This week has been a busy week for me with the SQLRelay and SQLSat Munich events. It has been full of fun especially seeing as for SQL Relay we had the fun bus for travels between the different venues all across the UK.
The week started of as most other weeks do and that was with me at home in Derby on Monday Morning. This was followed by me jumping on the train to Birmingham around 11am Monday Morning for the first leg in the SQL Relay tour where I presented a completely new and fully non-technical session, something that is a little bit out of my comfort zone of the typical more heavily technically focused sessions that I’m used to delivering.
This was a session that I’ve put together based upon my own career experiences about the need to really spend time on developing and taking ownership of your career. It was pointed out on a few occasions throughout the week that at 26 I’ve still yet to really “have” a career and although in some ways that can be seen as being very true, there is also the other side of the coin, in which I’ve had the opportunity to see first hand with other colleagues how not owning your career can lead you down path that doesn’t leave you with a role that you enjoy and feel sustained and secure in.
I really do feel that it really is essential that you keep up with your Training and take control of your own career – as after all it’s your career and how well it goes is down to you as an individual and how determined you are to achieve the Salary and work life balance that you wish to have. Troy Hunt has blogged about his experience of making his job redundant at https://www.troyhunt.com/how-i-optimised-my-life-to-make-my-job/ and this is something that scares most people when they think about it at any real depth. I would also recommend reading the follow up post on this that Troy has done on this recently as well https://www.troyhunt.com/7-years-of-blogging-and-a-lifetime-later/ as both of these are similar to my way of thinking around work and life balances.
Not only did I do a new presentation but I have also been busy enjoying being on the SQL Relay FunBus as well and although I knew a number of the other fellow travellers it was good to be able to spend some more concentrated time with them. The SQL Relay is a great idea and I’m already looking forward to the ‘tour de UK’ again next year.
To top the week off I have also been at SQLSat Munich this weekend where there has been even more fun times with the extended #SQLFamily which has been great. I seem to have a thing for Munich and the first real weekend of October as I was also here last year for SPSMunich which you can read about the experience in my recap post
I however am looking forward to getting back home after pretty much a week on the road and getting ahead with some of my prep for PSConfAsia in just under 2 weeks.