People & Work on Andy M Mallon - AM²

Publishing a Code of Conduct isn't enough

Wed, 13 Jul 2022 16:24:03 -0400

Elphie wearing her "I bark at bigots" pawkerchief I've seen more and more events & communities adopt Codes of Conduct. Even local events, local user groups, and smaller online communities are adopting Codes of Conduct. That's GREAT! ...but it's just a great start. It's not that easy.

Discoverability

The issue of discoverability is common, but easy to fix. Let’s look at a specific scenario. An event publishes a Code of Conduct, and has attendees agree to it when they sign up to attend. That’s all great. But during the event someone experiences, witnesses, or hears about behavior that sounds like a Code of Conduct violation. They didn’t think it would happen to them–even though they read & agreed to the Code of Conduct, they don’t have it memorized and need to go find it. Where do they find it?

What's important in a code of conduct?

Fri, 26 Jun 2020 11:14:10 -0400

Earlier this week, I published a post about a proposed Tech Community Equality Index, and used it to grade the largest organization in the data community, PASS.

One of the areas where I was critical of PASS is that their Anti-Harassment Policy (AHP) is not trans-inclusive, as it does not protect gender identity or expression. The PASS AHP is limited to “gender, race, sexual orientation, disability, religion, or any other protected classification,” and unfortunately that doesn’t include protections for trans folks. What this text implies is, “if the law doesn’t protect you, we don’t protect you.” I don’t think that is PASS’s intent, but rather a bug in their implementation. In the US, the Supreme Court recently ruled in Bostock v Clayton County, GA that employment discrimination based on sexual orientation (including transgender folks) is a protected class under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, but this only applies to workplace discrimination in the United States, and doesn’t cover non-work events nor international events. Additionally, the PASS policy makes the AHP optional for SQLSaturday, and provides no guidance or mechanism for local user groups to adopt their AHP.

Hi, I'm Andy. My pronouns are he/him.

Tue, 23 Jun 2020 05:01:47 -0400

Forget what you learned in school-- "they" is singular

Lots of folks want to be an ally to the LGBTQ community, but don’t know where to start. One great way to be an ally is relatively low-friction.

List your pronouns. Everywhere.

Put your pronouns in your social media profile & your email signature. Edit your LinkedIn profile. Put it on your business cards. Make your pronouns part of your introduction. “Hi, I’m Andy. My pronouns are he/him. Nice to meet you.”

Racism is our problem to solve

Tue, 09 Jun 2020 01:00:59 -0400

This month's T-SQL Tuesday is hosted by Kenneth Fisher (blog|twitter). Kenneth asked us to talk about any non-SQL tips and tricks we have. I'm going to take the moment to give some tips on how (and why) you can help fight bigotry, racism, and racial injustice.

In the US, Racism is a white people problem

The lack of diversity in Tech is a well-documented, well-known problem. Most companies have employee resource groups (ERGs) or other programs to help tackle the problem and build a more diverse workforce. However, companies cannot solve this problem without the engagement and help of employees.

Pride is a riot

Mon, 08 Jun 2020 08:30:10 -0400

Marsha P Johnson, LGBTQ rights activist & Stonewall instigator. Last year was the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots, which mark the start of the modern LGBTQ rights movement in the US. In the subsequent half century, the queer community has made significant strides in our march towards equality. Sodomy laws were struck down by the courts (but only as recently as 2003), same-sex couples can be married (state-by-state, starting in Massachusetts in 2004, and only with Federal recognition in 2015), and 21 states have enacted employment laws to fully protect employees from discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation. (As of today, 29 states still don't protect LGBTQ folks in the workplace: 12 states provide no protection, and 17 states provide only partial protection).

On June 15, 2020, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in Bostock v Clayton County, GA that employment discrimination based on sexual orientation (including transgender folks) is a protected class under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This adds employment/workplace protections for LGBTQ folks in the 29 states where states had previously failed to enact protections. This ruling does not affect other aspects of queer lives, as this ruling is specific to workplace protections.

One of the key instigators of the Stonewall riots was Marsha “Pay It No Mind” Johnson, a founder of the Gay Liberation Front, a devoted member of ACT UP, and co-founder of STAR (Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries).

Supporting the LGBTQ #SQLFamily

Mon, 23 Sep 2019 22:54:39 -0400

I won’t be at PASS Summit this year, so unlike last year, I won’t be organizing an LGBTQ Meetup at PASS Summit. I’m hoping that even without the meetup, all my LGBTQ #SQLFamily friends will still get together for some fun and networking.

