Jorge Segarra began his database career as many others have – he was the classic accidental DBA. He had recently graduated from college and in one of his web development classes used SQL Server 2000 and that was it.

Fortunately his work ‘was extremely basic’ so he was shown the basics of backups, recovery and the occasional DBCC CHECKDB session in order to appease the spirit of Paul Randal that surely lived within the code.

The last two years have seen Jorge increasingly involved in the SQL community. He was asked to co-author a book on Policy-Based Management with Ken Simmons and Colin Stasiuk and has created and organized a community-based blogging project called SQL University which brings bloggers from all over the globe to help educate newcomers to the SQL Server world.

RM:

Would you say your career path to becoming a DBA is a fairly classic one?

JS:

For a long time I thought my future lay in web development. Even during college I thought I would become a web developer of some sort. I was actually formerly introduced to SQL Unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to get exposed to enough .NET or JAVA (which were the two languages in demand) and I wound up taking a position as a desktop technician after graduation.

Due to my diverse IT background and education, however, my manager begged me to become the backup SQL Server DBA in our company so I was the archetypal accidental DBA. Fortunately our environment was extremely basic so I was shown the basics of backups, recovery and the occasional DBCC CHECKDB session in order to appease the spirit of Paul Randal that surely lived within the code. At the time, SQL Server 2005 was just about to come out and I wanted to learn all about this new product as well as some of the cool stuff I thought I’d never deal with like partitioning, SSIS, and a whole slew of other goodies. It was then that I discovered my local SQL user group (Tampa Bay SQL Server User Group) and started plugging into the community. I became hooked! The community was amazing and there was so much knowledge out there waiting to be tapped into and eagerly waiting to be shared.

As time went on I moved on to another company where I was able expand on my skillsets in a larger environment. Since then the learning has never stopped and I’m always looking for the next challenge in the SQL world.

The last two years have also seen a great deal of personal growth as I’ve become more and more involved in the SQL community. I’ve had the honour and great fortune of being asked to co-author a book and I’ve created and organized a community-based blogging project.

On the local front I’ve assisted Pam Shaw in running the Tampa Bay SQL Server User Group as well as helped her in organizing our SQLSaturday event in Tampa this past year. Five years ago when I started this journey I never would have imagined I’d be where I am now.

RM:

Do you think the kind of people who can be successful DBAs has changed, and is becoming a DBA more of a career choice than an accident?

JS:

From my perspective I think what it takes to be a truly successful and exceptional DBA has changed. The SQL Server platform has grown quite a bit, especially in the last few releases. In addition to knowing and understanding the regular duties of a DBA, one is expected to know, or at least familiarize yourself with parts of the BI stack such as SSIS, SSAS, SSRS, SharePoint, etc.

In regards to the career path I’ve seen many, many instances, including my own, where becoming a DBA has become an accidental career path however as the SQL Server community continues to grow and people see what a great network is out there I think people are starting to come to a decision early that being a DBA is a definite career choice.

RM:

Do you enjoy the job as much as you did when you were staring out? Are there parts of it that you just don’t enjoy any more? And what do you get a big kick out of doing?

JS:

It sounds corny but I really do love this more with each passing day. At first I liked it because it was a new challenge for me to tackle but once I got plugged into the SQL community my passion for it went through the roof. This community really is one of the greatest tech communities out there and I’m so proud to be a part of it. One of the biggest joys for me is helping others learning how awesome this technology is and what a great community of resources is out there to help you do your best. Be it through my SQL University project on my blog, the #sqlhelp hashtag on twitter, blogging, or speaking and networking at SQLSaturday events it’s always a huge rush when you help someone out of a jam.

RM:

Take me through your typical day at work; if there can be a typical day at work?

JS:

Well, I’m about to transition from a full-time DBA to a Business Intelligence consultant for PragmaticWorks but even so there’s no typical day at work.

My current job is a bit different as I’m a contact DBA at a bank right now. My role there is to be the primary DBA resource for projects from planning to production. Once the project goes to production I hand over the DBA duties to the full-time DBA staff at the bank. It’s an interesting position as I’ve learned a lot about the complexities of the financial system and working for a Fortune 100 company whose employees are spread across the globe.

RM:

Are there skills apart from programming that you think DBAs should develop?

JS:

I’d advise everyone to network. I’m not talking about the Cisco kind either. As a DBA you’re going to end up talking with people including customers, managers, CIO’s etc. I think one of the key elements of success is building up networks and building up relationships whether they’re internal or external to your company.

For instance build a good relationship with your SAN administrators and your system administrators. You know your kingdom and they know theirs but sometimes viewpoints may not match. It’s important to understand the different pieces of the puzzle and be able to communicate needs and concerns effectively. Nobody likes the guy that says “you can’t do that” with no reasoning whatsoever.

RM:

You recently set up SQL University, what are its aims are and how you see its future?

JS:

SQL University came out of my experiences with SQLSaturday events. SQLSaturday are free all-day SQL-focused training events held by user groups all around the nation/world. These events are absolutely fantastic training and networking opportunities for data professionals on all levels. While the content was amazing the one thing I noticed was a distinct lack of tracks/sessions aimed at the absolute beginner.

