Career Path and Consulting Advice

Resumes and Recruiters:

Five Steps to a Killer Technical Resume – you’ll need a friend and a text editor.
Working with Recruiters – including our answers to their most common questions.
Get Ahead by Being Online – if you wanna get to the top of the resume stack, avoid it altogether.

Inspiration:

Rock Stars, Normal People, and You – Brent writes about his horrible times looking for work, and how to turn things around.
Your First Good Job Isn’t in the Paper – how to get hired for a really amazing job.
What’s a DBA’s Defining Moment? – readers comment about when they realized they were a real database administrator.
Use the Buddy System to Get a Better Job – befriend buddies and bosses.
No Substitute for Time, Experience, and Training – Jes shows how training matters for marathons and jobs.

Interviews and Job Hunting:

How to Get Your First DBA Job Video – Kendra explains what companies look for and how to stand out.
Ask for a List of Servers – Brent explains why you should always ask this question.
SQL Server Interview Q&A (Video) – we share some of our favorite questions plus the answers we’re looking for.
10 Questions to Ask the Interviewer – when they ask if you’ve got any questions, bust these out.

Working with Management

Data Driven Raises – how to use metrics to justify your raise.
What Does a Good DBA Look Like? – If you want to get a raise, read the comments on this post to understand what your peers are looking for.

Being an Evangelist

So You Wanna Be a Rock and Roll Star? – Back in 2008 when Brent worked as an evangelist for Quest Software, he explained the job, and then explained how to get it.
Become a Presenter, Change Your Life – at first there’s no obvious return-on-investment from this work, but Kendra explains the perks.
Writing Better Conference Abstracts – a collection of our favorite posts and resources to get accepted at conferences.
How to Deliver a Killer Technical Presentation – Brent helps you dodge the bullets.