Year 5: May 2018 - May 2019

Wed, 22 May 2019 09:00:38 -0400

In my last few posts, I’ve walked down memory lane, and talked about a ton of great successes I’ve had in my five years as blogger & speaker. It’s been fun to reminisce about how far I’ve come and brag about some success. Today’s post has a bit of a different theme.

Year 3: May 2016 - May 2017

Mon, 20 May 2019 09:00:52 -0400

Year Two was a busy year, and I was taking blogging seriously. In Year Three, my goal was to keep focused on what I learned in the FreeCon the year before, and keep moving forward with both blogging and speaking at conferences and user groups. I was putting a bit more effort into my speaking (and thus easing off on the blogging some). I was still trying to get into a regular cadence of blogging, and most Sunday mornings, I was at a coffee shop in front of my laptop trying to focus. Dedicating time to blog doesn’t guarantee completed posts–but it helped. I published 27 blog posts during this 12 months–fewer than the prior year, but still averaging one post every other week. I have a full-time day job that doesn’t pay for me to blog–so those posts (and all my in-person speaking presentations) were written nights & weekends in my “free” time.

Year 2: May 2015 - May 2016

Fri, 17 May 2019 08:00:41 -0400

My blog's Terrible Twos weren't so terribleIn Year 1, I only wrote 6 blog posts. In Year 2, I made a conscious decision to take things seriously, and kicked things into high gear. During this 12-month period, I wrote 36 blog posts--my best 12-months as far as pace & productivity in these five years.

This was an incredibly transformational year. I spoke at a user group for the first time. I went to PASS Summit for the first time. I spoke at a SQL Saturday for the first time. I helped organize a SQL Saturday. I had blog posts picked up and published in multiple SQL Server newsletters. To say it was a whirlwind would be an understatement. I wrote a blog post that, to this day, remains the most popular post on this blog.

Year 1: May 2014 - May 2015

Thu, 16 May 2019 09:00:29 -0400

I wrote a little bit about starting my blog in my last post. But let’s take a closer look at that first 12 months.

I’ve lost my blog stats for that first year, so I can’t say exactly how many visitors I had. I can say that the number of views was so low that it didn’t matter. If I were going to offer a generous estimate, I would guess I got whopping 100 page views in year one (mostly from me).

Blogging on a whim

Wed, 15 May 2019 09:00:06 -0400

On May 16, 2014, I bought a domain on a whim. I’d been sitting in the NOCC (Network Operations & Control Center) at my employer, helping with maintenance. I was waiting on another team to perform their task, and champing at the bit.

Failure is always an option

Tue, 15 Jan 2019 08:00:49 -0500

A while back, I had the pleasure of sitting down to talk with Bert Wagner (blog|twitter), Erin Stellato (blog|twitter), and an anonymous friend about some of our #SQLFail moments.

https://youtu.be/osqoWOw2jss

Everyone screws up

Everyone has their failures. Nobody is perfect. But failure can be a good thing. We can learn from our failures, and learn not to make the same mistakes again in the future. Failure only becomes a problem when we make the same mistake repeatedly. Bloggers spend a lot of time writing about our successes, but we’re human and we make mistakes, too. This post is a chance to share one of my memorable failures.

Working from home: Home office tour

Tue, 18 Dec 2018 11:08:10 -0500

Callie might be the best office mate I've ever had. About two years ago, I moved my home office down into the basement at our house. At the time, I was working from home two (sometimes three) days per week, and sharing a home office with my husband was starting to feel cramped. He was rarely working at the same time as me, but only half the space was mine. The basement has a large finished room that we weren't using for anything else, so it was up for grabs. I painted my new office, and moved right in. This gave me a dedicated, and somewhat secluded place to work--no more worrying that my early morning call will disturb Ken while he sleeps on the other side of the wall, and less worry about getting interrupted during video calls.

Earlier this year, I started a new job as Product Manager for SentryOne, and work from home full time. This means I spend more (awake) time in my office than any other room in the house. Over the last few months, I’ve spent some more time making my office be someplace I actually look forward to going every day. I finished my last project over the weekend, so I thought I’d take everyone through a guided tour of my home office.

Following up on the LGBTQ Meetup at PASS Summit

Wed, 21 Nov 2018 10:13:51 -0500

It’s been almost two weeks since the LGBTQ Meetup that I organized at PASS Summit, and I wanted to offer a bit of follow-up and commentary on the event. Why did I wait two weeks before writing this follow-up? Well, tomorrow is American Thanksgiving, so I wanted to take a moment to talk about how thankful I am for the community’s support.

