I have been absurdly lucky to be around so many amazing and inspirational managers. Almost everything I know was taught to me by someone else. Over my life, I’ve learned so much about careers, marketing, business, communications, teaching, databases, you name it.
For this month’s T-SQL Tuesday, Gethyn Ellis asked us to share the best career advice we’ve ever received. That was a seriously tough call: I’ve gotten so many gems over the years.
But I thought about what’s the most important thing to pass on to you, dear reader – something you might not hear from other people who are answering this month’s call.
Steve Jobs said, “Real artists ship.”
He meant it didn’t matter how many great ideas you had, or how badly you wanted to do something, or whether your work matched the quality of the design in your head. At the end of the day, you have to make a plan, build your thing, and then get that thing out the door. Plans don’t count.
That quote drives a lot of things I do – like publishing this blog post, hahaha. Is this post perfect? Not even close. Could I do more? Yep, absolutely. But there’s a related quote often attributed to Teddy Roosevelt: “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”
So many years ago, when I first published my Blitz script – back before it was a stored procedure – I had so many reservations. The code quality wasn’t great. I didn’t see myself as an expert. I thought people would pick my work apart and tell me I was an idiot. But I had to start somewhere, so I sucked it up and put it out there.
I know when you read this blog post, you think, “Everything’s already been done. What could I possibly contribute?” You couldn’t be more wrong. In today’s rapidly changing data landscape, there are new back ends, services, and tools launching constantly. There’s a bigger need than ever for people to share what they learn, as they go. You’ve gotta start that blog, write that script, record that video, and let it out into the arena. The next phase in your career is right out there for you to take.
Ship.