You're a database developer adapting to remote work. How can you excel in advancing your career?

- Identify specific areas you want to improve or new technologies you want to learn. Set short-term and long-term goals to guide your learning process. - Take advantage of online courses, tutorials, and webinars. Platforms like Coursera, Udemy, and LinkedIn Learning offer courses on various database technologies and skills. - Stay informed about the latest trends and best practices by reading industry blogs, research papers, and journals. Websites like DataCamp, Towards Data Science, and Database Trends and Applications can be valuable resources. - Pursue relevant certifications to validate your skills and knowledge. Certifications from recognized organizations can enhance your credibility and career prospects.

Database development, data engineering and analytics are constantly evolving, new versions of software packages are constantly released with improved functionality and features. It is important to stay on top of any updates you need to be familiar with, you will be able to find FAQ pages and forums online addressing any common queries for such updates. Additionally, you would need to not only be familiar with SQL (either Transact or MySQL, depending on the role), but this will likely be one of the main tools you utilise on a daily basis, so it will only be beneficial to keep exploring new methods of doing things in SQL. Stack overflow and YouTube tutorials are great online resources for furthering your SQL knowledge.

As you will likely be working from home a lot, you need to feel comfortable and productive in your work area. If you have a spare room or office room in your house / apartment, it might be a good idea to base yourself in there, as this will be out of the way of anyone else you live with and you will have a bit more privacy for your meetings. It's not always possible to work in a separate room however, a small desk or table should provide you with the space you need if you are working on a laptop and earphones will give you privacy for meetings / listening to music while you work. It can be difficult to switch off if you work and live in the same space, so try to find ways to not think about work too much once you have logged off.

Working from home, it is likely that the majority of your communication will be through Microsoft Teams or Zoom (or another variation), with the rest through emails. You need to be efficient and organised with your time (e.g. schedule meetings with colleagues where necessary for that extra bit of insight) and plan out what work you will be doing on each working day (where possible), this will hopefully help you prioritise work that is assigned to you, as it can be difficult for others to see how full your schedule might be whilst working from home. Lastly, become familiar with Microsoft Teams / Zoom, this is essentially going to be your main channel for communication with colleagues.

Make sure you clearly understand tasks given to you and ask questions where you don't, it is better to ask questions before starting work on a project only to find out half way through that you misunderstood an aspect of the work. Specifications for development or analytics work should always be provided, so it is understood both by the requester and developer exactly what is required. Whilst undertaking database development work, document all changes made to SQL scripts / stored procedures and time stamp these in your notes, this is in case you need to review the alterations again. Lastly, add comments to your SQL, this will allow any other developers to see exactly what aspects of your scripts are doing.

Networking virtually is a great way to meet peers in the space. Attend online seminars and conferences related to your job role, this will allow you to keep up to date with recent developments regarding database technology and any new methods of doing things. Follow relevant pages and groups on LinkedIn to see how others in the space are approaching their work, ask questions where you feel comfortable. Lastly, online communities like Stack Overflow and Microsoft affiliated forums are great places to discuss SQL and develop your knowledge.