Sirens. Their sweet songs lured sailors to their deaths in tales of yore. Alas, I too have been drawn by the sweet, sweet siren call of the business intelligence world and the fine folks at . I’m very proud to announce that I am officially going to work for PragmaticWorks!
This is a very exciting opportunity for me as I’ve been dying to get more exposure to the BI stack over the years and there is no better place to learn than from the pros at Pragmatic. I’ve likened learning SSIS from Brian Knight to getting Bible lessons straight from Jesus. Okay, might be a slight exaggeration but they both wear sandals 24/7 so you’ve got to give me credit for that connection.
I’d like to thank everyone who helped me out during my job search these last few weeks. The community’s response when I first announced I was looking as well as all the leads and support you guys gave was overwhelmingly awesome and makes me again realize how special and awesome this community is. I’d also like to thank Brian and Adam for taking a chance on bright-eyed, chicken-loving DBA and believing that one day I’ll be able to write an SISS package that actually turns green.
Finally I’d like to apologize to Patrick for including his image in the siren picture. I love Patrick to death and I couldn’t think of a better third person to add in the picture than him! Plus if you’ve heard him speak before you know he’s the lead singer in that group.
Pirate Code: They're more like guidelines really...
The last few weeks we’ve watched the drama unfold in regards to the PASS BOD elections. We’ve seen people attack criticize听the NomCom, the board, PASS itself, the process and the decision of feeding of Gremlins after midnight. Thankfully the fireworks have died down and we can take a look at everything that has happened and make strides to move forward in a positive (and more importantly) constructive manner. Given that,听I’ve been asked by my good friend Kevin Kline (| ) to respond to the following:
Many in the community seem to think that the PASS election process is badly broken. Do you think that PASS needs to implement fundamental and far-reaching changes to its election process, or does it only need some fine tuning? Please explain your thoughts?
If you’ve been under a rock the last few weeks you may not know that PASS is currently undergoing their board elections process. I’m not going to rehash the entire saga here but this is just a quick post to let everyone know about a great resource PASS has put together for the elections: .
Last year the general community voiced their concerns about transparency in the elections process and this year the folks at PASS HQ have poured a lot of hard work in helping make those wishes a reality. The election portal is your one-stop-shop for all things elections-related including:
Candidate profiles and interviews
FAQ on how the process works
Documentation used by the BOD and NomComm during the process
Official scores and votes
And last but not least…!
Why do I stress that last one? Well in the last few weeks there has been quite a stir in the community over the choices made for the final slate of candidates. In the wake of that decision many have taken to their blogs and stated their thoughts. You can actually see a at elections site as well! I highly encourage you to sign in to the forum and ask your questions. Be active. This year has shown us not only the flaws in the process, but more importantly how PASSIONATE we all are about this community.
A few weeks ago Andy Leonard (| ) announced that he was as PASS Regional Mentor. It is with great humbleness and excitement that I can officially say I’ll be taking on the role of PASS Regional Mentor for the .
I’d like to say a huge thank you to Andy for giving me this great opportunity and I hope to make the best of it. Thank you for all the hard work you’ve put in to the position, you’ve set a high bar! Until now the RM position has been mainly used as a resource for chapter leaders to help them in whatever way is needed. In the coming weeks you should start hearing more about new ideas and directions the RM program is hoping to take. Recently I was in Orlando with Jessica Moss (| ) and we got to speak a bit about the program and shared some ideas on how we can improve the program and make it more beneficial for chapter leaders and the community at large.
In addition to myself there are a few more new RM’s that have been named. Please welcome the following new RM’s as well:
Just a quick note that today at 12:30 EST (11:30 CST) I’ll be presenting on . If you’re not familiar with SQLLunch it’s an awesome series of FREE webcasts setup by SQL MVP Patrick LeBlanc (| ). Each webcast focuses on a different aspect of SQL Server.
Free training? Can’t beat it, make sure to check it out! To find out latest news on SQLLunch and all upcoming webcasts for free. You can also join (free)听directly from their registration, Win/Win!
Info on today’s webcast:
Topic: #29-Policy-Based Management in a Nutshell
We will be learning an overview of this powerful new feature in SQL Server 2008 and how you can leverage it to help manage your existing SQL environment. This will include plenty of demos, best practices and Q&A so by the end you should be able to walk away ready to take control of your SQL Servers!
