Going to the SQL PASS Summit this year? I sure hope you are! This year, like in 2009, 2010 and 2011 I helped out in getting the Birds of a Feather lunch organized for one of the days. PASS may never ask me back after this year seeing as how the Summit is next week and I just now have the final list of table hosts compiled and ready for pruning!!! But, as you’ll see in a moment, this years format means we could get away with running the selection down to the wire.

This year the Birds of a Feather lunch will be the Friday of Summit during the regular lunch in the regular lunch room. 60-80 tables will be set aside and there will be signage and directions inside the lunch room. All you have to do is pick one of the table topics below.

A special thanks goes out to the folks at PASS HQ (LANA! KATHY! and everyone really!) who do a lot of the hard work and the reminding of these things. They juggle a heck of a lot behind the scenes. Also to Andrew Karcher – you see, I’m going to miss my first SQL PASS Summit in about 4? 5? years so I won’t be there to the help on setup and to walk around and make sure no fights break out between the DBA and Dev tables. Andrew is stepping up to the plate and doing that this year. Thanks!!!!

A Little History First…

So 2009 was the year the Summit did the first Birds of a Feather lunch. The idea is simple (and I still don’t know who came up with the idea of trying this at the PASS Summit! I just know Blythe from PASSHQ at the time needed volunteers to help organize this concept and I said “sounds simple enough.”) – instead of folks going through the lunch buffet by themselves, and finding a table with the most open seats and eating by themselves, we figured we’d provide a way to get folks sitting together, if they wanted to.  So the premise here is we would create a bunch of table topics, provide a list of those table topics to people ahead of the lunch and they could sit with others interested in the same topic. The first three years, we’ve asked table hosts to come up with specific table topic titles and people would sit down at a topic title that interested them.

What Worked In The Past

Most of the tables had people sitting at them and I’ve always walked around and listened in at each table – great conversations ensued at most and some friendships even were formed because of these. I’d call that a success. There were some hitches though:

• Topic Titles Were Long – I encouraged the hosts to come up with creative table titles in previous years. That was a lot of fun and many came up with witty titles. BUT – We had query issues on the list.. Our users (the attendees finding a table) now had to do a scan through 50+ long titles to quickly decide where to sit. This wasn’t efficient, and a lot of people just went for the first one they found or a table not part of the BoF lunch.
• People Didn’t Find Info Ahead of Time – Further complicating our problem above, most people didn’t find the info about the topics ahead of time, so they were left to look at a few signs and try and make that decision. A little overwhelming, perhaps.
• Flyers – The last couple years we printed (wasted) a lot of pages of table topics. First half of the sheet was the topics, second half was a “map” and we got a bunch of PASS HQ volunteers and we attacked folks heading into lunch with a sheet. Most quickly looked away like we were telling them about a PASS credit card offer.

What It Looks Like This Year

Some parts still remain the same. Like the roles and responsibilities:

PASS provides the icebreaking - a technical affinity  to coalesce around. A lunch room. Some food.

Your Table Hosts Talk with Ful Mouths – MVPs, MCMs, Microsoft Employees and starting this year, Summit speakers have hosted various tables. They’ll help encourage conversations around the topic area and help foster networking.

You eat and meet folks. Sometimes you get questions answered – The whole reason we do the BoF tables is for attendees. Attendees pick a table based on a topic area they are interested in, grab a seat there and join the conversation. Great way for you to learn more about a topic, meet others who are interested, meet some new friends and maybe get a question answered from the host or other attendees.

What’s different this year? The Topics.

Instead of inundating you with a totally different topic title per table. We are going to try going with pretty broad table topics this year and see how it works out. We still great table hosts interested in a whole range of aspects of these topics but now you can just pick that general topic and sit at any of the tables with a sign on it for that topic. A lot of the table hosts will be blogging and tweeting about their hosting and we’ll get a list of the hosts out once we are agreed on the finality of it later today.

The Topics 

The bolded words below are the topic titles. These are what the signs will be on the tables. The non-exhaustive list of sub topics are the kind of conversations you can expect to have at a table in that topic area. Any questions? Leave a comment and I’ll answer.

