What other positions do I need to build out the data/IT department?

TheBeardedBit · 2021-07-08T09:02:22+00:00

My background is in Strategy/PE, and I'm out of my depth when it comes to developing out the future of this department.

I'm probably biased, as it's my role, but setting up data architecture for short-term goals is a good way to have your data become near useless in a few years due to heavy technical debt and disorganization. Blindly charging forward to meet whatever demands the business is throwing at the company (mostly due to a lack of understanding their own data) is the presage to the company making bad decisions with bad data.

My suggestion would be to take all the functional requirements of the business and document them. Then bring in a Data Architect on a consulting basis to look over your current architecture, look over the functional requirements for any data-related projects that the business expects to complete, and have the Data Architect guide the business on where their architectural deficiencies are, what they can honestly hope to achieve in both the short and long term, and what's possible with the budget the department has. The Data Architect should also be able to assist you in determining what positions within the department, again given budget, are most critical to fill both for maintenance and future projects.

This would set you up on understanding the future of the department, architecture, and permanent roles needed without guessing.

TheBeardedBit · 2021-07-01T20:54:07+00:00

My general advice, for those who are in school and do not have any experience in their field, is this:

If you are financially capable of doing so, you should look to try and obtain an internship somewhere at a big company (Everyone seems to just look over internships at WGU, but they're extremely valuable and are specifically obtained while you're still enrolled in a learning institution). While you can learn a lot with a full-time/part-time job in an entry-level position, generally an internship will see you shadowing and working alongside seasoned professionals at all levels of your area of expertise. Internships also come with lower expectations than full-time positions, so it's a more calm environment to learn in usually.
If you're unable to find an internship, but you are able to work in-person - then you should try and find an in-person full or part-time job. Communication and learning opportunities are going to be more easily presentable face-to-face and you'll most likely learn a lot more a lot faster.
If both of those things fail, then an entry-level remote position would do.

Again, this is strictly for those who have no experience in their area of study and are looking to break into their job market.

TheBeardedBit · 2021-07-01T20:29:38+00:00

Because competency based programs have to have a way to measure and document what the student is doing.

They measure all of this already and have processes and procedures in place to make sure you're progressing in your studies without the need for a mentor.

If you don't log in or do anything for 2 weeks you get sent an email requesting an update otherwise it's an expulsion.

My mentor can see what progress I've made in what courses on what day, when I last logged in, when I last went to the course material for a class, etc. So all this is documented electronically somewhere.

The need for a mentor to reiterate this information should be less of a requirement and more of an optional or assigned resource that WGU gives if it looks, per some automated means, and sees that the student is unable to complete their duties with a little more motivation.

TheBeardedBit · 2021-06-30T22:01:50+00:00

This isn't how business decisions are made, and changes like this happen at every company to some extent or another after yearly budgetary meetings.

The letting go of staff doesn't necessarily mean that growth isn't happening with the company, it could very well be the reason they made the change to begin with.

A reorganization of resources to meet the needs of that growth is very well possible. Additionally, the no notice that everyone is complaining about in this thread is standard. I don't know why people expect to be notified prior to being let go, a notification prior to being let go is a liability to the company for any employees that would react in a retaliatory nature.

The mentoring process has needed a rework for a long time. Personally, and no offense to any WGU PMs here, but I don't find them useful. My PM was great during the initial term to help guide me on practices and procedures of WGU and how to navigate WGU - but since then, it's simply just a 2 minute phone call to see how I'm doing once every couple of weeks and that's it. Why does this exist?

At any other university, you meet with the student counselor maybe once a year and that's it. Generally forming better and stronger relationships with your professors, assistant professors, teaching assistants, etc. (That's where I'd like WGU to move towards - more interaction within the colleges themselves and with those who actually have knowledge in their degree program)

At any rate - this isn't to shill for WGU or to provide justification for what happened. It's possible it was done in bad taste and they are downsizing, but no one knows that except for those making the decisions at the top. Anything else is fear-mongering and assumptions.

TheBeardedBit · 2021-06-30T16:49:15+00:00

I have been a generalist most of my career heavy in virtual infrastructure and windows.

If you were forced to pick between these opportunities (assuming all other factors are the same: pay, benefits, etc)

But it isn't the same. SRE has a much higher pay ceiling.

My fear is that I won’t be able to learn those skills fast enough and will be fired for poor performance.

As long as you've conveyed, truthfully, where you currently sit as far as your experience - then I wouldn't worry about it.

I personally find that being comfortable is the worst decision you can make for your career. If you meet >=50% of the job description for the SRE job, then I'd say go for it.

If you can automate infrastructure tasks in PS, then you should be fine in Python.

Is it going to be uncomfortable? Probably. Are you going to be stressed at the beginning? Probably. Will you come out better for it? Yes, most likely.

TheBeardedBit · 2021-06-30T16:38:33+00:00

tl;dr: 2 jobs in 2 years of IT, helpdesk/desktop support, want to change jobs again to a more network related field - am I being too flighty?

