In a few months I celebrate 14 years as an IT professional. I have held a slew of titles in my career with various companies, and was a contractor for half of my career:

System Administrator in local state government
Systems Engineer with U.S. Air Force (supporting Solaris and NetBackup environment)
ETL developer with the U.S. Army
Database Administrator for U.S. Department of Defence
Lead Engineer for a $1.8 million e-commerce site with the U.S. Air Force

I am enjoying my employment with Pythian immensely. I have finally found a company that matches up to my goals of not just meeting the standard—but aiming for exceptional.

Do you meet the standard?

I have worked in many environments, with various types of people in my career. I have come to learn that Pythian hires a group of people that set themselves apart from other organizations. Pythian strives to hire (and continuously help) employees be exceptional, and not just meet the standard. One thing that stood out to me with previous companies—was being able to easily identify those that aimed to just meet the standard of what they were hired to do. These people are also seen as those “just working to get a paycheck.”

Overall, the ones who just got by in order to receive a paycheck were not the ones I saw learning about new technologies or making an effort to become more efficient. I would come in after a weekend looking to chit-chat about what I had learned or read, and most of the time fell short in finding anyone to discuss this with.

At Pythian, I have yet to come across anyone that has not read (or even written) something current about SQL Server or a related technology (e.g data architecture, cloud services, etc.). If there is something new I want to learn, Pythian will help me in that endeavour…and pay me to do it. That says a lot about the quality of support a company can provide for their clients.

Being Exceptional

Pythian has a global team of experts to support their clients, which means I can find someone at any time of the day to talk about SQL Server or similar technologies. Pythian is about servicing and protecting your data, and not just with SQL Server. That means that I’m unable to just sit here and be content. I am a “data” administrator, and it isn’t enough for me to just learn SQL Server. Pythian provides the support for me to learn about MySQL or even SQL Azure (Microsoft’s SQL Server in the cloud). I can connect with individuals that will guide me toward that goal. It’s awesome!

Grow and Change

If you want to see yourself grow professionally (and maybe grow your career too), aim to be exceptional at it, and not just be content to earn a paycheck. This applies to any job or position. Embrace the mindset, “I don’t just have a job—but someone is paying me to do what I enjoy doing best.”

If you happen to be in a company that does not fully support growth in your career, maybe it is time to change. Take a look at Pythian and maybe you will find the perfect home.

I have been blessed to find a company that encourages me to be exceptional and truly helps me to “love your data”.