Author Archives: diligentdba

As most people reading this would know…the PASS organization is in a state of crisis now following the decision to go virtual. We are in a place where we are obligated to get very high attendance #s for the virtual summit, or risk going under if not. While on the face of it this seems like a financial crisis, I believe that is only one aspect of what it is..some of these wounds have been festering a long time and now broken open and gone septic. Many people have written posts on the financial part/association with C&C. I don’t have a head for accounts and am not going there. I will address what it means to be a PASS volunteer and what it has come to mean, over time.

Being a volunteer is hard, thankless work. When I started my sql saturdays at Louisville, I was the only person on the team with community association. I had volunteers, but they were people who would do what they were told to do, not the ones handling money or doing other publicity for it. I did this almost 100 percent on my own for 8 years, after which two dear friends who are community members came in and started to take over. I was burned out and tired to the bone doing it although I got many valuable contacts from doing it. I was also co running my user group at the same time, with similar challenges. I’ve also done plenty of other volunteering with PASS over the past 20 years that have helped me grow as a person, and helped enormously with my career. BUT it has also shaped my thinking a certain way, that seems a little dated for today’s world. My thinking and my rules/values by default run as below.
1 You have to work and contribute a lot to be seen. I mentally associate this with actual grunt work, significant hours, running around, searching for speakers, sponsors, presenting, helping and coaching people and such. So anyone who is newer and wanting recognition typically get this line from me – to pick up and do something and keep doing it a while until you are seen as worthy/respectable/sincere volunteer.
2 You have to support the organization at some level even if you disagree with their decision making. Like, a ‘core loyalty’ is needed, without which it is really difficult to get people to understand where you’re coming from when you have feedback. You can’t say ‘I hate PASS and its time they were gone’ and simultaneously offer feedback on how to improve.
3 You have to be willing to risk speaking up and let concerned people know at PASS that whatever they did wasn’t ok and why.
4 Have some heart, and be willing to forgive what other volunteers, including people on the board did – since we are all doing it for free, because we care and have many personal obligations to cope with.

In today’s world, none of my above values are holding up. Based on experiences using those lines – a lot of people get and want quick recognition. A lot of people think loyalty is about being brain washed and kool aided. A lot of people do not want to speak up anywhere for fear of being bullied or drawn into long winded arguments that end up making them feel defeated and regretting it. A lot of people think the board is like the White House, a huge static entity constantly making bad decisions that have negative impact. They don’t care to even know who is there, let alone forgive or think about why those people did what they did. Not all of these stances are right or wrong, but they exist and are impacting us a lot as a community.

In short, PASS has gathered ill will to an enormous extent that even those of us who were not part of any ill will are having significant challenges promoting the cause. Looking at some of the reasons why this could have happened –
1 Diversity issues – WIT is literally the only user group supporting diversity, they do an awesome job, but more sub groups are needed that actively push other causes – neuro diversity, LGBT, Racial inclusivity..everything. People from these sub groups feel their cause is not out there and acknowledged.
2 Old model of conferences and user groups – we did have online conferences with 24HOP (which was an enormous success when it started and one of its kind), but we did not keep up very well. The technical focus of PASS itself is very sideways skewed, after the move away from being a core SQL Server user group and conference. It seems a hotch potch of a lot of stuff broadly grouped under ‘Data’.
3 Speaker model – many speakers have asked about what they get in return for sessions. Advanced sessions especially need a ton of effort – and what they get in return does not seem to add up to it. Speakers need to be compensated well and not fed the line that the money coming in is going to other causes. That line is seriously old.
4 Weak anti harassment policy – Atleast two community leads I respect enormously left on grounds of this. It is becoming standard practice too everyone to adopt a strong policy and stand up for what it is.
5 Affliations for user groups and sql saturdays – The value of the affiliation, aside from a website has been seriously and repeatedly questioned. We have run some day long events virtually from our local user group here, and not used any tools PASS provided. We have had considerable success there and there is no reason that cannot continue. Sponsorships are also mostly local and enough to make a decent local event happen. In short, this affiliation is meaning less and less by way of value.

