Monday, November 21, 2011

Tips for Networking at Events

Geared for a conference, and made for the Business of Software 2011, this short video gives you some good ideas for networking.

Tips for networking from an 8 year old

Monday, November 14, 2011

Q: Everyone has already written about X, why should I?

I think I get asked this question quite often from people that start blogging, and I’ve tried to cover it in the presentation.

The purpose of your blog, for most of you, is to showcase your skills. It builds your brand and shows that you understand whatever you do in your career.

In the SQL Server world, it doesn’t matter if Books Online, twelve people at Microsoft and 1,452 other people have written about backing up a transaction log, it’s important that you show that you have the skills to make a transaction log backup.

The same thing occurs, whether you’re a CEO, a developer, a plumber, or in any other field. It’s important that I know you have the skills I need.

As a sidebar, if I found a plumber, handyman, electrician, etc. that blogged about their projects and experiences, I’d be much, much more likely to hire them. Why? It’s due diligence for me. Hint to tradesman: Get your spouse or kids to blog about your job if you don’t want to. It will help.

Don’t overthink blog posts. Write about what you’ve learned, or done, or accomplished. No matter how trivial you think it is, it’s important that you showcase those skills.

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Resume Advice from Lifehacker

Not sure I agree with all of it, but there are a few interesting tips here at Lifehacker on making your resume more modern.

I do think typefaces and the display of your resume matter. Look at it from a distance to ensure it's not too crowded.

Monday, November 7, 2011

Where do I tweet? My personal account or a separate one?

This is something I’ve been asked about blogs, Facebook, Twitter, etc. My advice is that you ought to keep a professional brand out there for yourself.

I have two accounts, one for me personally (@way0utwest) and then one for my site (@SQLServerCentrl). The company site definitely gets less time from me than my personal account. I rarely sign on to the company account away from my PC, so it’s hard to maintain.

I’m not sure I’d want a separate account for Twitter for me as a programmer, because it could be hard to maintain, and hard to manage. It would be easy to tweet something from the wrong account.

What I would do is keep my business social media separate from my personal media. Twitter is a blend for me, since I have mostly business friends on there. It evolved that way, and while I post some family/kid things, I do try to remember that the audience is technical people.

For Facebook, and my personal blog, I have set those to be family items. I might cross post to/from this site, but it’s about me, not my work. I have kicked off my Facebook friends that I don’t know personally well, so it’s now a personal site.

LinkedIn is completely business. I don’t connect with friends there, unless we have a business purpose.

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Get Inspired - SQL Inspire 2011 New York

Coming up next week is the SQL Inspire 2011 event in New York City. It’s an event with a number of SQL Server community speakers that are here to inspire you in your career, your life, and with SQL Server. The talks cover a variety of topics, and they look interesting. I am very excited to attend the event, and give my talk as well.

The event is from SQL People, the brainchild of Andy Leonard and Brian Moran, designed to build a stronger community by having us inspire each other. This event is based on the TED events, which are inspirational and informative talks that look to explore new ideas in a variety of topic areas. I have loved watching many of the talks, and while I’m not sure I’m up to the same level of presenting as many of these people, I’m going to try.

Please come if you are in New York on the 12th of November. It will be a lot of fun, and hopefully a very motivational event.