I decided to try and fill this void out via blog postings first, with the hopes that eventually if this became successful we could add a dedicated beginner’s track to SQLSaturday events. SQL University is a series of blog posts aimed at someone looking to break into the vast SQL Server field and get learning from the ground up directly from the pros. The program is setup like a collegiate/educational scheduling program as I figured most people would be familiar with the setup. Each week there is a different focus topic (i.e. PowerShell, Administration, Business Intelligence, etc.) that is taught by a different blogger, which we refer to as professors. Each professor posts 2-3 articles during their allotted week much like you’d attend a class in college at the same rate. In addition to the regular classes we have Tom LaRock posting every week as well. He’s our “coach” and his posts provide more coaching on the week’s topic as well as exercises and resources the students can turn to in order to help hone their skills further in that particular topic.

So far the project has been great and I absolutely love the community support behind it! We’ve completed 2 semesters worth of work so far with the next semester being planned out now as well as an e-book being compiled of all the content produced so far so that students are able to get to all of this amazing content in one place or on-the-go. It’s an extremely exciting project and I love it so far!

RM:

You co-authored Pro SQL Server 2008 Policy-Based Management Becoming a writer is an ambition lots of people have. How did you become a published writer? Was it a natural progression for you?

JS:

Funnily enough I hadn’t planned on pursuing writing for at least another couple of years. I knew that was a goal I definitely had in mind but I was still working on building up my writing skills via my blog.

The writing opportunity was presented to me by Ken Simmons (Microsoft SQL Server MVP) as he saw I was actively presenting in the community on the topic of Policy-Based Management. He had approached Apress about doing a book on the topic and Ken approached me and Colin Stasiuk to help co-author the book. The rest, as they say, is history!

RM:

You obviously write a lot and care about good writing. Do you find writing prose and writing code are similar mental exercises? I think it was Dijkstra that said if you’re no good at English you’ll never be a good programmer. Do you think that’s a good summary?

JS:

I think they’re very different. To me code-writing is more akin to puzzle building and writing prose is more like a mental dump (well at least on my blog anyway). I wouldn’t say that if you’re not good at English you’ll never be a good programmer. Language aside, I think it just really depends on how your personal logical thought process works.

RM:

Is there a sharp contrast to writing software which is for a computer to writing for humans? Don Knuth says when you’re writing code you’re writing as much for human readers as for the computer. Is that true in your case?

JS:

This hasn’t really applied to me so much as I’ve been mainly an operational DBA to this point. Since I didn’t really need to write for anyone per se I’d put in a pterodactyl into some of my stored procedures for kicks.

In my new role as a BI developer I will definitely be cognisant of the fact that I’ll be writing for other people and need to not only write clean code but be sure to document accordingly. When programming I think the Golden Rule definitely applies as you’d probably appreciate it if the legacy code handed to you were nicely formatted and commented for you to troubleshoot.

RM:

You’re an active member of the PASS Professional Development Virtual Chapter. Can you tell me a little about what that involves and what you do?

JS:

The Professional Development Virtual Chapter (http://prof-dev.sqlpass.org) focuses on presenting content for DBAs/Developers that helps them to focus on developing their professional development skills. This term is rather broad and we cover lots of topics such as career building, networking, leadership, personal branding, teamwork, public speaking/presenting, etc. I just recently stepped down as chapter leader and that role has now been taken over by Mark Caldwell.

RM:

How important do you think working as a community or network is to your work? Could you exist without it?

JS:

I think it’s an absolutely vital skill, which is one of the reasons I became active with the Professional Development Virtual Chapter in the first place. For me, I’ve actually gotten to the point where the community is almost an extension of me when I work. I “plugged-in” to the community via Twitter and am able to connect, learn and share with folks all around the world in near real-time.

In addition to the virtual connections I’m active in several local user groups and attend many events in either a speaking or attendee capacity. Continuing to build relationships with others in your field becomes key, not only in the job search situations, but also in times when you need to ping ideas and solutions off someone else. Some shops the designated DBA are the only database resource in the company and even they may not have the necessary knowledge at the time for a given problem. This is where a vibrant and extremely helpful community becomes so vital and rewarding.

RM:

How do you see your career panning out? Do you have a master plan and where you want to be in say, five years time?

JS:

My career path is going better than I ever dreamed! In my short time I’ve become an active community member, user group leader, published author, regional mentor and now I’m going to work for a company I’ve long looked up to with a bunch of guys that I never dreamed I’d work with, let alone consider friends! As for my master plan, besides ruling the Earth, I’d like to eventually take on a CIO-type role somewhere but that’s a little further out than five years. I’d like to complete a certification track on the BI stack as well as maybe write another book or two.

RM:

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve received in your career which you think would help other DBAs?

JS:

Plug in to the community. I was lucky and engaged with the SQL community early on in my career and it has made all the difference. I’ve seen and heard many stories where people who are new to the community and yet have been in the field for years are blown away by what a difference it makes, especially since the SQL community is so amazingly helpful! Many folks are either accidental DBA’s or the only one within their department or organization. This situation tends to make people feel as if they’re alone when the reality is you’re not. We’re all out here, waiting to connect with you and help you out in whatever way you need. The key is to just get started and connect! There are so many ways to do this either by joining and attending your local user group meetings, attending PASS virtual chapter meetings, or via the social networks like Twitter or LinkedIn.