This month’s T-SQL Tuesday host is Jason Brimhall. He asks everyone to write about influence , which is something that I should know about and think I have, but am somewhat uncomfortable writing about.
That being said, here’s my entry this month.
Influencing OthersOne of the motivations behind creating SQLServerCentral was to educate and help others. Our goal (Andy, Brian, myself) was to try and find ways that we’d had success, solved problems, or handled challenges and share that with others by writing articles, answering questions, and creating questions for our Question of the Day quiz .
Across the years as I’ve done that, and I’ve written many editorials, there have been plenty of occasions to meet members of the SQLServerCentral community. Many of them have thanked me or talked about how the site and community made a difference in their careers, which is something I’m quite proud of. Helping others is a form or volunteerism and service, and while this is a vocation for me, it’s also a passion.
One of the things I think that I’m most proud of us influencing others to also give back and share. I can only do so much, but if I can also convince others to share their knowledge, there is a level of helping and sharing that grows exponentially to everyone in our #SQLFamily. To that end, I have two stories.
One is about blogging, which I tend to do regularly. I had a friend, someone I met years ago that wanted to start blogging and asked me for some hints and idea. I shared a few things that help me, but also challenged this individual to set a goal for writing. They did, and years later, they have quite a blog. Many of you have heard of this person, but I won’t mention the name here. That’s not important. What is important is they have helped many others and continue to do so today.
The other story is a person I met at a user group meeting. I was giving a presentation and this individual had some intelligent questions to ask. Over a few meetings, as I talked with this person, I realized they were someone with a lot of talent on the data platform and encouraged them to think about speaking. I did this regularly, and while it took over a year, this person now has spoken at many events, including the PASS Summit.
It can be scary and intimidating to share knowledge with others publicly, but it is also immensely rewarding and a way of helping others walk the path you have already covered. Perhaps I’ll influence one of you reading today to share some of what you’ve learned with those hungry to learn.