Well it鈥檚 the first Monday back since this amazing trip and some folks have wasted no time in putting up their posts. I WAS going to do a recap of the week but over at SQLCruise.com Brent has done a great job . Instead this post will focus on the value returned from the experience. Before I start I鈥檇 like to give a HUGE thanks to the sponsors for making this event possible:
(Special double-huge thanks to them as I was one of the who won this cruise courtesy of them!)
It鈥檚 hard to talk about SQLCruise without first talking about the SQLSaturday that preceded it. SQLCruise was purposely scheduled to coincide with . As any SQLSaturday event, it was great but what really made this one special was its tie-in with the cruise event. Tim Ford ( | ) and Brent Ozar ( | ) kicked off the event with a great keynote speech. The general theme of the talk was that the true value of this event was not what you were learning up on screen (which is also important) but the real value is what you learn from everyone around you at the event and the relationships you build. This theme was solidified by Brent and Tim鈥檚 personal stories of how they journeyed from being the ones in the chairs listening to speakers to being the ones up front presenting to the crowd. If you ever get a chance to hear these two give this talk/presentation I highly recommend it, especially since it starts off with an especially cool high-wire video.
This focus on the relationships you create and foster at technical events became a recurring theme throughout the week. After SQLSaturday the revelry of the presenters, attendees and SQLCruise-ers carried over to the after party at On the Border. The next day was an event that was not officially planned for SQLCruise but Gareth () and Jen Swanepoel () were kind enough to host the SQLCruise attendees at their house for a bon voyage BBQ. A huge thanks goes to Gareth, Jen and their amazing neighbors for putting on such a great event! Being able to interact with everyone in a relaxed, casual environment made it that much easier for everyone to get to know each other before departing. The funny part about this whole event is that many of us already 鈥渒new鈥� each other via Twitter/Facebook/blog interactions but for many of us this was the first time we鈥檇 met face-to-face. In addition to meeting all the great SQL folks this was also an opportunity to meet everyone鈥檚 significant others which is always great.
Finally Monday rolled around and we got to finally board the Carnival Imagination and set sail on SQLCruise! As I mentioned earlier, and as Brent said in his recap, some of the most valuable things you learn during events like this are not on a slide deck. Be it the gatherings on the back of the ship on the 鈥淪QL Lounge鈥� or the intimate classroom settings, it was invaluable to be able to interact with everyone freely. Another great advantage of being out in the ocean the distractions are kept to a minimum as the usual hub-bub of calls from work, email-checking, and A.D.D.-fueled internet browsing was not to be found. Brent and Tim had both mentioned one of their initial plans was to keep the class size to a small size specifically for the advantages a small group provides. One of the great benefits that came out of it in the formal class schedule was the flexibility of changing up the lesson plan. Initially we had a session on 鈥淗idden Booty in SQL Server鈥� scheduled but as conversations developed we all realized that the entire group was more in the intermediate to senior skill level. In addition to the higher-than-exepected skill sets, many of us had lots of questions of Brent regarding the Masters program he had recently gone through. Based on this scenario Brent put together a new presentation on MCM Trivia. I believe he put this together before watching Matlock reruns on his laptop and burning the midnight oil until 7pm!
SQLCruise was an absolutely amazing experience and thankfully this social experiment went so well that there are already plans in the works for two more next year! Not only did I walk away from this class-cation with a wealth of new technical knowledge (now I know what round-robin is/how it works as well as what a merry-go-round scan is!) but also some extremely valuable relationships and friendships. When was the last time you walked away from a training event and actually MISSED the attendees and classes? I cannot stress to you enough how highly I recommend you attend one of these events in the future! I guarantee not only will you better yourself as a SQL professional but you鈥檒l have a greater appreciation for what an amazing community we鈥檙e fortunate enough to be a part of. If you鈥檙e interested in joining a future SQLCruise adventure make sure you to get all of the latest news and updates. Thanks again to our sponsors and Tim and Brent for putting together such an amazing event!
I work for a very large company where divisions are spread out literally all over the world. There are many times where I have to confer with someone else remotely in order to get something done or figure out an issue. When working on a server we all know and love using to connect but did you know there’s a way to share your session so both parties can interact? Well did you know it’s built in to Windows 2003/2008?
To do this is actually quite simple and I’m surprised it’s not more well known. The first step is to remote in to your server as you normally would. Once you’re logged in, go to the Terminal Services Manager by clicking on the Start button, going to Administrative Tools and then opening Terminal Services Manager (NOTE: In 2008, Terminal Services manager is in it’s own Terminal Services folder under Administrative tools)
Once you open Terminal Services Manager you’ll see a box showing which users are currently logged into the system. The icon with the little guy’s green head is your session. Other sessions will show up with a white head (no, not the Clearasil variety).
