Category: Job Interview

Greetings from #WELocalHartford #WELocal @SWETalk #SWELocal #WELocalHartford2023

I am writing this from a workstation area in the Connecticut Convention Center, location for the WE Local Hartford conference.

I arrived in Hartford around 6:30 pm last night, managing to arrive before a snowstorm hit several states in the Northeast (I wanted to make sure I left early as I could for exactly this reason). The conference takes places over two days, although I arrived too late to take part in any Friday activities. Friday night was uneventful; I checked into my hotel, got myself dinner, and retired to my room for the night.

Today (Saturday), for me, is pretty much where all the action has happened. After checking out of the hotel, I went to the convention center, registered, found my room, and went to the main ballroom to get myself breakfast, as well as the opening keynote. I’ll admit that I went primarily for the free breakfast! The keynote was given by Dr. Jenny Gusba, a senior director at Pepsico. She mentioned a couple of things that resonated with me. She talked about taking advantage of your strengths and addressing your weaknesses (or, as she called them, “opportunities”), and also mentioned how her challenge in her work was “how to take science and be able to get the masses to relate to it.” The former addresses things that are in one of my presentations, which the latter is a good description of what I do for a living.

My two presentations went well. Both were well-attended (there were at least twenty people in each), and I had a very receptive audience. A lot of questions and comments (which I encourage) were shared at both sessions. I assume that they solicit session evaluations for these presentations, but so far, the feedback I’ve gotten has been positive!

Pepsico, one of the sponsors for this event, sponsored a “networking lounge,” where I hung out in-between my two sessions. I did strike up a conversation with a young lady from Pepsico who said to me something to the effect of “thank you for supporting (women in engineering)!” That was a nice little acknowledgement of my participation at an event that is dominated by women.

Lunch was also an interesting event as well. They billed it as a “power networking” lunch. The rule was that you were not allowed to sit at a table where you knew more than half of the people. (To facilitate this, each ID badge had a sticker on the back that designated your “assigned” table.) I sat at a table along with four young ladies, all (as far as I knew) of whom were students. One was a student at NJIT, and two (who knew each other) were from Ohio State. (I didn’t get much info from the fourth, and she didn’t stay very long.) I found out that they were chemical engineering students. (As it turned out, I happen to know chemical engineers from each of their geographic regions. Hey, more reason to network!) We had a wonderful conversation; I gave them my business card and told them to drop me a line if I could be of assistance.

I thought the networking lunch was a great idea! In my networking presentation (which, unfortunately, I didn’t do today), my attendees get an opportunity to network. When we do so, I tell them that I have one rule: you are not allowed to engage someone you know. You can’t; that defeats the entire purposes of developing networking contacts. Networking is such a huge deal in career development these days; I do have an entire presentation dedicated to it, after all, and I’ve been attending more events where they put an emphasis on networking (including this past PASS Summit). I hope more events schedule activities that facilitate and encourage networking!

I should also mention that this is the second time I have spoken at a WE Local conference (the first was in Buffalo last year), and for me, it’s a bit of an interesting experience. I’ve been speaking at various events (mostly SQL Saturdays) since 2015, but Buffalo last year was the first time that I spoke at an event where the attendees were predominantly female. STEM professions tend to be predominantly male, so there have been efforts by groups such as SWE and WIT to get more girls and women interested in pursuing STEM careers. That comment I got today in the networking lounge meant a lot to me, and I like to think I’m doing my part to contribute.

As I write this, there’s still a couple of hours left in this event. I’m going to see how the rest of the day winds up, maybe do something for dinner, then make the two-hour drive back home. Looks like the weather has cleared, the roads are clear, and I think it should be smooth sailing back home.

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Speaking this Saturday at #WELocalHartford #WELocal @SWETalk #SWELocal #WELocalHartford2023

This Saturday, March 4, I will be speaking in Hartford, CT, at the WE Local conference, presented by the Society of Women Engineers! This will be my second time speaking at this event; last year, I spoke at their conference in Buffalo.