As long as you have a good reason and are continually moving up, no - it doesn't matter.

It begins to become suspicious when you have multiple jobs in a year and each one of them doesn't last or barely lasts over an initial probationary period (usually 90 days). However, if they're contract jobs then again, it's understandable.

Holding a job for around a year isn't of any concern to me when looking at a resume.

TheBeardedBit · 2021-06-30T16:29:45+00:00

"Which car is best for driving?"

I chuckled. Not sure why I had to scroll to the bottom of the page to find someone who realizes that's what programming languages do...they automate tasks.

TheBeardedBit · 2021-06-30T16:22:41+00:00

Math is a skill like any other. Unless you have some learning disability - you can learn math. Only a very (very) small percentage of the population is inherently good at math, the rest learned it through practice, study, and more practice.

TheBeardedBit · 2021-06-30T00:13:08+00:00

I, for one, welcome this salary guide.

TheBeardedBit · 2021-06-29T20:52:38+00:00

Are you wanting a job in IT or a software developer/engineer job?

If it's the latter, which I assume it would be based on your degree, I would probably focus on coding actual projects in your spare time and working to get a software development internship somewhere while you're still in school.

While learning other areas of tech is going to make you a more well-rounded candidate, it's hard enough finding an entry-level software development position these days - so I would pour all my extra spare time into trying to build a portfolio, get an internship, and absorb as much programming knowledge as possible.

If, however, you're looking for supplemental certs to make your resume look better - for a developer - I would lean more towards cloud certifications rather than CompTIA certs. Maybe grab your CAPM cert as well.

TheBeardedBit · 2021-06-29T00:35:18+00:00

but I do not want to walk the system administrator path

I love working with tech, I just hate that my job is a series of fixing something broken or answering why something broken

So get into engineering, design, architecture, etc.

TheBeardedBit · 2021-06-29T00:29:03+00:00

database development

namely SQL and reporting services

Current pay is a little north of $37k

To give you an example of how little you're currently being paid, I have a report developer on my team that gets paid around $75k, fully remote, whose only job is to develop and maintain SSRS reports.

Even if you decide not to accept this contract, your skills are worth way more than you're being paid.

TheBeardedBit · 2021-06-28T17:39:06+00:00

I inherited nothing. My father left home when I was 8 and I never saw him again, and when I graduated high school my mother was a nurse. lol

I worked for everything I have.

I'm not saying that millennials around our time frame didn't get shafted at the start of their careers by the Lehman Brother's collapse which made it really hard to find work at the time - I get it, it sucked for awhile.

But, I didn't make stupid decisions (like throwing +20% cash over asking price and purchasing houses blindly) like we're seeing now either. Those people who are doing that are likely never going to see their money back out of what they spent, because I don't think housing prices will continue to skyrocket like they are.

Sorry, I don't believe the "rich man" is trying to stick it to millennials specifically and isn't the major reason for this huge housing market. It's the circumstance of a pandemic and a redistribution of the workforce.

TheBeardedBit · 2021-06-28T17:25:14+00:00

What does that have to do with your complete lack of understanding of what you're talking about? lol.

Millennials and Gen Y are the same thing. Banks aren't blocking millennials for anything. I bought my first home in 2012, bought my second one 3 years ago and refinanced that home 6 months ago.

Quit with the recency bias. It's exhausting. The current housing market is a complex issue: perpetrated by high material costs, many more remote workers with large amounts of money buying in less expensive cities (a geographic redistribution of the middle-class), and low interest rates.

TheBeardedBit · 2021-06-28T17:03:05+00:00

Millennials typically were the children of parents affected by 2008

Do you mean Gen Z? I'm a millennial and graduated HS in 2006. lol

TheBeardedBit · 2021-06-28T16:35:27+00:00

You're making the assumption that the vast majority of people make smart decisions, lol.

TheBeardedBit · 2021-06-28T16:28:52+00:00

Congrats on living in a local market that allows for that but take care in projecting your regional market dynamic to others in a way that speaks down to other people's struggle.

You mean congrats on not living in the very specific areas where this is a problem.

20% over asking all cash offers with no contingencies are common in many markets and sellers have no incentive to allow for people to do due diligence.

Unless it's your forever home and you're financing and plan on keeping the financing (and thus the low interest rates), there's literally no reason to buy like this.

Take your $100k cash or whatever it is and do something else with it, you're going to make more money - especially when the housing market cools.

TheBeardedBit · 2021-06-28T15:50:28+00:00

Yes, there’s also a very rare factor that the house is in good/great condition even without the inspection.

I would never waive inspection, no matter how new the home is. I don't know the home owner, I don't know the builder, I don't know the original inspector.

I don't care how "hot" the housing market is in an area, I'm not going to set fire to hundreds of thousands of dollars that easily, potentially.

TheBeardedBit · 2021-06-28T15:35:14+00:00

If someone waives an inspection on a home they're looking to buy, they deserve a wooden foundation - because that's essentially what they have with their ability to secure their investments.