Now right click the other user’s session and select Remote Control from the context menu. You’ll be asked which hotkey combination you want to use to end the remote session. By default the star key on your numeric pad + Ctrl key will end your session. Click OK to accept this default.
Once you click ok the other person will be prompted if they want to share their session. Once they accept you’ll be connected to their session! This allows both of you to control the same session so you can both type, move windows, check out settings, etc. Once you’re done simply hold down the Ctrl key and hit the star (*) key on your numeric pad to exit the session (assuming you used default escape Hot Key combination). This is a built-in function of Windows Server and makes a handy tool when collaborating with co-workers!
This is just a quick note to say that I’ll be in South Florida this weekend presenting at SQLSaturday #40. This weekend and the following week are particularly awesome for a few reasons:
My birthday is Friday!
Look at , it’s PACKED with #awesomesauce
SQL BBQ on Sunday
SQL Cruise next week!!!!
So…yeah, it’s going to be an awesome week for sure. On Saturday I’ll be presenting two sessions:
If you’re there please come say hi, even better come to my sessions! If not, don’t worry I won’t be offended as I’m going up against some awesome sessions (although I’ve noticed a trend where I always end up in same time slots as Brent!). So if you’re in South Florida area , it’s free! Sessions start at 8:30 and go until about 4:30-5. Also even if you’re not attending you can connect with all attendees and speakers . Hope to see you there!
In cycling each team is made up of nine riders. Each rider on a team can have a different specialization. A careful balance of skill sets on a team can determine if a team will stand triumphant on a champion’s podium at the end of the day or simply fade into obscurity.听Today we’re going to talk about how a team works together to reach their final destination successfully.
It’s July and for some that means baseball and bar-b-ques. For me it means my birthday and 听time. For those living in a cave, the Tour de France is the most prestigious professional bike race in the world lasting three weeks. Riders race all around France with the conclusion of the race occurring in the heart of Paris on the . Inspired by one of my mentors, Andy Leonard (| ); who wrote a fantastic series of , I have decided to write my own professional development series on career development. In this series of articles I’ll be discussing various parts of career and professional development and how it mirrors听the journey of the Tour de France. So strap on your helmet, jump on your career bikes and let’s start pedaling!
Prologue
Since this race spans a three week period, the race itself is broken up into听 stages which last one day. Each day the stage is made up of a different route which can vary in distance, difficulty and terrain (e.g.听flat areas, mountain,听rolling hills). The very first stage of a Tour is referred to as the prologue. This is a short trial which determines who will be the designated leader for the race and wear the coveted .
At the beginning of our professional journey we all sit there at the start line looking at the long road ahead with anxiety, excitement and maybe even some nervousness. That’s okay! The important thing to remember is that this journey is a long tour and there will be many peaks and valleys before you reach that podium in Paris. This first stage is not so much where you set your pace for the race (as you’ll have plenty of chances along the way to change your tempo) but rather where you want to position yourself for the coming stages.
Some of us start our journey slower than others and start off towards the back of the pack while others come bursting out of the gates looking to wear that yellow jersey first. The thing to remember during this time is that this is only the start and you have a lot of road ahead听to make up any lost time. Again, it’s important to emphasize that this journey听is not a sprint so don’t lose heart if you feel “you’re behind everyone else”. In fact, as we’ll cover later, that position can actually be beneficial!
In the coming weeks we’ll be talking about all sorts of things you’ll face on the your career Tour. Here’s a sneak peek at some of the coming stages:
Team Tactics – Cycling has many tactics and every member of a team has his role to play. Are you playing yours?
Cancer Stinks But Your Attitude is what Matters – Adversity comes along what do you? Take a page from Lance Armstrong’s playbook and kick it in the teeth. You can give up or forge ahead and win big, you decide.
The End of a Stage Isn’t the End of the Race – You can be proud of your accomplishments today but don’t forget that you have more riding to do tomorrow.
Crashes, Walls and Bad Days – Every day isn’t full of sunshine and smooth roads. Sometimes you’ll crash, sometimes the cobblestones make it a rough ride. It’s how you deal with these obstacles that matters most.
听
To keep up to date with our team’s progress for the race, subscribe to my (aka RSS feed). Hope you enjoy the ride!