I'm in a book! Data Professionals at Work

Sat, 13 Oct 2018 19:34:59 -0400

Back in January, I got a message from Malathi Mahadevan (blog|twitter) asking me if I would participate in a book she was working on. The book, Data Professionals At Work, is part of Apress Media's "...At Work" series. The book is an anthology of interviews with Microsoft-focused data professionals. I want to thank Mala again for inviting me to participate, and for all the effort she put into making this book happen. A number of us will be at PASS Summit this year, so keep an eye out for details on some book-related events at Summit!

The list of interviewees spans data professionals with a wide range of specialty and experience. There are Microsoft employees, DBAs, Developers, BI Developers, and more. With such a great list of contributors, just about every data professional will find some chapters familiar and other chapters an adventure in a different career.

LGBTQ Meetup at PASS Summit 2018

Mon, 08 Oct 2018 09:14:30 -0400

In 2016, I organized an (unofficial) PASS Summit LGBT Meetup. It was a bit of a last-minute party, and more than once I found myself saying, “Worst case scenario, I’ll end up having a chill cocktail party with some friends.” Turns out, I under estimated myself: I sold out of (free) tickets, the room was at full capacity, we raised over $3000 for The Trevor Project, and everyone had a great time.

Who are the extra special people in your life?

Fri, 21 Sep 2018 09:28:34 -0400

Warning: This is not my typical blog post. It has nothing to do with databases, nor IT, nor even technology. However, it has everything to do with you, with your career, and with your success. I’ve decided to turn this exercise into a public blog post, but it is a deeply personal, raw blog post. I don’t expect others to share their thoughts publicly, but I encourage everyone to take some time and do this same exercise privately.

Hanging up my DBA cleats

Mon, 09 Jul 2018 10:00:52 -0400

Take the time to celebrate any #ChampagneMoment that life throws your way. Remember to toast your own accomplishments, big or small.

I’m no accidental DBA. Very shortly after I started working in tech, I realized that I wanted to be a DBA when I grew up. Eventually, I landed that DBA job, and have been a DBA ever since. I talk about my journey when I give my “How to get your dream job” talk (you can watch the recording here).

How to get your dream job - Webinar recording

Mon, 09 Jul 2018 09:30:58 -0400

I recently presented for the PASS Professional Development virtual group with my session “How to get your dream job: resume & job hunting tips.” When I’m speaking at SQLSaturdays and User Groups, I frequently meet people looking to advance their career, make a career change, or are just interested in how I got where I am. Earlier this year, I decided to turn that conversation into a 60-minute session. In addition to the one-on-one conversations, I can now do a one-to-many session to share my own experience and offer some additional advice to other data professionals.

Interviewed by Mohammad Darab

Wed, 20 Dec 2017 10:01:42 -0500

As part of Mohammad’s series of interviews, he interviewed me on my thoughts on the future of SQL Server, the DBA role, and the cloud.

Read the interview on Mohammad’s site.

Q&A with the MVP Award Program

Wed, 01 Nov 2017 11:38:58 -0400

I was recently interviewed by the Microsoft MVP Award Program about organizing the LGBT meetup at PASS Summit last year, and about running diverse, inclusive tech events here in Boston. We discuss why it’s important to have LGBT events, and other events that focus on under-represented groups, as well as how we run inclusive events here in Boston.

Change in plans for LGBT+ Meetup at PASS Summit 2017

Sun, 01 Oct 2017 14:24:20 -0400

Unfortunately, due to a change in plans, I’m not going to be at PASS Summit this year, so I won’t be hosting this meetup in 2017. Hopefully, next year the event will be back!

Still want to meet up?

If you’re bummed that this meetup isn’t happening (I know I am), I have two suggestions:

SentryOne Community Ambassador

Thu, 20 Jul 2017 10:13:28 -0400

1947 Nash Ambassador. Unfortunately, the SentryOne Community Ambassador program does not provide me with one of these.

Last week, SentryOne announced their new PAC Community Ambassador program. I’m incredibly excited to be part of this new program.

PAC? Huh?

SentryOne doesn’t fuel their monitoring software with power-pellets, the PAC is their Product Advisory Council. This is a group of their users and industry experts who help provide feedback on the product, new features, marketing, etc. Sometimes we’re beta testers, sometimes we’re a focus group, and sometimes we just share our performance woes.

The most important resume tip

Sun, 09 Jul 2017 10:52:24 -0400

Writing a good resume is hard. People will tell you lots of rules about what you should always or never do with your resume. Should you follow those rules? Are things different because of your industry/background/geography/niche? Should you be clever or classic? It depends™.

There is one important thing to keep in mind for your resume. This tip is not a rule, but it is a universal fact. Whether you’re a battle-scarred IT veteran, or a fresh-faced college grad, keep this one tip in mind when you read or update your resume.