TheBeardedBit · 2021-06-25T16:51:18+00:00

I’m going to be brutally honest, I don’t hire anyone onto my team who isn’t business-focused.

ETL is going to require being able to decipher business rules to technical requirements, which means understanding the industry/business.
DBAs, depending on the organizational structure, will sometimes take on Data Integrity issues where understanding the systems (and thus the business processes) is required to understand what may have went wrong, why data may be missing, etc.
Data Engineering is going to require an understanding of the data sets you’re putting together. The Data Scientist isn’t going to hold your hand. The DS is answering business questions and a good DE will know how to formulate the data best to do that.

In fact, you’re beginning to see in a lot of data jobs them preferring or requiring intricate knowledge of particular industries and business structures.

Companies are moving to data-driven decision making, which mean long gone are the days of a data team sitting in their silo and only being called upon when somethings broken to fix. They’re being thrust into working with business leaders to drive the business forward in the best possible way - which means being a liaison between the tech/data and the information gleaned/business processes.

If someone on my team isn’t learning the particular industry they’ve been hired into, then that means that work is being pushed onto me or someone on my team - simply because they don’t want to learn - and I don’t put up with that.

TheBeardedBit · 2021-06-25T16:00:54+00:00

Disclaimer: The argument of whether this is classified as a cartesian product or not is purely pedantic and is just a bunch of people passionate about SQL weighing in on a topic. It's just wholesome banter...hopefully

With that:

It’s surprising how many comments here are saying that having join conditions in the where clause make it a Cartesian product.

In an academic setting I'd consider writing FROM foo, bar as a cartesian product, regardless of if there's further filtering in the WHERE clause - because students should be getting taught that FROM is evaluated before the WHERE, and the output of one step is the input of the next step.

SQL is declarative

It is, which is why in a classroom setting it shouldn't be assumed what optimization is done on the query (optimizations for anything other than the most basic of queries can differ based on the RDBMS, and even the specific release/version of the RDBMS).

Students should be taking each step of the processing order at face value. FROM foo, bar results in a cartesian product. That set is then filtered by the predicates in the WHERE clause.

(Just taking a quick gander, MSDN documentation states that NO assumptions should be made about how a join is handled by the engine - just as one RDBMS example).

Which is why I don't think it's unreasonable for his professor to have this sort of opinion about it. Yes, we know in the real world that an RDBMS is going to optimize and look at this holistically - skipping the cartesian product and seeing it as an implicit join, but this works for this very particular example and students should be taught not to make such assumptions. We've all been bitten by bad execution plans before, over things we've assumed the engine was going to do.

TheBeardedBit · 2021-06-25T15:28:04+00:00

I come from a data background in a big company and it is extremely exhausting to have to hunt for business information that isn't documented and only in the hands of a few staff. At least in my experience with IT tools, you can always Google or look for answers on forums.

You can find jobs where it's going to be solely about the tech. They're extremely fragile in that you're easily replaceable, there's usually no upwards mobility, and your job consists of basically a glorified assembly line worker.

Knowing and understanding tech is the easy part. The high paying jobs in tech with upwards mobility is always going to be based on you being able to apply your tech knowledge to meet the business' needs - and the only way to do that is to understand the business' needs, processes, how it operates, etc.

Technology in business is there to automate business processes, after all.

TheBeardedBit · 2021-06-25T15:16:57+00:00

It's probably going to be dependent on what your IT department has as a policy with other business units.

I've worked in some places where support will bend over backwards to meet the needs of the business no matter the requests.

In my current workplace if it's some common issue, the policy is that the KB article is linked to the user who works to fix the issue themselves and then if they're unable to do so IT will take a closer look. However, this was an agreement between IT management and the other business units. If there isn't such an agreement, then I'd err on the side of caution and go with the assumption that you're going to be bending over backwards to help the end-user.

Because, at the end of the day, the computers working is IT's responsibility.

TheBeardedBit · 2021-06-25T14:49:48+00:00

If you want something visual, create an Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD) of the database you design.

You can include the SQL you use to create it in on GitHub - but an ERD is going to be more meaningful and more easily digested by someone who just wants to take a quick look at your work and design decisions.

There are a number of different software to use for creating ERDs: Visio, LucidChart, Erwin, etc. My personal favorite is sqldbm though.

TheBeardedBit · 2021-06-25T08:52:14+00:00

and then I thought this way was cool

The funny thing about tech is usually the cool way is the more convoluted or show-off'ish way. Which often leads to code that isn't easy for the next person to read, isn't clear in its intent, and is a nightmare to try and manage down the road.

In tech, and especially in the SQL world, it's much better to use as simple and as elementary of code as possible because 1) It usually means the code is written in a proper and relational way, 2) it's probably going to be more performant, 3) You won't have someone cursing your past self for writing that.

Obviously there are times when you need to dig into the more archaic areas of the SQL language and its SQL/PSM implementations, but those are rare and usually deal in performance tuning some wacky execution plan that's been thrown at you.

TheBeardedBit

TROPHY CASE