Career Profile: IT Contractor, Goodrich Corp.

Name: B. J. Ayers Title/Employer: IT Contractor through Volt Technical at Goodrich Corp. Age: 61 Education: AA Degree, MOS-MS Access, MCDBA-SQL Server 2000 with Windows 2000 Server Tenure in IT industry: Approximately 10 years. First-ever tech job: Business Analyst Current role: SQL Server 2000 DBA, MS Access DBA and DataMirror Administrator What's been your best job and why? The best job is current contract as a SQL Server 2000 DBA and DataMirror Administrator. I had become bored as a Business Analyst and QA Tester. The word bored is no longer in my vocabulary. And, administrating DataMirror is a new and interesting skill. What do you think is the number one non-IT skill IT professionals need today? The ability to deal with the user community in a professional manner and not thinking you know everything because you are an IT Professional and the other person is just a user. To stop thinking that the user doesn't always know what they want. Sometimes they don't. As a Business Analyst I learned that if the user doesn't know what they want, then it is my job to help them find out. What do you credit your career success to? I credit my career success to perseverance, the willingness to learn something completely new and different, and the professionals I have met along the way that have been willing to assist me in my career. That's how I got this contract position. I met the IT Director about two years ago, when I worked on an annual pricing project at this company. He had learned about my abilities and work ethic through people I had worked with and immediately brought me on as a contractor when he saw my resume. What are the top three skills a high-level IT manager needs today?

1. A high-level IT Manager needs to know the software that the people under him are responsible for maintaining. That is the biggest problem I have where I am at. When I come on the project as a newly certified just out of school SQL Server DBA, I was it. Nobody else in the company knew it, except for the little bit the system administrator knew and he, being a little smug, did not offer any assistance. He probably wanted to see me fall on my face.
2. The ability to hear and support their staff when there are problems. Too many times they are trying to please upper-level staff and further their own careers.
3. The ability to know when they need to provide the necessary training their staff needs to stay current in their profession to be able to provide the best support for their company.

What's your favorite IT resource site and why? IT Toolbox for the help I receive through the forums and the newsletters and LazyDBA for the help I receive through its forum. What is the best career advice you've ever received? To believe in myself and keep learning whether it's through newsletters, articles, certifications, etc. keep as current as possible in my professional area. What's the top advice you'd give to a new IT staffer? Some of the old timers don't like sharing their knowledge. I say share and someone will share with you. To the women, I say, "The good old boy network is going to exist until it finally dies off like a dinosaur. You can work your magic in spite of it using your natural abilities and talents in problem solving. What would you advise someone looking to find the type of role you currently have? Don't get discouraged. I had just gotten my MCDBA in July 2006 and was looking for an entry level SQL Server DBA position. I turned down Business Analyst and QA testing contracts, even though everything I saw were DBA positions that wanted two or more years of experience. I just kept searching and before I knew it, the position I am on came along at a company I had done some non-IT contract work for a few years ago. I had met the IT manager at that time. He remembered me and gave me the opportunity to learn What is the one career decision you would change if you could? None, all of the decisions I have made in the past has helped me to be where I am. Having the City of Phoenix pay for my MCDBA training and certification came to me because of the various convoluted paths I took to get to that point. I see nothing as a failure, only lessons learned. If you had the choice to jump into any other job, tech or non-tech, what would it be? I have been thinking about this vary seriously these past six months. There where days when I would ask myself, "Do you really want to be a DBA?" I have decided my next jump would be to follow my passion in the natural/holistic medicine field as an aromatherapist and holistic nutritionist or health provider. Other recent articles from TechCareers Career Profile: Executive Director, (ISC) Career Profile: IT Leader

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