My advice to you would be, if you’re not already writing blogs, to start doing so. Don’t think that you’re writing what countless others have written as well. Maybe it’s true, but no-one else has written it from your personal point of view, your experience. And if one person reads your blog that makes them finish their day on time, instead of working late, it’s worth it. And who knows what other great stuff it might lead to!

Thanks for reading and happy blogging!