Where did the year go? It’s the last T-SQL Tuesday of 2025.
This month’s invite comes from Mike Walsh, who asks us to write a note to our past self and another note from our future self. The invite doesn’t reference A Christmas Carol, but I can’t help but think of writing these notes as the Ghost of Christmas Past and the Ghost of Christmas Future, since we’re in the Christmas season.
As always, click the T-SQL Tuesday logo to read the full invite.
A Message to “10-Years-Ago You”
So you’re being offered the role of a database administrator. You’re nervous about role changes, your anxiety is at an all-time high, and you really just want to play it safe and stick with what you know. But you’ll accept the challenge and be glad you did. You’ll learn from those around you and find plenty of helpful resources in the SQL Server community. You’ll kick around the idea of starting a blog for years. You should have started it sooner, but better late than never. There will be a lot of AWS/Azure talk, and you’ll spend a fair amount of time learning about it. You won’t end up using it as often as you originally thought, but it was still worth learning.
Oh yeah, you’re going to have a bad day with a particular configuration database sometime in 2024. Really bad. Just know it’ll be OK.
A Message from “2035 You“
Your role is changing again. It’s been gravitating more towards software engineering for a while, but instead of a significant change being years away, it’s happening now. You need to remember that you’ve done hard things and you have evidence to back up that you’ll do it again. That doesn’t mean it will be easy; there will be plenty of stress and frustration along the way. But you can be confident that you’ll figure it out. You won’t learn it all overnight. You’ll never “learn it all” at all. Not even close. But with that in mind, one thing you’ll need to learn is how to not burn yourself out.
In 2035, The whole AI thing hasn’t worked out to the extent that some had dreamed, but it didn’t fold up and go away either. Keep using it where you can to make work and life easier, and remember to always check the results. AI hallucinations are still a thing here in 2035.
You’ve learned a lot about databases and SQL Server. Just because being a database administrator is no longer your official role doesn’t mean you can’t keep learning about it and staying involved. You never know what opportunities might be around the corner.
A Message to All
I agree 100% with Mike’s mention of how we all tend to spend too much energy being anxious and worrying about things that, in the end, we didn’t have to stress about. As the Seneca quote goes, “We suffer more often in imagination than in reality.” During this time of year, try not to worry about the past or the future. Be present, have a happy holiday, and don’t take the time you have with loved ones for granted.
Thanks for reading!
Chad Callihan 