So..what next?

I wish for PASS to survive. Or to put it another way, I have to train myself to imagine it won’t exist since it was such a significant part of my life and am not quite there yet. It gave me a platform where I was seen – as a woman, as a person of color. That is not easy to find everywhere. I have been among other non affiliated user groups – it is really hard to get people to see who you are and sometimes they are so white male dominated that you don’t even exist even if you are physically present. I am not sure just saying PASS has to go and ‘lets do things locally’ is going to fix that problem. I will absolutely miss the big party that is the summit, but that is hardly on top of the things I will miss.Getting seen as a community member who added value and worked hard tops that, and many volunteers like me who are not mvps or even speakers in high standing are going to miss that, A LOT.

But, sometimes changes are needed even though they seem difficult to get used to. Pumping money into a system with all problems as above is not going to work very well. Or it is going to be a question of time, again, when a crisis comes up and everyone is re evaluating the need for their existence.

I wish for a new PASS, maybe smaller or less powerful, but with a clean slate and more acceptance from various parts of the community. I wish for more acceptance for free speech and more respect for volunteering in general. I wish for people to be seen and respect regardless of age, ethnicity,religion,sexual orientation or gender in this community. How all this will happen – I really don’t know. Maybe it will involve the organization to dissolve and re emerge as a smaller entity. I have hope and I hope for the outcome to be something meaningful for us all.

This is a summary of potential resources for any tech person who is interested in working from home – temporarily or full time. It came about from a twitter conversation on subject. This is not an attempt to promote any way of working, nor does it mean you need all of these resources to telecommute. It is entirely any individual’s call on what they need/afford to make working from home a satisfying experience.
I will start with my own experience. I am a minimalist when it comes to gadgets. I go into an office most days. When I work from home my needs are limited to my laptop, a keyboard and a mouse and a simple headset with a microphone. I used to have an extra monitor but it did not have any glare adjustment with made it hard to use. But most of us need a bit more than just a laptop – essentials seem to be monitors, headphones, standing/sitting desk and chair.
Monitors: Some people seemed to prefer 4k monitors like this one. There was a great suggestion by Monica Rathbun(b|t) on a portable monitor. If we don’t want to or have a lot of money the cheaper monitors like ASUS may be helpful. If you are the kind to have all your work displayed on a large screen – there are big ones like this. These cost a lot of money. By and large most people were in agreement that an extra monitor seems to add to one’s comfort and ease while working, so just having a cheap one might help in that regard.
Headsets: The options suggested were Plantronics , Yeti, and Surface noise cancelling headphones. My personal favorite has been Bose.
Buck Woody (b|t) and John Morehouse(b|t) also suggest Jabra speakers as well.

Keyboards and Mouse can be found anywhere for cheap. I personally like the Amazon essentials line. I have also found good options on sale at Staples or Office Depot. Majority laptops come with a built in camera that one may need to show demos or share screen during conference calls.

Spare power cords are absolutely necessary, as pointed out by Lisa Bohm (b|t)and Kellyn Pot’Vin-Gorman(b|t). Kellyn also has suggested a 1 TB drive and having a set of accessories you can pack and move with quickly.

Furniture including chairs and sitting/standing desks are personal with regards to comfort level and easy to find. I am fine with an ordinary folding table from walmart and a chair I found many years ago on Office Depot. It is important to find what works for your body/how many hours you are going to be standing or sitting and so on. A lot of health conditions can be created by improper desk arrangements.

