re-employed

Maguano

so...
I've been out of work for the past 171 days (approximately, but who's counting). During this time, i;ve been running Daddy Day Care (as i call it) for my 2 sons, 2 yrs old and 4.5 years. this past week i get my first interview during my laid-offness and get and accept the job offer.

In theory this turn of events should be a good thing, right? by why, then do i feel like turds?

a bit about me - worked in a "back office" financial industry role as a business analyst [10 years experience] (jack of all trades). my new role is QA, i have limited SQL knowledge, but apparently this is a big part of the new job. Obviously i didn't lie during the interview (hell i said my SQL skills equate to "select x from x where x=x"---actual interview quote.

now, i think i'm more than qualified for this job, based on discussions with my old boss (not involved with my being laid off), but why do i feel like i'm destined to fail?

Am i being over sensitive cause now i have to send my sons to day care full time ( they were doing this before i got canned). Am I just being stupid, and just suck it up and get back to work?

tldr: been out of work for 5.5 months, scared shitless to go back.

tldrV2: Yay i got a job. shit, i have to work.

Skoal Cat

Most people don't spend money on hiring someone that they think will fail.

Mr. Pokeylope

Because change and the possibility of failure is scary. But what's the worst that could happen your back operating daddy daycare with your boys? Sounds terrible that shit would keep me up at night.

Dude they choose you because they believe that you can do the job. The problem is you need to believe it too. So you aren't a SQL expert you'll learn. Just like you going to have to learn how to get around the new office and to fit in with a different office culture. No one is going to expect you to be perfect on your first day.

Show up willing and ready to learn. Be prepared to make some mistakes. But learn from them. Lose the negative attitude.

Oh and congrats on the new job.

AlyceInWonderland

I'm basically in the same position right now, although I just graduated college. I just got hired as a designer, the lead designer bailed, and now it's just me. I'm scared out of my fuckin' mind, however, they wouldn't have hired me if they didn't believe I couldn't do the job. The same goes for you. Shit will happen on the job. You'll forget something, you'll ask a lot of questions, you'll do something wrong, but that happens all the time to everybody.

Don't sweat it. You'll do fine.

Deebaser

Maguano wrote: »

a bit about me - worked in a "back office" financial industry role as a business analyst [10 years experience] (jack of all trades). my new role is QA, i have limited SQL knowledge, but apparently this is a big part of the new job. Obviously i didn't lie during the interview (hell i said my SQL skills equate to "select x from x where x=x"---actual interview quote.

If you didn't lie, then your boss knows your exact skill level and assuming he knows what the job requires, you're fine. Anything greater than that they are aware they will have to train you on.

Sometimes when I have SQL questions, I'll make an H/A thread about it (changing the tables/schemas/servers involved, of course). This has like a 95% success rate.

EggyToast

You're an analyst still, essentially, not a database administrator. You're not maintaining and creating databases for *other* analysts, you're just using them.

I just interviewed for a bunch of jobs that flirted with marketing analysis, and they all said "what's your experience with SQL?" and I said "I understand it, but I don't do SQL analysis now. It's pretty straightforward stuff, though, and learning it is the easy part in my opinion. What kind of tables would I be dealing with? As in, what's the level of granularity and how good are your current DBAs?"

Which says "I am essentially a beginner, but I understand the technical junk behind it, and I know how to find out more information to get what I need." And I got 2nd interviews (one company even called me back after I declined the 2nd interview to say "are you sure? We'd really like to talk to you more." Mostly it was because all the OTHER stuff that the job entailed was really more important, and the SQL stuff? You can learn that. You can go read a book over the weekend and come in on Monday and do entirely new stuff. Yeah, you won't be a database administrator, but you're not hired to be a DBA.

Something about the job overall must've matched up with what you offered during the interview. QA is all about effective analysis, and you have tons of that. Ta da! You'll do fine.

Maguano

thanks everyone

schuss

SQL is dead easy, really. The logic is the hard part, and you're probably good at that. If you can build a select statement with a where clause and group by, you've got 90% of what you'll need. The other 10% is usually database specific.

Jasconius

You can learn SQL on accident.

I severely doubt you will need to know what a left outer join is, or how to manage read slaves.

schuss

Jasconius wrote: »

You can learn SQL on accident.

I severely doubt you will need to know what a left outer join is, or how to manage read slaves.

Left outer join - yes, you'll learn these things (fairly vital actually), but managing read slaves? Doubt it.

Drez

schuss wrote: »

Jasconius wrote: »

You can learn SQL on accident.

I severely doubt you will need to know what a left outer join is, or how to manage read slaves.

Left outer join - yes, you'll learn these things (fairly vital actually), but managing read slaves? Doubt it.

Yeah, um, left outer join is common. Also, union. But these are not difficult concepts, really. It's more syntax than concept. And even the syntax is easy.

OP: I think you're just getting new job jitters, which is common, normal, and maybe even healthy. Don't worry too much.