I will be doing two presentations.

At 9:30 am in room 24, I will be doing my presentation about surviving an unemployment situation, titled: “I lost my job! Now what?!?” I will discuss topics such as how to deal with your emotions, how to improve your job prospects, and how to pass the time while you’re out of work.

At 11:45 am, also in room 24, I will do my technical writing presentation titled: “Tech Writing for Techies: A Primer.” Technical writing is likely the most misunderstood and ignored technical functions. This presentation is intended to clear up many of the misconceptions behind technical writing, explain why it’s important for your organization, and ways to improve the process.

To view the agenda for this event, click here! Hope to see you in Hartford on Saturday!

Upcoming speaking engagements (as of 8/30/2021) #ProfessionalDevelopment #TechCon21 #PASSDataCommunitySummit #DataSaturday #SQLSaturday #Networking #SQLFamily

Now that I have a couple of confirmed speaking engagements, I figured that this was a good time to update my upcoming speaking schedule!

Confirmed

These engagements are confirmed. I don’t have exact dates or times for either of these (and I might not for a little while); all I know is that these events are confirmed, and I am definitely speaking at them!

Note: these are both virtual events. To the best of my knowledge, they are both free to attend (well, I know PASS Data Summit is, anyway), so check the links for more information and to register.

All my presentations (so far) are professional development sessions, so feel free to register for these, regardless of whether you’re a techie or not. Don’t let the “technology” conferences scare you!

Still waiting to hear

I’ve submitted to speak here, but as of right now, I don’t yet know whether or not I’ve been picked to speak.

So, that’s my speaking schedule so far. These are all virtual conferences; I don’t yet have any in-person ones scheduled. Hope to see you at a conference sometime soon!

#PASSDataCommunitySummit — I’m speaking! #PASSSummit #SQLSaturday #DataSaturday #SQLFamily

And now that it’s been made public, I can announce this! (I’ve actually known about it for a week, but haven’t been allowed to announce it until now!)

I have been selected to speak at PASS Data Community Summit!

For those who’ve been following along, PASS Data Community Summit is the successor to PASS Summit, the worldwide conference for data professionals! It has been described as “the Super Bowl of SQL/Data Saturday” (I, personally, have described it as being “the All-Star Game of SQL Saturday“)! This is the third straight year that I will be speaking at this conference. Being selected just once is an honor. Being selected twice is amazing! Being selected three times? I suppose that makes me a star!

I will be doing my presentation about joblessness and unemployment, titled: “I lost my job! Now what?!?” This talk is geared toward people who are out of work and seeking employment; however, if you’re a student trying to break into the professional ranks, or even if you’re looking to make a change, you can get something out of this presentation as well!

PASS Data Community Summit is online, and it’s free! All you need to do is register! Go to their website to register!

I am excited to be speaking at this conference again, and I hope to see you there (virtually, of course)!

What’s your (tag)line?

Let’s say you’re an ad exec making a commercial. You’ve been tasked with coming up with a great tagline (and maybe a slogan) for a product. What would it be?

Or, to get to the point of this article — I mentioned earlier about marketing yourself. What would your tagline be?

For me, personally, it’s taken many years, but I think I’ve finally figured mine out: “My job is to make other people’s jobs easier.”

Let’s back up a bit. How did we get here?

There have been many great taglines in the history of advertising. Whenever you hear one of these, a specific product immediately comes to mind.

  • Think Different
  • Just Do It
  • Got Milk?
  • America Runs On Dunkin’

Each of these taglines immediately invokes the product they represent: Apple, Nike, California Milk Processor Board (and eventually, the entire dairy industry), and Dunkin’ Donuts.

Through my past several months of job hunting, it occurred to me that my career could best be summed up by what I did at one of my previous jobs. When I worked for a server infrastructure department, my job was to provide information to the server team in order for them to efficiently do their jobs. The department was a support team. My job was to support the support team.