Lastly, aside from gadgets, telecommute is a radically different way to work. It is a privilege for us to have it in tech – the vast majority of other professions in the world have to be worked on on site and the vast majority of people have to travel to work. But in order to enjoy and get the most out of it, self care is absolutely essential. I worked for nearly 6 years so I have some idea of what kind of needs there are :
1 Do not under estimate your need for being around real people. For many, the convenience factor and not having a commute is so exhilarating that we completely lose sight of our needs in this regard. Being around other humans creates a sense of connection and warmth that computers cannot absolutely provide. Find time, atleast at lunch, to dine with fellow human(s). Find office spaces for shared work if that is possible. Go to user groups or other meetings to be around real people.
2 Take frequent breaks. Buck Woody and Tim Ford mention having pets that allow for this to happen .It is important to step outdoors and get some fresh air/sunshine in. Having a fitness watch can help to remind one of this.
3 Start and end on time and maintain physical hygiene. I have never relished the ideas of working in jammies or nightwear much. It helps to start the day showering and clean set of clothes. And ending the day and calling it done. These are rituals that help sustain balance and create boundaries, which are very necessary.

Hope this was helpful and thanks to everyone who contributed.

This month’s T-SQL Tuesday is hosted by Jess Pomfret. Jess’s theme is ‘Life Hacks to make your day easier’. She talks of some things we do to make life simpler/easier. Two of mine are as below.
1 Before I accepted the current gig I am at – I worked several years in telecommuting positions. I found myself struggling in two ways with this – one, not getting enough walking/exercise, and two, not being around real people. I liked the benefits of telecommute though – which is, no commute and the ability to eat warm home cooked meals for lunch. I wanted to combine benefits of both – so for the next gig, I rented an apartment that is walking distance from work. It was not cheap – but got me all the benefits I needed. Fast forward – two years and this has been a wise call. I am loving the combined benefits I get and feel healthier, physically and emotionally. This might not work as a solution for all jobs but it does for this one and am grateful.
2 We all struggle with finding time to learn. About two years ago I discovered the joy of podcasts. I made it a point to listen to a tech podcast during my evening walk and was able to get both exercise as well as learning done. But I started to run out of material there – not that there is any shortage of podcasts in general but my focus was data specific tech podcasts and there were not that many to feed my needs on a daily basis. This year I decided to go one step further – I put a laptop on the dining table right in the middle of my living room. I have a long hallway that i can walk up and down on, and watch a pluralsight course, or a pass summit recording as I walk. This does not work for very demo-heavy recordings, but it does for a lot of lectures and am getting a lot of learning done this way.

I think we all need ‘hacks’ to make our lives easier and maximise value and pleasure we get out of doing what we do. Thank you Jess, for hosting.

This month’s T-SQL Tuesday is hosted by Jon Shaulis – the topic is an evergreen one, dealing with Imposter Syndrome. I learned of this word via Mindy Curnett a.k.a @sqlgirl in one of her presentations. I was aware of it in a different way for a long time. Trauma victims know what it is better than most others. To deal with trauma, especially as a kid, one learns to dis associate or pretend it is happening to somebody else. It is a form of survival since you don’t have the necessary skills to deal with it as a child. Entire fantasies can form around such disassociation, many people do not recover from it. I knew I had it because I was given to frequent day dreaming as an adult. I was rarely present in the moment and always carried a perpetual sense of loss about me. In essence dealing with Imposter Syndrome is about being in the present and feeling life as it happens. Below are my strategies.
1 Mindfulness practice – breathing and meditation.
2 Using present tense as often as i can in conversation – this is an excellent tip I got from somewhere. If other tenses are needed use them and consciously return to the present.
3 Keeping track of when I disconnect/wander off – typically triggers that cause this.
4 Find moments when I am in the moment – and try to make more of these happen. I was surprised to see how trivial some of these ‘moments’ where – I remember them because I was fully prsent in body and mind when it happened.
5 Read and get more tips whenever possible. I read an excellent book on this recently. It is called ‘Presence: Bringing your boldest self to your biggest challenges‘ by Amy cuddy. The author went through a traumatic accident and describes her process of recovery and finding her sense of connection/meaning/authenticity through it. Her tips include posture (she has diagrams on how to develop good posture), Surfing,smiling and singing to ourselves, and giving ourselves tiny nudges of encouragement constantly.

Every person wants to be seen for who they are .Being authentic and present is the biggest gift we can give ourselves to handle imposter syndrome. Thank you Jon, for hosting.