I didn’t participate this year – but I would probably have something to say learn more about the cloud, spend a lot more time looking at your own feet/hands and ahead a bit and don’t worry so much about the things that scare you. Be curious and explore.
This recap is pretty late so there is another totally unrelated note to me that sort of explains my delay here. I had to travel shortly after the post was released but I was just going to work on the post in some of the downtime in Oxford as we were picking our daughter up – but I both underestimated the downtime and I didn’t yet know this one piece of advice: “Someday, your neurologist (I have MS – it’s being managed quite well so far with a great therapy that does a depletion of a very specific type of immune cell this will be important in a minute in this run on sentence) will tell you that you really really ought to consider the shingles vaccine since you’ve had chickenpox and your Ocrevus increases the risk of shingles – so much so that you can have it covered under insurance even thoough you are under 50. Don’t scoff at it – you apparently are a whimp and Shingles really, really suck.” In fact, that’s a lesson to you all – when you are 50, go ahead and get that shingles vaccine (unless you’ve had the chicken pox vaccine and never got chickenpox). The pain started a week before we traveled, bad enough to go to the ER – but it was nothing they could pinpoint – then the rash started while in Oxford (Thank you John Radcliffe Hospital for the great care, though I sort of made it an easy diagnosis). The tingles, shocks, and deep muscle spasms is just now really subsiding to the point that I think I’ve taken my last gabapentin. That’s my free tip – but I am not a doctor and my EMS licenses are long since lapsed – so consult your doctor before following the medical advice from some guy on the internet.
NOW TO THE RECAPs
This is really just in the order I opened the posts up in my tabs. Please click over to each one and read it – there were some great thoughts here. You can see the original prompt here if you must – but each post will share the prompt again for you 🙂
Mike Lynn my friend and colleague on the same team as I am(I only had his first because I had the wrong link for the original prompt on above) had some notes to and from himself about family, health, and to pay attention to Microsoft’s moves with Postgres. (Good advice, Mike 😉 )
My old friend Rob Farley (ask him about the repeat times I’ve stupidly locked him out of the room when he and I roomed together at PASS and maybe MVP Summit.. Muscle memory is real!) posted some really sage wisdom here. This one resonated with me a LOT with the things on my plate and ideas in my head and fears in my head. He gave me peace with the advice to a younger Rob to ride the waves and don’t let the small ones toss him too much (I still need that one today.) And I think his future self telling him to ignore the pain and go to his open mic is a realization of what matters and how important what we decide to do is. Stop reading my ramblings. Go read his post.
Lee Brownhill shared some fun ones on the first “retrospective” kind of post that I gave a nod to in the invite. I’m really glad you came and shared, Lee. That note to yourself about imposter syndrome is good. Stung a bit reading – I think a lot of what I’ve done – and maybe still do – at times is to fight that – and that means I made some choices of where to put the “work thing” and the “home thing” that were completely backwards at times. Read the rest of his post yourself – it’s good stuff.
I was excited when I saw that Haripriya Naidu was sharing – I love her posts – and if you have not had the opportunity to see her speak at a session, go attend one. I’ll be here waiting for my thank you. So many great things in her post – and I like how she organized the list – I won’t steal her thunder – and all the points hit the nail on the head – this one is worthy of a what may be my first pull quote below. Go read the rest. And speak up.
Stop overthinking and speak up in meetings about what you know. You don’t have to be an expert.
I used to think I should only speak up in meetings if I knew everything and that the people who talked were experts (what a joke!).
Another old (she’s not old, I mean the friendship is old 😉 ) friend is Mala Mahadevan – she is really so encouraging, so on it, and she works hard for our little data community with all she does to volunteer. She has a lot of great thoughts on any number of topics. And many of hers made me literally pause while reading. Here’s one that hit really close to home for me. “I wish you understood that if all you share with someone are conversations about community politics and tech, that relationship probably won’t last.” Go read her post and take some of the lessons she is giving to herself. Thanks for sharing, Mala.
One of the most likable people I know is Andy Yun, and his post was great as expected. That first point is worth reading, re-reading, re-re-reading, and doing it again and again. There is an entire SERIES of posts in that one post, Andy. There is a pre-con in it. Business value matters. The soft skills matter – understanding and articulating the business value is where our ideas are able to see light – and it’s how we become more valuable to our clients and to the data we serve. THANK YOU. Go read his post NOW. (And then reach out to me – once you can do that consistently – you are a consultant and maybe we’ll be hiring someday again 😉 Consulting is maybe 1/3 technical skills, 1/3 business therapist, 1/3 communicating what matters most and 1/4 math skills 😉 )
I paused just a bit before reading my friend from PASS Prayers, Steve Hughes‘ post – if you know Steve, you know him as a really positive man, who has been dealt a really bad blow – but has done so.much.good with it for an entire community of people. Ten years, as he points out in his post, is a long time when you are diagnosed with ALS. Take the position of introspection that his life wisdom, combined with his fighting (and being fought by) ALS, led to the post. I will not excerpt anything except for the bottom bit – “My advice to everyone is to follow your passions and find enjoyment in your career. Seek counsel from many different perspectives in your pursuit.”
And if you’d like to see more about the journey Steve and his family are on with his diagnosis and full-time disability, please visit their Data on Wheels site. Subscribe and follow along. Steve – thank you so much for taking the time to share. You encourage me in ways I could never fully express.