LGBT+ Meetup at PASS Summit 2017

Wed, 28 Jun 2017 10:27:26 -0400

UPDATE: Unfortunately, due to a change in plans, I'm not going to be at PASS Summit this year, so I won't be hosting this meetup in 2017. Check out details here.

Last year, I organized an (unofficial) PASS Summit LGBT Meetup. It was a bit of a last-minute party, and more than once I found myself saying, "Worst case scenario, I'll end up having a chill cocktail party with some friends." Turns out, I under estimated myself: I sold out of (free) tickets, the room was at full capacity, we raised over $3000 for The Trevor Project, and everyone had a great time.

In June, the LGBT+ community celebrates Pride Month, to coincide with the anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall Riots in New York City. Pride Month gives us a time to celebrate that we are proud to be ourselves, and that we aren’t ashamed to identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer, straight, another label, no label, etc. Pride is a time to build our community, to promote equality, to be accepted, and to just have fun.

Congratulations 2017 Microsoft MVP!

Sun, 19 Mar 2017 09:42:01 -0400

Earlier this month, I got an email with the subject line “Congratulations 2017 Microsoft MVP!” I immediately commenced doing a Snoopy happy dance (my dog, Callie, picked up on the excitement and joined in). If you aren’t familiar with the MVP Program, you might be asking,

Community Influencer of the Year

Sat, 31 Dec 2016 11:59:00 -0500

Last night, I was sitting at home with my husband, when I got an ominous message from Aaron Bertrand (blog|twitter):

You up? I'm about to blog about you. You've been warned. ~ Aaron Bertrand

Uhhh.... OK? It was 10:30 on a Friday night. I was pretty sure Aaron was still on vacation with his wife. Why would Aaron be blogging about me? And why was it so important that he would be publishing a blog post while he's on vacation? If it's that important, shouldn't I know about it? Well, it must be important because he had just sent me a message to warn me. I did what any level-headed, rational person would do: I brought up Aaron's blog and hit F5 every five seconds until the post went live. ## 2016 Community Influencer of the Year

I hounded Aaron for a cool badge, and he finally made one for me.

Whoa! Aaron’s post named me as his first Community Influencer of the Year. It’s a funny feeling to be the first recipient of an award. Not only was I surprised that I was in the running, I was surprised that anyone was in the running.

(Unofficial) PASS Summit 2016 LGBT Meetup

Wed, 12 Oct 2016 09:00:51 -0400

PASS Summit has tons of opportunities to meet like-minded folks, in addition to seeing old friends. There are the Women In Tech and Birds of a Feather Luncheons. There is the Community Zone. Friends catch up over coffee and meals. There are vendor parties. There is SQL Karaoke.

Benefits tell you a lot about a company

Mon, 11 Jul 2016 10:00:58 -0400

When you’re interviewing with a new company, pay attention to their benefits. Even the ones that aren’t important to you personally.

Benefits don’t just include health/dental/vision insurance and retirement/pension (I’ll call these “core benefits”). It includes life insurance, disability, maternity leave, vacation, sick time, as well as “perks” like free snacks in the lunch room, paying your cell phone bill, or a company retreat to Napa. Every one of these are important considerations.

Job hunting is like dating

Mon, 11 Jul 2016 10:00:15 -0400

Most of us spend at least eight hours per day working. In America, we spend an average of 25 minutes commuting, each way. That’s nine hours dedicated to work every day. You probably see your coworkers as much as you see your friends and significant other. That’s why finding the right fit is important.

My 5th DBAnniversary

Tue, 10 May 2016 09:00:43 -0400

Five years ago today, I officially became a DBA:

Good afternoon. It is my pleasure to extend to you our offer of employment for the position of Database Administrator

How I got there

I got my first job at a software company in 2003. I had no degree, I had no experience, and I had no idea what SQL Server was. The company was in start-up phase, and I was a warm body with low salary requirements and high ambition. It was a match made in heaven.

It didn’t take long before I was installing SQL Server 2000 on an NT4 server to test our application on that configuration. I learned how log shipping worked, and configured DR for our clients. I did a lot of DBA work, but I wasn’t a DBA.

Watch your step! Don't become a DBA-hole

Tue, 14 Jul 2015 01:37:00 -0400

No, I’m not discouraging anyone from being a DBA. I’m just discouraging DBAs from being A-holes.

DBAs (and IT folk in general) have a terrible reputation for being curmudgeons, jerks, and a-holes. These guys exist, and working with them is a miserable experience–but they’re a minority. Unfortunately, they are a memorable minority and they give the rest of us a bad name.