Blog Archives
SQL Saturday #151, T minus 3 Days and Counting
It’s Wednesday and the 6th annual SQL Saturday for Orlando is around the corner. This is where it all started, it is also home to the first SQL Saturday that I went to. You know you want to get some free learning and eat some great barbecue.
There is still time for you to register and come see some of SQL Server’s greatest speakers. Then when you finish their sessions, stop in for mine so that you can fully appreciate how great they really are. There are also two excellent Pre-Cons by Kevin Kline (twitter | blog) and Stacia Misner (twitter | blog). If you have never attended a Pre-Con, then do yourself a favor and try it, it is worth the $99. Enjoy and see you there!
SQL Saturday #168, Tampa BI Edition
Yesterday I received some terrific news, I was selected to speak at the Tampa BI Edition of SQL Saturday on November 17, 2012. I will be giving my “Best Practices Are Not Just Hypothetical” presentation at 2pm. I would like to thank the Tampa Business Intelligence SQL Server User Group; I am humbled by their selection.
Register for a great day of free SQL Server learning highlighting Business Intelligence but also featuring database administration and professional development. It will be located again this year at KForce Professional Staffing in beautiful Yboy City. Check out the two excellent pre-con trainings provided as well. I cannot wait to see you there. Enjoy!
24 Hours of PASS, Free Training Today!
Today is the semi-annual 24 Hours of PASS free training day. Sessions started at just a little while ago, so you still have time to sign up here. There is something here for everyone from business intelligence to professional development to hard core database administration. I personally am signed up to watch eight different sessions throughout the day, work permitting; it would be more but there is some stuff that I just do not work with. So get out on out there and get your SQL Learning on. Enjoy!
SQL PASS Summit is Less Than Seven Weeks Away!
This morning I came across a stark reality: SQL PASS Summit 2012 is less than seven weeks away! I cannot fully describe the emotions of my first trip to Summit; some anxiety, mostly excitement, fear of the unknown, anticipation of meeting so many online friends and a thirst for new knowledge. I am so ready for the networking, the learning, the socializing with #SQLKaraoke, the after parties, but mostly just hanging out with my #SQLFamily.
On a personal note, I have been to Seattle once in my life, in high school. Five friends, my math teacher and I went on a field trip before my junior year where we participated in the Mu Alpha Theta National Mathematics competition after winning the State competition for Algebra II. Mathletes Rock! What a beautiful city! It will be great to see Mt. Ranier, the sky needle, the monorail, Puget Sound, and the fish market. I am sure a lot has changed in the last 25 years, I know the King Dome is no longer there, but we took a tour as the Mariners where out-of-town on a road trip and sat in the dugout and the locker room. Good times!
I when I return home I will have some new Seattle memories that I will cherish for many years to come. Enjoy!
I’m Going to the SQL PASS Summit!
For quite some time, I have hated November. Don’t get me wrong, I love Thanksgiving, let’s not get crazy there. But, to watch everyone get excited about going to the annual SQL PASS Summit was almost like being the only guy at the prom without a date. I never had that problem, but I can imagine it vividly thanks to having to sit out previous Summits because my employers did not see the benefit in flying me across the country.
It was quite painful to sit on the sidelines and see everyone enjoying #SQLKaraoke, seeing everyone meeting up with people that they had met on twitter in the #SQLFamily, and seeing bonds created and new friends made all in the name of SQL Server. I had a front row seat each time from my couch. A better analogy would be that of a professional football player at home watching other teams in the playoffs enjoying the sweet smell of success while he suffered the agony of the feet (or is that defeat). Thousand of SQL Server professionals were enjoying the learning, the training, and the networking while I had to simply watch from home. NO MORE! NOT THIS YEAR BABY! I GOT A DATE FOR THE PROM! I AM GOING TO THE SUMMIT! Look out Seattle, let the Big Gator Growl!
I am going to send many glorious tweets and facebook updates showing all of the new things I am learning, all of the new people I am meeting, and the friends I got to meet in real life. Also, let’s not forget the crazy songs I will sing at #SQLKaraoke, so when people talk to me throughout the year they will remember the good times we had that November when the planets aligned and I got to finally attend the SQL PASS Summit. Good times, good friends, and maybe I will get to see the unicorn. Is it time to go yet? Can I go now?