Chad Callihan shares some advice that sounds a little familiar to advice I’ve needed at so many stages.. To his old self? Calm down on the anxiety on that new role (but I bet you are like me, Chad, you wouldn’t listen anyway 😉 ) – it will turn out fine. Learn. Grow. And he has some interesting thoughts on AI – read them for yourself in his post. Thanks for sharing, Chad, I’ll be watching your blog now.
Everyone’s favorite SQL (Sorry Data!) Community guy Andy Levy shared a note that he would indeed survive his first presentation and encouraged himself to keep posting. A really good nod to discipline there, “one post a month written at least” – discipline is good. (And what a tip to not speak at your own events – I can’t imagine juggling hosting a SQL Saturday AND presenting – after organizing a couple of them myself.. Crazy indeed.) I like his sober views on AI. Check it out!
Jeff Mlakar came back – his was one of the ones I enjoyed reading a LOT from the earlier T-SQL Tuesday I referenced in the invite. He had a refreshing take on the imposter syndrome thing. You are! And it’s okay! But read it to see what he means. And I love the tension between taking risks – but balancing them with the increased responsibiltiy as we get older. I ABSOLUTELY LOVE how Jeff took the AI fear that I was telegraphing in my prompt and expanded mightily on it – with some actionable steps to take and do – and some traits to groom in yourself. This is a masterclass of a post for any stage of your career that intersects with data/ai in any way. Stop what you are doing and read it.
Andy Brownsword let the topic eat away at him for a week while he worked out his responses. Love the encouragement for starting that blog (We’re glad you started it also – you have quite a lot of posts on quite a lot of topics – and I’m glad I found your blog through submitting – I’ll be watching it now 🙂 ) . I like his reassurance to trust the process, let the dominoes do their thing while you focus on what you are good at – it turns out the “what ifs” solve themselves. And they do. And most of them weren’t the same weight we braced for. Good call out to picking a single skill, like, oh , maybe SQL Server reporting services – there’s some good wisdom there – like your portfolio – diversify. I like his take on the state of AI in the future – but you have to read it from him to say the rest. And yes, it may very well be a bit bumpy – but see his own thoughts about dominoes and what-ifs. 🙂
Courtney Woolum takes all the energy of the questions into two potent paragraphs and one sentence that has my stomach grumbling now with no way to satisfy it. I think the reminder of – sometimes you have to leave, even if it’s a pay cut, even if you think it’s the worst move – is a really important one. Her potent post is a really good reminder that our guts should be listened to (except right now I have no Snickers nearby – and I’m on day two of trying to be better 😉 How many times have I said that one 😉 ). THANK YOU FOR YOUR POST, COURTNEY.
I really did not intend on bookmarking the posts with two coworkers – but I did – Jeff Iannucci over at Desert DBA (not Dessert DBA, it turns out.. Two Ss = Strawberry Shortcut = equals something yummy to eat… One S = Sand = Something gritty you try and avoid eating when you bring a sandwich to the beach.) He hits the nail on the head with a post that goes well with the Andy Yun one above. SOFT SKILLS – they matter. Though he said written communication, Grammarly is yelling at me all over this post. I love that he included Curiosity also. I’m not going to read any of those out to you – it’s worth your time, attention, and brain cycles. Go read his post. And see my note about the Snickers – see Jeff – I’m already taking care of my physical health. We get one chunk of years to spin around on this rocky and watery sphere – put on your own masks and all that stuff. Excellent thoughts here, Jeff. I appreciate it even more on the re-read here without any pain meds, making the words dance. Go read his post.
As Porky Pig used to tell me before the bowlers came on TV as a kid, I believe, I believe th-th-that’s all folks!.
(If I neglected to include your post – it was because you didn’t comment with the link and the track back didn’t pick it up – I scanned LinkedIn looking to make sure I didn’t miss any and I don’t believe I did – but if I did – shame me publicly and I’ll add yours below this with my heartfelt apoloiges.)
Thank you all for sharing. Thank you Steve Jones for keeping this going. And don’t forget to visit the T-SQL Tuesday site to inquire about hosting. Just not before you travel and plan on getting the shingles. But we already talked about it – you are getting the vaccine, right? right?
Deb Melkin
Look at that – I forgot one! And hers was one of the first ones I read on LinkedIn – but that post was from so long ago that MS 365 Office was still called MS 365 Office. But now she gets the benefit of the headings I should have done at the start here 🙂
Deb Melkin shared another great post. First off, I like how your note starts off so friendly to yourself – and yes yes yes! Start the blog 2015, Deborah! It is a great blog to read. And start speaking – I bet your sessions are going to kick serious butt (they have and they do :)). For my tardiness here, let’s use that pullquote button again for this one that ends her recap to her past self – because it’s very true – in many areas of life(I guess I can only have one pull quote – which, if I paid more attention somewhere along the way would make total sense – so Deb, you are laying down “verse” here):
Take advantage of the opportunities in front of you and trust that you know what you’re doing.
Deborah – THANK YOU FOR SHARING – sorry for missing you – and if I didn’t miss someone else who never pinged back or commented – one little teaser from your note from the future is worth ending the post on even:
“…. you’re going to do just fine …. ”
(dear reader – you will too, but only if you go and read their posts.)
So my first note to my 5 minutes ago self from my right now self (visions of space balls come to mind) is “don’t try and be all newspaper editor like and just Bold the “celebrities names” – it turns out when you use more than one paragraph at a time and try and not put all the names first – it’s a bit harder to see whose post is whose.. Just use bullets or headings….