Dev Blog

Thanks to Argenis Fernandez for hosting this month.

A Random Start

I’ve had an interesting (I hope) experience in my career this far. I started out, working in a Pharmacy.. It was back there that I wrote my first computer program, well actually it was at college, but it was for them. Many eons ago, back in the early 90’s, I’d been learning Pascal at college, and things are easier to learn, if you have an aim, so I wrote a program to assist will the filling in of paperwork. It worked, and it was good. It stored data in a pipe-delimited file, rather than any kind of database. Not good, for many reasons, but it was only a single user application, and didn’t have a huge amount of data.

Know your limits…

After that, I went to university, where they tried to teach me C++, assembly and Haskell. They failed with assembly and Haskell, though the theory is still there. C++ I love, and keep going back to. In fact, with any luck, you may see me present on it at DDD Southwest in May, and at DevEvening in April… Sadly, while I do enjoy C++, I’m not good enough to do that as a career, and I don’t think I’d enjoy it as much if it was my bread+butter.

Part of the Degree I did (Computer Systems, since you asked) included a year work placement. I did this at a small IT Company, where I worked on the Support Desk. This was a pretty small company, so while I did Application support for customers, I also managed the internal infrastructure, created their website and a few other bits. It was a great experience and I really enjoyed it. So much so, that I went back there to do consultancy after I’d completed the degree.

While I was there, I learnt Windows NT, Visual Basic, Btrieve and had my first introductions to SQL Server (6.5 and 7). It was also here that I took my first Microsoft Certifications, covering Windows NT, SQL Server and assorted Networking topics.

Know when it’s time to move

After four years, I was starting to feel claustrophobic, and needed more of a challenge. At the start of 2000, I moved on, and went to work for a Siebel Consultancy. This was a big change, as while I’d done some consultancy work before, I really had to up my game. Not a bad thing, and I really found my feet with Siebel as it was based on SQL Server, and had the ability to have custom components written in Siebel VB or eScript.

More Certifications

After a great couple of years, with big Siebel implementations, including a great system linking Siebel to SAP, via XML integrations (my first real experience with enterprise-grade XML), the Siebel market for us dropped off after Oracle bought Siebel ($5.8 Billion!).

I then moved my skills to Microsoft CRM, starting with V1.2 (unpleasant), then v3.0 (much better), and also SharePoint, all of which had associated MS Certifications which I completed, and all of which were based on SQL Server.

Try to see the Obvious…

At some point, and I can’t remember when, I realised that I’d been working with SQL Server, for over 12 years, and now it’s nearing 15. I hadn’t really noticed.

For the past two years I’ve been working as a Consultant, building Data Warehouses primarily, though I also do some C# for SQL CLR work, and C++ for fun. I’ve done a ridiculous number of Certifications (mostly Microsoft) and, my motivation is to get validation of my skills. I’m working on the MCM: SQL Server certification at the moment, and have the final Lab exam in May.

What Next ?

I don’t know. I’m pretty sure there will be SQL Server involved though. Fortunately the new version of SQL Server is out now, so the new Certifications will be out soon, and that’ll keep me occupied for a while.

From reading this though, the one thing that strikes me, is that I’ve been very lucky to be in a career that keeps my brain occupied. If there are less taxing times, then I have C++ to stretch the grey matter.

One other thing; I’ve also found that it is good to keep pushing yourself. Always try to work just outside your comfort zone. If everything is easy, then you need to push yourself more.

To end, a couple of thoughts from wiser people than me.