I had one prior personal blog that I built about 15 years ago, and which I recently deleted after a decade of neglect. I had abandoned it long ago, but I had continued to pay for the hosting and the domain registration. It served its purpose at the time: to share some family moments with friends. But I kept that old domain name alive for a long time, always thinking that I might use it again someday for something else. I have a tendency to hold on to things and it was difficult for me to shut it down.

I purchased this GreenRamps.com domain in 2016, but I have never used it. Not until this week, and only because I want to be considered for selection in Paul Randal’s Class of 2023 mentorship program, described here in this post. Reading his post and realizing that I had this opportunity, got me to set this site up for the first time.

Back to my plans for GreenRamps… I had a lot of ideas at the time I thought of the name, and those ideas continued to evolve. Initially, I had hoped to start an IT consulting business, where I would be the consultant, but I would offer internship opportunities to people who are just trying to break into IT, with some simple tasks. Whatever the person’s interests would be, I was hoping I could provide them with enough work where I could honestly and whole-heartedly recommend them to an employer. I have always enjoyed finding job opportunities and reviewing resumes for people that I know. I assisted a young man with his resume a few months ago. He didn’t ask me to help him. I begged him to let me help him when I found out he was graduating soon. I know how hard it can be to get that first paying job in IT, and I like to think that some people could benefit from some of my past experiences.

I’ve been working with SQL Server as a DBA for over 10 years, and I’ve been working in IT for over 20. I am very grateful for all of the information that people have shared online and in books over the years. When I ran into an unexpected SQL Server behavior recently, I considered writing it up to share with the community, but I only got as far as excitingly telling a coworker about it. It had taken me a few hours of troubleshooting before I nailed the root of the problem down, but I also wasted some time thinking I had done something incorrectly. Someone else might benefit if a quick search were to point them in the right direction. But once my initial excitement wore off, I realized how much work I would have to put into writing out an adequate post describing the problem I encountered. I tend to stress out over every little detail, and I take myself too seriously. I am generally in a state of awe when I read the contributions which other people have written. I have trouble imagining myself being that person.

I want to focus on my career, and I want to come up with an initial plan and strategy for what I should be doing career-wise for the next 10 to 20 years.

I want to take steps to get out of my career rut, since I have been performing within the same role on the same team for 10 years, and my hope is that a mentor can provide me with some encouragement with a strong dose of realism, which I think would come from having experiences in this field which I haven’t had yet. With mentoring, I am hoping to find out what my own limits and boundaries might be. Whether I remain doing what I am doing, or find something new, I know that I need to work on myself to make sure it is the most rewarding experience I can make of it. I want to expand my technical, communication, and social skills so that I can become better at mentoring other people. I get a lot out of that.