It occurred to me that that was a good summary of my career, and a description of what I do best. I’m passionate about supplying my coworkers with whatever accurate information they need to do what they need to do, usually through documentation (although I use other means as well — it’s good to have database experience). This has created a mindset, as well as a degree of assertiveness, whenever I go into interviews.

So, my tagline is, “My job is to make other people’s jobs easier.”

What’s yours?

Reminder: I’m speaking at #SQLSaturday this weekend #SQLSat1017

This is a reminder that I will be speaking at virtual SQL Saturday #1017 (Minnesota) this Saturday, December 12.

A vast number of people, myself included, are looking for work. I will do my presentation titled “I lost my job! Now what?!?” this Saturday. I will discuss topics that include, among other things, dealing with the emotional impact, resumes, interviewing, and things you can do to hold yourself over during this period of uncertainty.

Hope to see you virtually this Saturday!

Talking about salary #JobHunt

It’s probably one of the most (if not the most) difficult and awkward subjects to broach during a job interview. And yet it will inevitably come up at some point in every hiring process.

How much do you want to get paid?

For me, this is always a sticky subject during the interview process. I even said during a recent interview, “that’s always a loaded question” (I’ll confess that I use this line often during interviews when the subject of salary comes up). To her credit, the interviewer laughed at that. It ended up making a nice ice-breaker, because she then proceeded to tell me the salary range. I never even had to tell her what I was looking for. It was way above what I was going to ask. If I’m offered this position, I would have absolutely no problem with the salary offer!

When it comes to the topic of salary during a job interview, I’m old school: never, ever, bring up salary unless the prospective employer brings it up first (after which it’s okay to discuss it). That is one ironclad rule of interviewing that I always follow: always let the interviewer be the first one to bring up the subject of salary. I’ve written before that I think selling what you have to offer is the better way for you to conduct an interview.

Here’s why I think salary discussion is difficult: when doing your homework for a prospective employer, you can learn as much as you can about their culture, history, products, customers, environment, and so on. But unless it’s listed somewhere in the job listing, it’s often difficult to get a read on how much a job is willing to offer. If the amount you give them is too high, you might disqualify yourself as a candidate. If it’s too low, they might not think highly of your skill set. Also, especially during these days during the pandemic, if you’re interviewing for a remote or work-at-home job, it’s difficult to get an idea of what to ask based on where you live. Salary tends to be a moving target, and it’s one that’s tough to hit, at least for me.

So how do you approach the topic of salary? I don’t know whether or not this is the ideal way to do it, but this is what I do, and it seems to work for me.

I’ll usually start by discussing what I was making at my last job. In my mind, it establishes a starting point and gives me an idea of where to go from there. In all likelihood, I’ll need to make adjustments.

I also have a minimum that I would consider. (Make sure you have both hourly and annual salary numbers.) If my low number is potentially high for the prospective employer, I make sure to emphasize that I am negotiable. I am not an aggressive person by nature, so I, personally, have difficulty with making a highball offer, even though some people advise that I should do so. I do think you need to have an idea of your minimum. I’ve seen many job listings that I’ve outright rejected because the salaries they listed were well below my minimum (I do say I’m negotiable, but the jobs I reject are ones that go well below my negotiable limits). I’ve also been rejected as a candidate because my asking price (even my minimum) was too high. (To this latter point, if the employer is not willing to make that investment in you, is that place the best fit for you, anyway?)

The prospective employer also factors into my salary negotiation. I would love to work in, say, academia, but those jobs tend to pay less. Some private sector and contractor jobs will go higher. Where I’m applying often factors into my own expectation when it comes to salary.

So this is how I, personally, approach the subject of salary. Is it the best way? I have no idea. Is there a better way? Maybe.

If you have a better way, please feel free to comment below.

