Live, Learn, and Grow

Ever look back at old work and wonder what was I thinking when I did that? Or even better you mock and get disgusted over some code you stumble upon and then realize you wrote it?

Today is one of those days.

Lucky for me one of my clients is a company I used to work for. It’s awesome to be able to go back and work in an environment you are familiar with. However, with that, you realize when you worked there you made some decisions or wrote some code that you now shake your head at. On the other hand, it’s a really great way to see how far you have grown in your SQL Server knowledge and it creates easy wins for system improvements as you implement better practices and more efficient code.

On twitter this morning I mentioned stumbling across a server I set up years ago that still uses maintenance plans for CHECKDB and Index maintenance. Immediately others chimed in and talked about things they did that now they shake their head at.

So just to prove I am human and can be taught today I have a confession.
I am Monica and I used to…

• Use Maintenance Plans
• Ran Checkdb and didn’t check results
• Thought Indexes we “set it and forget it” (minus rebuilds)
• Used Table Variables instead of Temp Tables, all the time
• Wrote procedures with Cursors in them
• Didn’t really think about what data types I used in table creation, as along as the data fit
• Used adhoc queries instead of stored procedures

These are just a few things that come to mind. I share these to remind everyone that we all started from the beginning in our careers. Experts in our field all came from the same roots and had to grow their knowledge. I would not be where I am today without those experts writing blogs, taking time to speak at events, or mentoring me.

In summary, take the time to share your knowledge to beginners. Write basic 101 blogs and sessions as there are many individuals that are just getting their roots in our field and need that knowledge. Most of all Live, Learn and Grow your own knowledge always.