Sorry for the delay in this post; my family and I are planning to get away for some much-needed vacation time, and like most Americans, the week before and the week after a vacation are the busiest weeks of the year. I’m trying to cram in as much stuff as I can before I leave, even though that’s SO NOT THE POINT of a vacation.
Anyway, I really have a lot to write about this week, but just don’t have the time. Hopefully, I’ll cling to those ideas in the back of my skull somewhere over the next week. There was one incident of note, however, that I’d really like to share.
I recently met another Atlanta developer by the name of Cheyenne Throckmorton; Cheyenne, like me, is interested in what we can do to build up the development communities in North Georgia, regardless of your particular technological focus. We’ve had a couple of email conversations, and at some point, we’re probably gonna grab a burger and talk. However, my story is not about Cheyenne; it’s about Ben Forta.
Who is Ben Forta? Ben is a ColdFusion Evangelist for Adobe. He’s coming to Atlanta on June 8 (the same night that my boys from AtlantaMDF meet). Why should I, a SQL Server developer, care about a ColdFusion developer? Well, it’s because I didn’t know he was a ColdFusion developer. I thought he was a SQL guy (remind me to tell you my Ray Charles stories).
A long time ago, I was a struggling doctoral student in the field of Health Communication. I had completed my coursework and was already working in the field as a research analyst (analyzing data from large samples of cancer patients and people at risk for skin cancer) when an amazing thing happened: I failed my comprehensive exams. Twice. I remember sitting outside my advisor’s office to plan for my attack on the third occasion for over an hour, when I realized two things: 1) she wasn’t coming (I never heard from her again), and 2) I didn’t really like academia. I had started down a path, and felt compelled to finish it, even though the desire had long since left me. I decided that day I was going to make a career switch.
One of the tools for managing data we were using was Microsoft Access; I know, go ahead and laugh. Not the most robust of databases; however, Access does provide some exposure to both Visual Basic (for Applications) and SQL. I started looking around for Access programming jobs, and applied for the first one that sounded reasonable. I aced the interview (those communication skills come in handy), but they also had a programming test. I failed miserably. I decided that I needed to do some studying (I was, after all, an ex-graduate student). I reached out for several books to learn about programming; Ben Forta’s Teach Yourself SQL in 10 Minutes (2nd Edition) was one of those books. I landed a decent job shortly thereafter because of those efforts, and I feel like Forta’s guide was large part of that (I’m not saying that I became a super programmer overnight; I just worked hard and had some great foundations). Nearly 10 years later, I’m a Data Architect, and I like what I do.
Cheyenne suggested that I send him a copy of the book, and he would get Ben to sign it. I’ve long since lost my copy, so I ran out and bought the third edition. I’m hoping Ben will sign it (since I’ll be away on vacation), because even though I no longer need the book, it’ll add to my collection of milestones along my path.
Gotta run to finish packing; see you in a week.
Wow, thanks for posting this, and I am really pleased if my book in some way helped your career. And I’d be honored to sign your book for you.
— Ben