Lately I’ve been wanting to write more about the things that I do on a daily basis, but I’m not really a fan of what I do by day so I’ve been hesitant to actually talk about it. By day I’m a dying Informix database administrator and a thriving SQL Server database administrator. Some would say, “You’re a whaaaa????”, if that’s you then lets just say I do computer stuff and leave it at that. Because of this swing in my day job I’m being forced into the Windows world more than I’d like to be. I can do just about anything with shell scripts and Perl, but using those on the Windows platform is exercise in frustration. So today I’m left flopping around in SSIS and T-SQL and for a few things I’ve tried C# or PowerShell. (As an aside, I’m kind of a fan of C# but not for scripting since it’s NOT a scripting language and I haven’t spent enough time in PowerShell to know if it’s awesome, just short of awesome or just plain sucks.)
In simple terms, I feel like used to drive a BMW 6 Series(Informix), but now I’m driving a BMW 3 Series(SQL Server) and I’m supposed to like it. I know that SQL Server has a much larger install base than Informix so my potential employment pool is much larger now, but there’s something really nice about being a part of an elite group of talented Informix DBA’s. As a SQL Server DBA I have become highly skilled, but even then there are many really amazing SQL Server DBA’s and there are so many crappy ones too that it’s could take a very long time to differentiate myself from everyone else. I find this to be demotivating, maybe I’m just getting old and lack the drive to make a name for myself. (There’s probably another posts worth of material just in that last sentence.)
Microsoft builds software that doesn’t require a tremendous amount of expertise to run. SQL Server is a great testimony to this, just install it and just start using it. Because of it’s simplicity anyone can call themselves a SQL Server DBA which adds to my concern that there are a lot of people who call themselves SQL Server DBA’s. In reality I’d bet that over half of those “DBA’s” are experts in their field, i.e. people who really understand the engine, how it works, how it doesn’t work and how to eek out the most performance from it. Placing ones self in that elite group of SQL DBA’s is the challenge.
The flip side to Microsofts software that just works is the software it builds that doesn’t work worth a damn. SSIS is a testament to that, I have found more limitations in that piece of shit software than in any other utility program that I’ve ran across. Basically if they didn’t say you can do “X” then you can’t do it or if you manage to find a workaround it’s the most convoluted mess of code you’ve hopefully ever created.
So in a nutshell, I don’t like Microsoft and I don’t like the software it makes. I don’t like that I have to use it on a daily basis and that I don’t get to work with better technologies like Ruby, Rails, Perl or shell scripts. I want to talk about those technologies but struggle to find the time to take deep dives into them because of my day job and requirements as a father, husband and business owner. I think I’d write more if I could spend more time on the technologies that I love. That’s my point.