Choose Something You Are Passionate About to Drive Your Career Forwards Faster with Denny Cherry

Phil’s guest on this episode of the IT Career Energizer podcast is Denny Cherry. He is recognised as one of the deftest and most knowledgeable cross-platform IT consultants in the world.  He has been a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional since 2008 and has held the highest level certification available for each version of SQL Server since 2000.

He has also published dozens of articles and is an author of multiple books as well as a popular speaker.  

 In this episode Phil and Denny Cherry discuss why chasing money instead of pursuing something that interests you is a fast way to stall your career. As well as how being a good listener can help you to succeed.

Denny also explains how he became an MVP and how others can do the same. They discuss the impact SQL Server 2019 is likely to have on the way I.T. professionals work and how it will empower end/users, like never before.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

(4.54) TOP CAREER TIP

Don’t worry about following the career path that enables you to earn the most money. Instead, seek out work that really interests you. If you are passionate about something you will become very good at it. When that happens, you will, usually, earn a good wage.

If you force yourself to do work that you are not truly passionate about, your career will likely stall.

(6.44) WORST CAREER MOMENT

About 15 years ago, Denny was working for a desktop monitoring company that captured screenshots, emails and chats for their clients. Unfortunately, a code glitch meant that they ran out of disk space. They came up with a solution, but it still took days to solve the problem. Denny explains why that was, in the podcast.

(8.41) CAREER HIGHLIGHT

Building a data warehouse for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation. A resource that now saves them around 50,000 man hours, per year. This has enabled them to save millions of dollars, every year. That cash can now be redirected into healthcare.

(11.00) THE FUTURE OF CAREERS IN I.T

The release of SQL Server 2019 is opening up all sorts of opportunities to work more collaboratively and do so in a far more effective way. In the podcast, Denny gives some examples of how gathering data together in the way it allows is going to empower users to create amazing reports.

 It really empowers the users. That is going to change the role of I.T. professionals.

(14.51) THE REVEAL

What first attracted you to a career in I.T.? – Denny describes himself as being literally born into I.T. His father was an executive at a computer company, so Denny always had access to PCs.

What’s the best career advice you received? – Just keep trying, doing new stuff and experimenting.

What’s the worst career advice you received? – Keep working at something even if you do not enjoy it.

What would you do if you started your career now? – Denny would find something that interests him. Initially focus on that and only break out into other fields once he had made a name for himself.

What are your current career objectives? – To continue to grow his business and making sure that his client´s projects are successful.

What’s your number one non-technical skill? Listening to customers´ needs and being able to translate them into technical requirements. Denny is able to have both sides of the conversation, which is a great skill to have.

How do you keep your own career energized? – Training, attending conferences and trying out new things all help Denny to keep his career energized.

What do you do away from technology? – Most of his spare time is spent riding his motorcycle and playing Xbox.

(22.42) FINAL CAREER TIP

Find the thing that interests you and use that to launch your career. Discovering what you are passionate about is a vital first step. You will be able to use your enthusiasm to fuel your efforts and progress fast.

BEST MOMENTS

(4.37) – Denny - “Becoming an MVP is mostly about community contribution and getting your voice heard that way.”

(5.23) – Denny - “If you simply choose jobs based on money alone, your career will stall very quickly.”

(6.20) – Denny - “Taking an entry-level job, for example, on a helpdesk, can help you to figure out what you want to do.”

 (18.40) – Denny - “Don´t become too much of a generalist, doing that can make it hard for you to find work.”

(23.00) – Denny - “Find the thing you are passionate about, do that, success will follow.”

ABOUT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS

Phil Burgess is an independent IT consultant who has spent the last 20 years helping organisations to design, develop and implement software solutions.  Phil has always had an interest in helping others to develop and advance their careers.  And in 2017 Phil started the I.T. Career Energizer podcast to try to help as many people as possible to learn from the career advice and experiences of those that have been, and still are, on that same career journey.

CONTACT THE HOST – PHIL BURGESS

Phil can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/philtechcareer

LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/philburgess

Facebook: https://facebook.com/philtechcareer

Instagram: https://instagram.com/philtechcareer

Website: https://itcareerenergizer.com/contact

Phil is also reachable by email at [email protected] and via the podcast’s website, https://itcareerenergizer.com

Join the I.T. Career Energizer Community at Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ITCareerEnergizer

ABOUT THE GUEST – DENNY CHERRY

 Denny Cherry is recognised as one of the deftest and most knowledgeable cross-platform IT consultants in the world.  He has been a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional since 2008 and has held the highest level certification available for each version of SQL Server since 2000.

He has also published dozens of articles and is an author of multiple books as well as a popular speaker.  

CONTACT THE GUEST – DENNY CHERRY

Denny Cherry can be contacted through the following Social Media platforms:

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/mrdenny

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mrdenny

Website: https://dcac.com