SQL Saturday Orlando
When looking back over the past month to determine things that I have no blogged about while doing my series of question’s and answers, I realized that I did not get a chance to announce the biggest news received during that months. The fine organizers for SQL Saturday #151 Orlando have chosen my submission to speak on September 29, 2012. This will be my first full-length speaking session and needless to say I am nervous and excited.
This past weekend, I began laying out my slide deck and starting to really think about the format of my session. This in itself is exciting trying to visualize what I want to say and how I want to convey the message. Stay tuned and I will let you know the progress of my slide deck. If you haven’t registered yet, please do so now!
New Tampa User Group Meeting Tonight, Be There!
Tonight will be the first meeting of the new Tampa Side SQL User Group Meeting. The regular Tampa Bay SQL User Group meets in Clearwater on the third Thursday of every month. However, many people on the other side of the bay have a hard time attending because of traffic and geography until now. We will be meeting from 6:30 pm until 8:30 pm at the Computer Associates headquarters near I-75 and Martin Luther King Boulevard (see the address below). Please RSVP so that it gives the sponsor an idea of how much food to bring.
I am humbled to be the first speaker to present for the new group so come out and see my Seven Deadly Sins of the SQL Server DBA presentation that I gave at the Pensacola SQL Saturday last month. I look forward to seeing you there tonight! Enjoy!
Computer Associates
10210 Highland Manor Dr, Suite 300 (Room 302)
Tampa, Florida 33610
PASS Summit, Why Not?
Having my resume in several places, I receive solicitations from recruiters, LinkedIn, monster.com, etc. One common thread to all of these communiques? Not one of them says that they will send me to the PASS Summit. Why not?
If they are serious about their SQL Server position and finding a professional, as evidenced by their stringent requirements then why wouldn’t they want to help ensure that the DBA has the proper training necessary to complete the requested tasks?
You’ve seen the SQL Server DBA stringent requirements before:
- Must have a Bachelor’s degree and ten years experience in the information technology field, prefer Ph.D. or Brent Ozar.
- Must have five years experience with SQL Server 2012 and ten years with SQL Server 2007.
- Must have expert-level knowledge of SSIS, SSRS, SSMS, clustering, business intelligence, power-pivot, backup/recovery, mirroring, log-shipping, performance tuning, CLR, T-SQL, and a host of others that we will ask you about in the interview but neglected to list in the initial advertisement.
- It would be beneficial if you also had an expert-level knowledge of Oracle as we have one linked server, but not essential.
Seriously, why don’t the listings say that in order to show you how serious we are about your development, we are including a yearly commitment to sending you the PASS Summit? This is a fundamental change I would like to see happen in my lifetime. If they can weed you out based on their requirements, then why can’t we weed them out from the beginning? Something to ponder. Enjoy!
Never Heard of SQL Saturday?
Karla Landrum (twitter|blog), Community Evangelist for SQL PASS, made the comment this morning on Twitter that there are many people out there in the SQL community who still have not heard about SQL Saturday, the free training event that is taking the world by storm at a location near you every Saturday of the year.
This does not shock me even though I have been in the know for a while now because I was once that guy who did his job and did not know much about PASS or SQL Saturday. There was a point where I had belonged to professional associations and decided that annual fees with little to no interaction was no longer for me. Thus, when I started focusing on SQL Server several years ago, I did not seek out any professional associations for the simple fact that I had associated them with an annual fee for a nice little add-on to my resume. I had belonged to the HTML Writer’s Guild, the International Webmasters Association, and the Capital PC User Group in Washington, D.C. I joined that group and then could never make the meetings because of my work schedule, but it looked great on my resume. There were a few other groups, but I honestly cannot remember them now.
This is not a knock on these groups as I am sure that they are wonderful groups for some people, but that to me was what these professional associations were. SQL PASS is so much more and then some. I honestly wished someone had told me about it years ago. So make it your mission today to tell someone about PASS. They may already know, they may not. Do them a favor and spread the word. Enjoy!
Saturday SQL Schoolhouse
SQL Schoolhouse!
Today’s installment of the Saturday SQL Schoolhouse is brought to you by the fine folks over at Idera Software. They offer free webcasts broadcast usually monthly with some of the biggest names in SQL Server. Better yet, is that all of those are archived here for your viewing and learning pleasure.
Check out this month’s webcast, recorded earlier this week by my friend Robert Davis (blog|twitter). In addition, they also have SharePoint and PowerShell webcasts for your learning goodness. Enjoy!
SQL Swampland 