LessThanDot

Maybe you should take a look at Vagrant. It lets you automate the setup of a Virtual machine.

W00t! Virtualization is one of the next evolutions of the IT career, and it's amazing to be on the forefront of technology. I'm very happy to help you gain some comfort in this new extension of data science!

Not sure, Denis. But I did go to the right URL. ;-)

I'll try to check again later. I have had my account for a while but didn't start actively using it until a couple of years ago. So maybe it's for more active users?

Updated this post with the Followers screenshot

Interesting, a co-worker doesn't see the analytics tab either. I wonder if they are doing a staggered rollout. Maybe the people who signed up earliest for twitter get it first, or maybe it goes my number of followers or tweets?

Koen, maybe it is US only for now?

Has Twitter started allowing ads like on Facebook. Thanks for the info on the analytics tho

It keeps insisting I should remove adblock and won't work.

Or disable it.

Signed into ads as well, but also no analytics for me. Sad trombone :(

You singed into https://ads.twitter.com/ not just twitter right?

Interesting. But it's worth noting that I do not get an option for Analytics once I sign in.

Happy Belated Birfday!

5 Years? Has it really been that long? Awesome!

(I will Photoshop myself into that picture later)

w00t!! congratz guys

Woohoo! Happy Birthday!

Sadly I never had the pleasure of meeting her. So sorry for the loss! You said it best:
"Remember to cherish each day we have with our families, friends and everything else you take on in life."

Ted, I'm so sorry. I'm glad I was able to meet her and talk to her at a couple SQL events and I remember her as an enthusiastic and kind person.

Sorry to hear that Ted

Lot of great comments that bring up related points. I think these comments will provide material for further blogposts on the subject. :-)

Something that I came across this morning to further highlight one of my points above:

http://www.collegerecruiter.com/blog/2013/05/02/employers-say-retention-is-top-priority-in-staffing/

I'm not sure if I agree with the implication of "Those companies pay the salaries of their employees which should demand a certain amount of loyalty."

I pay my local hot-dog vendor, should that demand a certain amount of loyalty from him?
I pay my plumber, should that demand a certain amount of loyalty, in the sense that it's talked in this article?
Why should the simple fact of paying for work put in some mandatory loyalty bond? The terms of transaction are my work for your money, other things such as loyalty, friendship, gratitude, etc are quite possible but optional.

> Furthermore, loyalty to one’s own self-interest also
> does not equate to disloyalty to external interests

I think the usual me-vs-them dichotomy in these sort of conversations misses a larger point.

Humans evolved for social cohesion; we're hard- and soft-wired for cooperation, in the broadest sense of the word.

The goal of both parties (employers and employees) should be to maximize their mutual self-interest as much as possible. Granted, that overlap will never be 100%. But *so* many beautiful things of grandiose scale have been the result of people working together to grow their self-interest into something larger. Partnership.

I wonder how much of the perceived "loyalty" of baby boomers comes from the presence of pensions and/or salary adjustments that actually improved their standard of living? These things were sacrificed at the altar of shareholder value long before I started working but I hear stories.

I think that as companies provide no expectation of them being loyal to their employees, the expectation of employees being loyal to them is a laughable one at best! Companies pay their employees for the work they do, and that's it. If you are not loyal to another, it is immoral to think another should have loyalty to you.

However, there are a couple of caveats... Options and rsu's given to high performers is both an incentive for an employee loyalty and the incentive also for higher performance. In this case, the company should expect loyalty up to the amortized market value of the incentive.

There is one more aspect -- that of personal loyalty. There are some people that you know at work and you have become friends, and friends to the point that even outside the business environment, you have earned each others loyalty.

This personal definition is that of the current generation... And one that I prefer. It is one that replaces impersonal relationships between a person and a be autocracy or company with a much better and more moral one.

In this definition, a person may be high up in a company and earn the loyalty and friendship of those beneath him, but that is a personal thing.

all this being said, perhaps it is time for founders to think differently... afounder may decides he wishes to build his company on mutual exchange of loyalty. This company would have to have a completely different approach to hiring, employee retention and remuneration structure... I hope such a thing happens - it will make our world a better place.

Corporations also had years if not decades to change. People could and would change at that same pace. This constituted a significant portion of a persons life. Now corporations must change year to year...more often than not...quarter to quarter. People have had to adapt to the rapid cycle. I don't know if it is a question of loyalty or "appearance" of loyalty that has changed because of the acceleration.

