Be the surgeon

re: Be the surgeon

Argenis — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 07:29:51 GMT

Rob - I'd hire you as our SQL Dev Surgeon any time. I have some (a lot) code that needs an intervention.

Thanks for the post!

re: Be the surgeon

Greg M Lucas — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 10:11:05 GMT

Funnily enough Rob, you were one of the people I was thinking about in the final paragraph of my T-SQL Tuesday #028 post. I know I'm not at your level but I also know that I'll never get to your level if I try and become an expert in everything (and neither can anyone else)

re: Be the surgeon

Rob Farley — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 11:07:29 GMT

Argenis - thanks for the compliment, and you're welcome for the post.

Greg - I'm flattered, but I think you're probably closer than you imagine.

re: Be the surgeon

Andy Galbraith (@DBA_ANDY) — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 13:19:37 GMT

I have heard this sentiment (or one like it) numerous times in my life, and I realize I have never done a good enough job of embracing it - I am too much of a generalist as my role through the last ten years has always been the production DBA that has to do a little bit of everything.

The question that comes to mind as I read your post relates to the hot new kid (relatively new anyway) in the certification world - the MCM. I was excited about the MCM when I first heard about it, partially because as I said, I am a generalist (generally a generalist anyway {-:), and I thought I could apply myself and take it down.

...and then I read the spec's - must be a certified DBA and DBDeveloper.

Boom.

I have never considered myself a developer (maybe a T-SQL developer, but even then not a star) and seeing this made me cross the MCM off my list.

I am starting to ramble, but isn't the design of the broad scope of things like the MCM contrary to "Be a Surgeon"? What makes more sense moving forward in a career - being the ultimate "know some about everything" as the MCM, or "Being a Surgeon"?

re: Be the surgeon

John Paul Cook — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 19:34:10 GMT

I have to ask, where does the nurse fit in to all of this? The nurse's role really matters to me! :-)

re: Be the surgeon

Anup Warrier — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 17:49:30 GMT

Great post and it helped me to think twice if I am on the right track or not.Thanks for that.