I had taken a three day training class on updating my DBA skills to SQL Server 2005, but I didn’t have a copy of SQL Server 2005 on which to practice the skills (and I certainly wasn’t making enough money to buy my own). I was aware of Dynamic Management Views (DMVs) in SQL Server 2005, but I had no practical experience using them. I could explain what they were, but I didn’t understand how to interpret the information from them. That comes from experience. I was falling behind the rest of the pack. I could feel it. Every day on the forums, I felt like I knew less and less. I felt like my career was stagnating and that pretty soon I would be too far behind to catch up.
I talked to my management about when we would upgrade to SQL Server 2005 and learned that it would not happen in the foreseeable future. I was faced with continuing to try to push for it where I was or look elsewhere. I did not feel that pushing for it at my current employer would be successful, so I started looking elsewhere. Within a short time, I found a new DBA position at a place where the first task I would be expected to tackle was upgrading their SQL environment from SQL Server 2000 to SQL Server 2005. As an extra bonus, they were eager to get on SP1 as soon as it was released to start using the database mirroring feature introduced in SQL Server 2005 (officially supported in SP1).
I was excited about being a DBA again. I went from being someone who felt like they were falling behind on new technologies to being an early adopter of other new technologies. And everyone knows that being an early adopter of database mirroring really paid off for me in the long run. As DBAs, there are times where we have to make decisions to protect our careers. I gave up one job because I was falling behind and could see no chance to catch up while I was there. I gave up that job because of DMVs. DMVs cost me that job and found me one much better.
*Reposted with permission from SQLSoldier.com.