Work Life

The Well-Dressed DBA

2010-10-22 By Rob Symonds

You may not be aware of this fact but DBAs (database administrators) are actually world renowned for their impeccable display of sartorial savvy. What the average person knows about fashion would fit nicely within a CHAR(4) field. What the DBA knows about fashion requires a VARCHAR(MAX) field. At least.

(Although the author assumes that many of the excellent recommendations below apply to both male and female DBA alike, he is wrong from time to time, like the time he ~~shrunk~~ let a friend shrink a database, and so will below address the male only.)

We begin at the bottom and work our way to the top… [Read more…] about The Well-Dressed DBA

The Role of Luck in Hiring

2010-03-29 By Rob Symonds

I wrote the other day about some of the reasons why small teams of outstanding people might be more effective than larger teams of average people.

Maybe in a perfect world we could all agree. The rub though is that in practice, finding outstanding people and getting them to work for you can be tricky. [Read more…] about The Role of Luck in Hiring

Small Teams of Outstanding People

2010-03-27 By Rob Symonds

Thumbing through a copy of Revolutionizing IT: The Art of Using Information Technology Effectively, one thing was singled out as a core principle and repeated a couple of times:

A modest number of outstanding people are more valuable than a large number of average ones.

Office Life

2010-03-25 By Rob Symonds

Office life would not be possible without the hard take-offs and landings effected by coffee and alcohol.
@alaindebotton

Amen.