"The reality is that the difference is due to the changing business environment and, as has been the course throughout history, the younger generations adapt to that change far more quickly and easily than older generations."

^^^ this is the key take away for me.

But we should also consider the fact that, on average, younger ppl have more free time and energy to pursue and hone their craft...making greater gains via more deliberate practice. Once you have kids, that changes...

Great article, Chops!

That was something that should have been mentioned, too. I suspect most people would consider their loyalty to their employer as being defined through their boss rather than the corporation itself. I know that is typically the case for me, anyway. Thanks for pointing that out!

One thing that doesn't get discussed is these loyalty arguments is loyalty to bosses. Its a harder thing to measure, but I know people that work at job A, move to job B, and then then the boss from job A moves somewhere else they end up working for that boss at job C. People are loyal to people as well as institutions.

This is such a great article! Thank you very much for sharing this. I agree with you, the reason an IT person can speak to a non-IT worker about the business is because "the business" is the common language they share.

Another success is right! These just keep getting better. So glad we have it in Madison - helps the budget and drive time out a lot :)
For all that couldn't make it for logistical reasons, I have room to crash 15 minutes away, and friends with motels...

I agree with skreebydba​ (Frank).
Jes, this is an excellent idea. Sometimes people don't know themselves that they have hidden talent of explaining complex concepts and this will bring it out.

Ameena

I love that shirt and still wear it from time to time even though I changed twitter names long ago to @SQLPoolBoy.

Paul, it's never too late to practice public speaking. I'd recommend Toastmasters if you want to learn how to improve. It's done wonderful things for me - and I suspect I'm similar to you in this respect. Good luck and congrats!

For the longest time it was practiced that IT people should focus on their department only and not mingle with other business collaboration, but then again, I think its about time that IT people's voice to be heard and collaborate their ideas with their co-workers for the betterment of their business. They should not be focus in managing their server alone, but teach other trustworthy people how to navigate their server system if one of the expert is not around.

I can only encourage all that are able to attend any of these! I will be at SQL Saturday in Madison this weekend, along with some colleagues from work that I recruited. It's an awesome learning experience, and a great opportunity for peer networking. Ted this year please don't pretend you don't know me. I will be the one with the "Play Free Bird" placards. I'm bringing one for Ted Jr...

Dear Mike, have you ever tried saying No to Jes?

Jes,

That is great. I think I know what I will be adding to the next CSSUG invitation.

I love this idea. We did a similar thing in Denver last month, but it was a struggle. I'm curious as to how much you emailed/pimped it. I didn't email about it, but I had been talking about it for 3 months. We only got two speakers, but they both did well. I'm shooting again for another attempt in a couple of months and I'm hoping that the success from the first round will get others willing to step up.

I love to quote the movie Under Siege 2 when I can: "Assumptions are the mother of all f____ ups"

Thanks J.D.!

Kevin: Absolutely, sometimes that outside perspective is just what we need to realize just how many assumptions we were making.

I do :p

My favorite nugget in your article is right near the beginning where you said its ok for IT people to talk Business but not for Business People to talk IT.

IT people must learn the business that they work for and how what they are working on will help or hinder it.

On the flip side, IT people should also be helping the business to understand IT and technology because they can come up with the most amazing ideas and solutions that we (IT folk) would never think of.

Fantastic article! As someone that just started a new job, it's a perfect time to get to know the business. And you're absolutely correct. You're either engaged and adding value or not-engaged and can easily be replaced.

Viewwhore!!

Thanks for all the positive feedback y'all, though I wouldn't have minded a bit more arguing to drive up the page hits ;)

Yes, yes a million times Yes!

So many great nuggets of wisdom here. Particularly great: "There are two types of workers, and they aren't IT and non-IT, they are engaged and not engaged."

The M.O. of a good IT department is to help the company solve business problems. Sometimes that means applying technology to the problem, sometimes that means talking a business person down from making an unwise technology leap, and sometimes it's looking past the technology and assessing a business process.

Thanks so much for this fantastic post, Eli!

Like one of the C level people here said....If I want code monkeys, I can get them by the dozen and cheap, I need people with domain knowledge, those that understand the business and those that can talk to business people in a coherent matter

Excellent post, and dead on accurate. I really dislike the "It's just 1s and 0s, the business doesn't matter" attitude that is frequently on display with IT people. I do agre that our first, primary, skill-set is our technology, but if you're not managing your technology in service to the business, which requires understanding what the business is, you are doing it wrong. Thanks for the great post.

Most people don't use the full power of their PC's.