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Issue 10.5 ('Real World 2012')
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COLUMN

Moments of Transition

The Databaase Column Changes Hands

Issue: 10.5 (July/August 2012)
Author: Craig Boyd
Article Description: No description available.
Article Length (in bytes): 3,726
Starting Page Number: 68
Article Number: 10511
Related Link(s): None

Excerpt of article text...

When Marc announced that Paul was going to stop writing his database column I was only a little surprised, but very disappointed (in a very selfish sort of way). Writing a column for a periodical is work, but writing three is a great deal of work! So I completely understood why something had to give for Paul. I think he made a wise choice by dialing things back a little bit. Paul's database columns for me have always been interesting, informative and written in such a conversational way that they are one of the things I always look forward to in each issue and I am going to miss them a lot.

I am delighted that he is continuing to write in RSD. Out of curiosity I started going back through past issues and I had to go back about three years before I found an issue without a Paul Lefebvre article in it. So I tip my hat to Paul and say "thanks" for all the hard work you have done and have yet to do!

When Marc asked if I was interested in writing the database column I was both surprised and thrilled. Surprised because there are so many other more qualified people in the community I just assumed one of them had already stepped up to do it. Thrilled because I care a lot about database development!

I have been in IT for about seventeen years, fifteen of which has involved writing code in some form or another. I have written programs in COBOL, CL, RPG IV, Microsoft Visual Basic 5 & 6, a tad bit of Java and Perl, tons of SQL, and lots of REALbasic for my own "itches" that needed scratching. About seven years ago I became sick and tired of working on databases that were so poorly designed it was costing thousands of dollars to make what should have been simple updates and functional changes. At that point in my career I had had enough and a spot opened up on our data modeling team which I jumped at. My attitude then and now has been that I want to help my development brethren work on a better quality database than what I have had to work on. Writing software is hard enough without having to work on a miserable database. And over the years there have been folks I have been able to help and it has been extremely rewarding for everyone involved.

So that is what I want to do with this column, I want to help. But in order to do that I need to know what you are struggling with in the database world. So please write to me and tell me! I would love to hear from you and what hurdle you have standing before you. And if you have found a workaround for a problem I would love to hear that too.

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