A Letter to 10-Years-Ago Me (and a Message From 2035)

Notes to Yourself From the Past and Future

T-SQL Tuesday #193:

This month’s (December 2025) T-SQL Tuesday is being hosted by Mike Walsh, and the topic immediately caught my attention. The moment I saw it, I knew I had to contribute. So here I am, writing this post the night before submission. 😄

The topic is: “Write two short notes to yourself. One to the past. One from the future.”

I’ve always enjoyed looking back and thinking about what I could have done better, so writing something like this feels both fun and reflective. Let’s get into the first one -

A message to “10-Years-Ago me.”

1. Just doing the requests and tickets assigned to you is not going to make the cut. This is something I really wish someone had told me when I started my career. I thought all I had to do was get things done that were assigned to me and that was enough. (Well, this is priority 1 even today), but taking some time aside to learn along with it is equally important.

   So, the point is: No matter what you’re working on, try to go a bit deeper and understand how or why something works the way it is.

2. Stop overthinking and speak up in meetings about what you know. You don’t have to be an expert.
   I used to think I should only speak up in meetings if I knew everything and that the people who talked were experts (what a joke!).

3. Putting yourself out there publicly is not as scary as you think. I wish I had started writing and speaking earlier.

4. Finally, I really want to tell myself and everyone - It’s okay to cry.

   Bathroom walls have seen your tears more than anyone, according to me. I once thought I was weak when I cried, but with experience I’ve learned that when you let your sadness out for a few minutes and then come back, and you’re able to pick up where you left off, that’s actually the strongest thing you can do.

   A message from “2035 You.”

   What should you be paying attention to right now? What’s the risk or opportunity that future-you desperately hopes you won’t ignore or pass up?

1. Multi-database technology with distributed systems is becoming more important than ever.
   Don’t limit yourself to just one platform. Read and learn how the same concept works in SQL Server, Postgres, MySQL, and other emerging systems. Build breadth along with depth.

2. Invest in database observability and automation: Collect metrics across stacks, detect anomalies early, auto heal common and frequently occurring issues. The more you can reduce manual firefighting, the more strategic your impact/role becomes.

3. Learn and leverage how to collaborate with AI the best, to improve productivity.
   At the same time, don’t blindly trust AI. Verify its recommendations, check its hallucinations, and steer it in the direction that you want.

4. Speak business language: As much as technical knowledge is important, so is understanding the business side of it, like revenue impact, cost reduction etc., in short speak the business language.

5. Write/Speak/Share MORE

6. Regrets are going to be there, no matter what you do when you think back, so my aim is to have lesser of them.

Lesson learnt:

Doing your job well keeps your job.
Learning deeply, sharing knowledge, and building expertise builds your career.

Writing to both versions of myself reminded me of how far I’ve come and how far I still want to go.

And, on a final note,

With whatever knowledge you had back then, you did great.
With the knowledge you’re gaining now, you’re doing great.
With the knowledge you’re going to gain, you’re going to do great.

Thanks for reading,
Haripriya.