{"id":118,"date":"2015-07-07T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-01-01T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sqlhammer.com\/blog\/it-is-who-you-know-or-is-it"},"modified":"2026-03-18T21:51:54","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T21:51:54","slug":"it-is-who-you-know-or-is-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sqlhammer.com\/index.php\/2015\/07\/07\/it-is-who-you-know-or-is-it\/","title":{"rendered":"It is who you know, or is it?"},"content":{"rendered":"

I have spent a lot of time learning about how to effectively network and the benefits that it can bring to my life and career. What I find interesting, however, is that there is a negative\u00a0connotation revolving around\u00a0the good ol\u2019 boy club<\/em> which networking seems to relate to.\u00a0Everyone has heard the saying, \u201cit\u2019s not what you do, it\u2019s who you know,\u201d referring to success in your career. This implies that having a relationship with a large number of people can bring success, even if your performance is sub-par.<\/p>\n

What makes this interesting is that I have never heard someone discourage networking or turn it into a label for someone who is trying to\u00a0brown nose<\/em> their way to the top. I think that we can clarify the issue with a new saying.<\/p>\n

> It is not who you know, it is how you are known.<\/p>\n

Expanding your presence in your communities and building a personal brand is important for becoming known. Once you have a brand you do not necessarily succeed, though. There are strong brands and weak brands out there. What becomes important is what you are known for. Are you known for; fast delivery, high quality, your knowledge, a specific specialty, etc?<\/p>\n

Connecting with people is your way of bringing your presence to their attention but this does not bread success on its own. With their eyes trained on you, be ready to be weighed and measured.<\/p>\n

\n

\"\"Written by Derik Hammer of SQL Hammer<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Derik is a data professional focusing on Microsoft SQL Server. His passion focuses around high-availability<\/a>, disaster recovery<\/a>, continuous integration, and automated maintenance. his experience has spanned long-term database administration, consulting, and\u00a0entrepreneurial ventures.<\/p>\n

Derik gives the SQL community credit for plugging the gaps in his knowledge when he was a junior DBA and, now that his skills have matured, started SQLHammer.com<\/a> as one small way to give back and continue the cycle of shared learning.<\/p>\n

Derik is the owner and lead author of SQL Hammer, a Microsoft SQL Server resource<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For more information, visit http:\/\/www.sqlhammer.com<\/a>. Follow Derik on Twitter<\/a> for SQL tips and chat<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have spent a lot of time learning about how to effectively network and the benefits that it can bring to my life and career. What I find interesting, however, is that there is a negative\u00a0connotation revolving around\u00a0the good ol\u2019 boy club which networking seems to relate to.\u00a0Everyone has heard the saying, \u201cit\u2019s not what […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":530,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sqlhammer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sqlhammer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sqlhammer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sqlhammer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sqlhammer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sqlhammer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":380,"href":"https:\/\/sqlhammer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118\/revisions\/380"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sqlhammer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sqlhammer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sqlhammer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sqlhammer.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}