Specialist vs. Generalist
I've been asked the specialist vs. generalist question a number of times and I always have a tough time answering because my answer really is: "It depends." This choice doesn't just affect IT related careers, but probably impacts most other careers you could choose as well.
It's widely accepted that specialists have the potential to make significantly more money than a generalist. This is due to supply and demand, and very few people know all the intimate details about one narrow area. Oracle DBAs and brain surgeons are two types of jobs that are typically filled by specialists. Why? There's a LOT to learn, and a lot riding on the shoulders of these people. Acquiring the specialist status isn't easy and will take significant time and effort on your part.
Generalists, on the other hand, are typically in demand more regularly and have an easier time finding a job or contract to fill. While there are more opportunities at times, the pay has typically been lower for these opportunities. This role will have more diversity in the day-to-day, more opportunities to grow in areas you hadn't previously considered, and possibly even provide a niche for you to transition to more of a specialist role. This could be a position that does UI development, general ad hoc reporting, and managing a couple interns.
Retrospective Blogging for New Bloggers
A little over a year ago marked the official start of the blog here at RustProof Labs. In that time I have published over 40 posts, trashed probably close to as many, and already want to rewrite about half of what I've written. That last part is the part that I didn't expect. Sure, I'm used to trashing work that no one has seen and starting it again the right way, but writing it, publishing it, then realizing that I could have done so much better...
It's true, I'm not great at blogging. That's probably proven right now by me writing a blog about my blog, but hopefully some of my thoughts today will help a new writer in the future.
How to Ask IT For Something
Have you ever wondered how to ask the IT department for something? Maybe you want to switch from ASP.NET to Python, or you want to ditch your RDMS (such as MS SQL Server) and go with NoSQL for an upcoming project. Maybe it's something as simple as wanting software installed but you don't have admin privileges on your work machine. Whatever the situation, you just know that you need the new widget or technology to do your job. What's even worse is that you must go through the company's IT gatekeeper who only has two sentences in their vocabulary: "What do you want?" and "No." This person could be at the IT help desk, a DBA, a SAN admin, etc., but I'm pretty sure at least one of these people exists in every company.
The Cost of Automation
I love automating things. It's one reason I fell in love with programming even, because if you can write better programs you can automate more things. But there are many costs to automation that people don't always understand, or care to admit. Have you ever spent 25 hours automating something that won't take 25 hours of your time over the next year? Then after all your hard work the process changes and your shiny program now needs another 25 hours to make it work again.
It can be hard to decide when to automate, or when to just leave something alone. The available choices and the impact from decisions will vary greatly from organization to organization. If you're in a highly technical organization the impact can be much lower and automation can easily take over more. But, if you're in a more typical, non-IT driven company that still has IT needs, the decision of what to automate can be tricky and you should proceed carefully. Note: I didn't say avoid automation, nor will I ever. I am simply saying "Choose wisely!"
The Server Migration Continues
This blog is no longer hosted on a shared server account! Woo hoo!! Yesterday I configured a shiny new VPS (shininess not guaranteed...) to be our new web server for most of our systems, both current and upcoming. If you haven't gone through a process like this,you might be wondering what all is involved. Well, let me tell you.... a lot!
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