You didn’t ask questions at your interview? You just blew the interview #JobHunt

This afternoon, I saw a tweet from James Phillips, who posted this:

It reminded me of what I think is an important point when you’re interviewing for a position. I responded with this:

This is a point that I emphasize in my job hunt presentation; in fact, I made mention of this in an earlier article, and I think it’s important enough that it’s worth emphasizing again. When you’re preparing for a job interview, make sure you have at least two or three questions prepared for the interviewer (I’d even prepare more that that; note that you don’t have to ask all of them). I’ve also mentioned this during Thomas Grohser’s interview presentation. I’ve sat in on his presentation a number of times (sometimes at his request), and I make sure that I bring this up as a talking point.

If you’re interviewing for a job, one of the worst things you can do is NOT ask any questions at an interview. I’ve heard several stories of people who blew their interview because they did not ask any questions — and for good reason.

When you’re interviewing for a position, keep in mind that you’re interviewing the company just as much as they’re interviewing you. You want to ensure that the position is the right fit for you — that it’s something that interests you, something you think you can fulfill, and the company culture is the right fit.

Asking questions is also a signal to the interviewer. It demonstrates that you are interested in the job and the organization. Not asking questions not only shows that you’re not interested, it also shows that you aren’t taking the interview seriously. This could prove fatal to your job interview.

That being said, it’s also important to ask the right questions (I actually wrote about this a while back). The best questions are those that demonstrate that you’re willing to be a team player for your prospective employer. For example, one question that I always bring with me to every interview is, “what is your biggest issue, and what can I do to help?” It demonstrates that I’m interested in the company, and that I’m willing to help resolve any issues that arise. Try to avoid questions that are self-centered (e.g. “what’s in it for me,” “what’s the salary range,” etc.). (That said, you’re going to want to know about the company, so try to phrase your questions in such a way that it doesn’t sound like, “what’s in it for me?”)

Whenever I prepare for an interview, I’ll research the company, and I always prepare appropriate questions in advance, such as “how can I help you solve your problems” (shows that I’m a team player), “what challenges does your organization face” (shows I’m interested in the company), or “what does your team do for fun” (shows I’m interested in team dynamics).

A resource I’d suggest is a book or website about good interview questions. There are a number of them out there (here’s a link to a few books on Amazon). Go to your local library, buy your own copy, or search Google. All of these provide good suggestions for appropriate questions to bring to a job interview.

Asking good questions won’t necessarily guarantee that you’ll land the job, but not asking questions nearly guarantees that you won’t get the job. Prepare questions in advance, and be prepared to ask questions as things come up during your interview. Don’t blow your interview by not asking any questions.

I’m speaking this upcoming Saturday, October 3 #SQLSaturday #SQLSat1003 #SQLSatMemphis

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This upcoming Saturday, October 3, I will be speaking at SQL Saturday #1003, Memphis. Of course, because of pandemic restrictions, I will not actually be traveling to Memphis; SQL Saturday #1003 is virtual, and I will be presenting from my home office in Troy, NY.

(In a way, it’s too bad I won’t be in Memphis. I’ve heard good things about Memphis barbecue!)

A lot of people (myself included) have lost their jobs during the pandemic, so it’s especially apropos that I will be presenting my session titled, “I lost my job! Now what?!?“

If you want to check out my (and other great) sessions this Saturday, use the SQL Saturday #1003 link to register.

Hope to see you virtually this Saturday!

Upcoming speaking engagements (as of 9/10/2020) #SQLSaturday #PASSSummit

This morning, I got the official word that I will be speaking at SQL Saturday #1003, Memphis on October 3. Since it’s being held virtually, I don’t have to make travel plans to Tennessee. (That’s too bad, since I understand that Memphis is a cool city to visit, with its music history and barbecue!)

I am now confirmed to speak at two (virtual) events, so I figured that this was a good a time as any to update my speaking schedule.

I continue to apply to speaking events that I am able to attend (since many are held virtually right now, it makes it easier). As my speaking schedule is updated, I’ll keep you posted.