Lots of exciting things are happening with Data Saturdays and we want you, the #SQLFamily, involved. Last week, Rob Sewell (B|T) announced the new automation and setup process for events. This week I am announcing a new logo and branding initiative. With the generous donation from Denny Cherry and Associates Consulting, DCAC, we have commissioned 99Designs artists to create a new logo for branding. The Data Saturdays Admins reviewed over 220 submissions these were considered the likeability, accessibility, inclusiveness, and ease of multi-use. We have narrowed down the choices to these four. Please take a moment to click the link below and rate your favorite, we will use your influence…
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On June 3rd PASS announced their annual Summit for Data Professionals was moved to a virtual format. This is not surprising to those of us in the SQL Server community. Many events are moving to a virtual platform as well as being able to offer them at no costs to all attendees. PASS though, is a different kind of “company” for lack of a better word. We are a community of people that built this “company” from the ground up. Due to normal day to day commitments, like jobs, most of us do not have time to run the day to day operations of the “company” and we rely on…
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Bob Pusateri (B|T) tweeted a quote image that really struck a chord with me and elicited a strong reaction from myself. It got me thinking I need to write a blog on this, so here we go. Many times, over the years I’ve had conversations with people in which they have said things like below. “I can’t learn anything new because my work won’t send me to training” “I can’t learn about xyz because my boss or coworkers won’t sit down with me to show me how” “I don’t have time to learn anything new” “We’ll never go to the cloud, so I don’t need to know that” “I’m too busy…
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I typically don’t write opinion posts, but given recent events I thought it was important to follow up on one of my tweets. Last week, I tweeted about Stack Exchange and my thoughts on the lack of respect in the responses to those who take the time ask questions in forums. I had many people ask as to what I was referring to specifically, including some Microsoft employees. My response was (and still is) that I don’t believe in mob reactions or smearing anyone’s name and chose not to reveal the details. My reason for posting that tweet was just to remind those in the community that we have all been beginners once and none…
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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…
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This week is Thanksgiving in the United States, so I thought it fitting to write a quick blog on what I am thankful for as a DBA. These are in no particular order and feel free to respond with something you are thankful for. I’d love to hear it. Glenn Berry’s Diagnostic Scripts- (B|T) Used these for years. Really a great set of scripts and explanations that we all should be grateful for. Ola Hallengren’s (B) Maintenance scripts. Index Optimization, Backup, and Integrity Checks for all! They have become an industry standard and continue to get better and better. RCSI (Read Committed Snapshot Isolation) –My Readers can stop blocking Writers! Thanks…
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This year will be my 6th PASS Summit that I will have attended. Some people have asked me why I still go, and what I get out of Summit that I don’t get from attending and speaking at SQL Saturdays. That’s an easy one for me to answer, but a long answer at that. Networking First and foremost, it’s for the networking. Getting to meetup with so many other like minded people is gratifying. This networking allows you to exchange ideas, war stories, and downright geek out with others that know what you are talking about and don’t have their eyes glaze over when discussing optimizer internals. On top of…
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I am ecstatic to say I have joined Denny Cherry and Associates Consulting. Lone No More I am happy, excited, and nostalgic to announce that I am hanging up my Lone DBA hat and becoming a consultant. Yep, you read that correctly, I’ve decided after 16 years that I am going to change things up a bit. I am switching gears and will be helping those who are Lone DBAs and others by lending them a hand with their work loads. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love being a Lone DBA. So, I will continue to speak on the topic and mentor others in that boat, but it’s time…
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Since becoming a Database Administrator I’ve always looked at Microsoft MVP’s as the giants in our field. I never once thought I could be among them. I am very humbled to be recognized as a Microsoft Data Platform MVP for 2017. Thank you to those that deemed me worthy enough to nominate me. What is an MVP? According to Microsoft, the MVP Award is an annual award that recognizes exceptional technology community leaders worldwide who actively share their high quality, real world expertise with users and Microsoft. Microsoft MVPs represent a highly select group of experts. MVPs share a deep commitment to community and a willingness to help others. How…
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Ok everyone; here goes my first crack at replying to a T-SQL Tuesday. For those that don’t know what it is, it’s a Monthly blog topic hosted by a member of the SQL Community. It was started originally by Adam Machanic (t | b) This month’s topic hosted by Andy Yun (t | b) is on Growing New Speakers, which I find to be a perfect topic for me to leap off from, since this was my first year speaking and blogging. How did I get started? I 100% blame Derik Hammer (t | b) whom at the time was running my local user group. After attending just one meeting I was “volun-told” I would be presenting…
