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The Voice of the DBA

The Library Job Hunt

I was reminded of the ways I've looked for jobs by a post from the Job Headhunter about library time. Rather than looking for what jobs are available, the recommendation is to take a targeted approach of using the library as a place to focus your energies and find the job that you really want, or at least type of job you want.

Far too many of us look for jobs when we need them, often feeling financial pressures to accept the first offer we get. The pace of hiring usually prevents us from considering multiple offers, as the timing of interviews may not align. We make decisions for expediency, more than any other reason.

We also usually fall from job to job, perhaps accepting a position that doesn't quite suit us, or keeps us in the same position when we'd rather move. Again, time and financial pressures can force bad decisions. There's also the fact that despite the training and schooling many of us have gone through, we don't usually think about other options in the hectic, day-to-day chaos of our lives.

The Job Headhunter recommends spending time in the library researching and thinking about different jobs. Certainly you could do this from the comfort of your home with technology, but I agree with the premise. The library can help you focus without the distractions at home. You can spend time thinking about your life, your goals, your interests, your skills, and more. Come up with a plan that drives your career forward. Certainly your research might give you some unexpected answer, but likely this will help you focus on some intersection of your skills and interests.

Life is short, and there are opportunities out there for you. Choose the ones you want, hone your skills, and actively pursue the employment that fits in your life. The work, the company, the location, whatever is most important to you.

Steve Jones from SQLServerCentral.com

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Question of the Day

Today's Question (by Mike Tanner):

In mathematics, multiplication and division are said to be commutative, meaning that it doesn't matter which order the operation is performed in.

The way SQL Server performs numeric calculations follows clear rules, including operator precedence and data type conversion precendence. Usually what SQL does is what you'd expect in mathematics, however, sometimes there can be unexpected results.

In this example

 create table #t (a real, b int, c int); insert into #t select 2,3,4; select a*b/c + a*(b/c) as Total from #t;

What the value of Total?

It's easy enough to cut and paste and try, but can you get the right answer yourself without running the code?

Think you know the answer? Click here, and find out if you are right.

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This question is worth 2 points in this category: Operator precedence.

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Yesterday's Question of the Day

Yesterday's Question (by Steve Jones):

At Redgate, we sometimes owe each other beers for mistakes or insults rendered to another. I've got a table with a number of items being tracked.

Since we need to settle up tonight, who is owed the most net beer (owed - owes)?

 WITH myBeers AS (SELECT OwedTo, OwedBy, EarnedDate, Beer FROM ( VALUES ('Bart','Steve', '2017-01-25', 4),

('Bart','Andrew', '2017-01-28', 2),

('Andrew','Rob', '2017-08-20', 1),

('Bart','Andrew', '2017-05-08', 2),

('Ally','Tony', '2017-02-05', 2),

('Tugberk','Dave', '2017-05-28', 2),

('Dave','Tugberk', '2017-06-17', 3),

('Bart','Steve', '2017-02-18', 4),

('Bart','Andrew', '2017-06-19', 2),

('Tugberk','Dave', '2017-08-17', 2),

('Tony','Bart', '2017-01-29', 3),

('Andrew','Rob', '2017-08-10', 1),

('Tugberk','Bart', '2017-04-12', 3),

('Bart','Steve', '2017-05-11', 4),

('Bart','Steve', '2017-03-28', 4),

('Andrew','Rob', '2017-02-06', 1),

('Tony','Bart', '2017-04-26', 3),

('Tugberk','Bart', '2017-03-01', 3),

('Rob','Ally', '2017-08-29', 1),

('Bart','Steve', '2017-03-02', 4),

('Rob','Ally', '2017-09-02', 1),

('Bart','Steve', '2017-03-09', 4),

('Ally','Tony', '2017-08-06', 3),

('Bart','Andrew', '2017-06-01', 2),

('Bart','Steve', '2017-05-12', 4),

('Andrew','Rob', '2017-06-02', 1),

('Dave','Tugberk', '2017-03-15', 3),

('Dave','Tugberk', '2017-04-11', 3),

('Tugberk','Bart', '2017-04-10', 3),

('Tugberk','Bart', '2017-06-29', 4),

('Dave','Rob', '2017-03-09', 1),

('Bart','Andrew', '2017-03-26', 2),

('Tony','Dave', '2017-04-11', 1),

('Bart','Steve', '2017-04-20', 4),

('Tugberk','Dave', '2017-02-10', 1),

('Bart','Andrew', '2017-08-27', 2),

('Rob','Tony', '2017-04-05', 3),

('Dave','Tugberk', '2017-04-15', 3),

('Andrew','Dave', '2017-02-03', 1),

('Tugberk','Bart', '2017-05-06', 4),

('Rob','Tony', '2017-07-27', 3),

('Bart','Andrew', '2017-07-16', 2),

('Bart','Steve', '2017-03-12', 4),

('Bart','Steve', '2017-06-06', 4),

('Andrew','Bart', '2017-06-30', 3),

('Dave','Rob', '2017-01-15', 1),

('Bart','Andrew', '2017-03-03', 2),

('Andrew','Dave', '2017-04-23', 1),

('Tugberk','Dave', '2017-04-24', 2),

('Steve','Tony', '2017-06-08', 2),

('Tugberk','Bart', '2017-02-02', 3),

('Tony','Bart', '2017-01-29', 3),

('Tony','Bart', '2017-03-30', 3),

('Bart','Steve', '2017-02-09', 4),

('Ally','Tony', '2017-06-09', 3),

('Tony','Bart', '2017-02-11', 3),

('Andrew','Rob', '2017-01-15', 1),

('Tugberk','Dave', '2017-03-14', 1),

('Rob','Tony', '2017-04-25', 3),

('Dave','Tugberk', '2017-02-01', 3),

('Tony','Bart', '2017-09-04', 4)

) a(OwedTo, OwedBy, EarnedDate, Beer) ) SELECT * FROM myBeers

Answer: Bart

Explanation:

The net owed beer is:

Ally: 6
Andrew: -6
Bart: 18
Dave: 6
Rob: 4
Steve: -42
Tony: 1
Tugberk: 13

Therefore, Bart is a happy man.

» Discuss this question and answer on the forums

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