SQL Quiz Part 2

I got tagged by SQLBatman to take part in Chris Shaw's quiz. 

From Chris's original Post : 

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So here are the rules, please answer the question with at least two answers, once you have completed the answer please tag 2 people that you know to answer the questions as well. If you get tagged by this Quiz please let me know I would like to add all the results to the bottom of this blog so all the answers are in one place. 

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The Questions for this quiz…

What are the largest challenges that you have faced in your career and how did you overcome those?

 

Here are my Answers…

1.  I was employed at my second job out of college for 5 years.  It was a small family owned business.  In the beginning, I was told that I would have job there for life.  Well, 5 years later, my boss called me into his office on an afternoon, and fired me.  He stated a few things that were rather random, said he didn’t have time to discuss it, and took off to goto a baseball game.

This was devastating.  In an effort to understand, I introverted and tried to see what I could do better.  Recalling mentoring discussions from this boss reminded me that I had a hard working well with others.  Having always struggled with my confidence, college allowed me to have received a descent education and gain some of that missing confidence.  I had overcompensated and become a pain to work with.  Always being busy, which lead me to be short with others, especially those that didn’t know the same things that I did.  I had gained a feeling and attitude of superiority.  And this translated into not working well with others.  They were idiots of course, and I was so much smarter.  

So in my next jobs, I tried hard to make myself smart, but not at the cost of being superior.  I constantly strive to be friendly and helpful and mentor, all the while attempting to learn more myself.  I believe I have made great inroads in this skill, and have a long way too go.  I have made and kept a lot of friends.  I have had groups and individuals express that I am a pleasure to work with.  Long way to go to be perfect, but I took a down time in my career, and tried to make lemonade out of it.

 

2.  Being the first DBA in a group that maintained an application with financial data and being forced into SOX compliance with no history of audits.  We had to become compliant in short order.  No processes existed, no history of data collected. No auditable trails to show off.  Some DBA's would cringe at this, and avoid it entirely.  Somewhere in the beginning, I think my brain broke, and i accepted the challenge.  

I was able to produce documentation for most of the control items in our process for the database.  Code was written and implemented that allowed us to monitor and report on activities in the database.  Changed jobs, security, permissions, updates, inserts, deletes, ddl changes, failed logins, etc.  A plethora of tools and knowledge came out of this scenario.  I became quick friends with the internal auditor and gained an insight most DBA's didnt have into the auditing world.  I went on to present my learning to user groups and internal customers as well as produce several articles detailing the work and systems produced.  Not grand at any scale, just one DBA with an appreciation for SOX, and understanding of how it can help out, an acceptance of its existence, and an agreement between me and it to cohabitate.

 

I tag Grant and Pat.  I may have to let them know via other means to ensure that this keeps going.  I would hate to be the deadend blogger that killed the quiz.