• The Cloud - Azure, working with data in the cloud, syncing between cloud and on premise, etc.
• Big Data – Hadoop integration with Microsoft, working with Big Data, analytics on Big Data, etc.
• Data Warehousing & Reporting -  SSAS, Analytics, Data Mining, Dimensional Data Modeling techniques, Considerations and best practices with data collection, warehousing and dissemination with tools like PowerPivot/Power View, SharePoint, etc.
• SSIS and Data Integration - SSIS, EIM, DQS, MDS & other TLAs
• Performance - Database and system performance baselining, optimization techniques and tricks, getting the most out of your instances, understanding hardware, etc
• Database and Data Development - Data modeling, SQL Server Development best practices, T-SQL enhancements in SQL 2012, Source Control for databases, etc.
• DBA – Database Administration Best practices, Virtualization, Consolidation, HA/DR, Backup & Recovery, Troubleshooting, Upgrading and Migrating
• #SQLFamily - Meet current and past BoD members at PASS,  talk about PASSWIT,  some Professional Development thoughts, learn about SQL Saturdays and User Groups, Get excited about volunteering, learn about #SQLHelp on twitter and all of the great resources out there available for free within the #SQLFamily

The post PASS Summit 2012 – Birds of a Feather Lunch appeared first on Straight Path Solutions, a SQL Server Consultancy.

Your company’s data is pretty darn important. Your ability to interact with and glean insights from this data is key to your business in just about every industry. Whether that data is patient care records, the “recipe” for the MES processes manufacturing your drug, your customer list or sales trends this holds true. You probably have a great staff who love the company and have all the right intentions. But are you heading in the right direction? Is your data safe? Is it available? Can you guarantee the quality of it? Can you work with it fast enough? Maybe… Maybe not.

When “Well Meaning” Isn’t Enough

I was looking at the news today and a picture caught my eye… It was of an “art tragedy”… The image is below.. There was a fresco in a church of Jesus, it has been damaged over time by water and was in need of restoration. Pretty common story in old churches and museums across the world, right? Well what happened here is a great reminder for all of us – sometimes you need outside help… Sometimes “well meaning” isn’t enough…  You see.. A woman who attends the church didn’t like seeing this image of Christ damaged. I don’t blame her, we both love the same Jesus, and I see the value in works of art done in earlier generations and times. I love history. Well this woman could stand it no more, so she decided to take it upon herself to touch up the photo. Sadly, her results – while better than I could do – are.. well… pretty horrible. A goal in art restoration is to do as little “new” as possible and to bring things back to the state they were in.. In this case… Well if there wasn’t a before picture, you wouldn’t know what she was trying to do..

Pretend this is your data...

There are lessons for us in technology here… Being Well meaning isn’t always enough.. Sometimes you need to get trained, get help and get connected…

Get Training!

Managers – how up to speed is your team? Have they been supporting SQL Server 2000 their whole career? Do they even know the new features that came out in SQL Server 2008 let alone SQL Server 2012? Are your developers performing amazing feats of mental gymnastics because they aren’t harnessing the blessings of T-SQL improvements in SQL Server 2005, 2008 and 2012 and they still write T-SQL like it’s 2001? I think you’d be surprised… Are your DBAs afraid of virtualization still when there is no really great reason to be? Whether you go with individual mentoring for your team from a consultant (full disclosure – I am a consultant) or some great immersion training – like what SQL Skills offers, or Kalen Delaney offers through her SQL Server Internals courses. Or classes like my colleagues at Linchpin People offer or some of the great virtual and in person training that my friend Brent Ozar and his great team offer (most for free, btw!)

Get your team some training and they won’t turn your masterpiece (The Data) into something worthy of a comic strip. Like my friend Karen Lopez says – LOVE YOUR DATA... Get them that training or mentoring.

Get Help!

Sometimes an outside opinion and set of eyes is what you need. Maybe you have an amazing staff and they’ve been suggesting that you implement x, y and z but it hasn’t happened. Maybe they don’t know what to suggest because they haven’t been exposed to a lot of different environments. This is where consultants can help. I don’t mean to imply that you need a consulting firm with 45 multiplying bodies taking over your operations… I’ve worked at companies that have gone that way and all I ended up seeing was more expensive and mass produced images that come out the same more often than not.. I mean consider an outside set of eyes to look things over. Perform a health check/assessment/sanity check or whatever they call it. It doesn’t have to be me or my colleagues. That SQL Skills company I mentioned? Great folks! Brent Ozar and his team? I love working with them. Karen Lopez and her company, InfoAdvisors? How can you not trust the woman whose motto is to love your data? There are countless great firms out there to work with and there seems to be enough work to keep us all busy without needing to horde our client base. Sometimes it is worth spending a little money up front to make sure you are equipped for what the future will bring. That painting was probably pretty obvious to anyone who walked into the room as that well meaning woman was “fixing” it… But maybe to her – lost in the “operational details” of doing the actual repainting didn’t take the time to see what she had gotten herself into. She didn’t realize she was stuck until she was REALLY STUCK… They may be able to save that painting now – but it is going to cost a lot more to fix.. It is going to take a lot longer and it is possible that they are going to have to replace it with a photo of the original…. Your environment is the same way… Switch to proactive mode. Look for problems before the occur and you’ll spend some money on training and outside help – but I guarantee you that you’ll spend less than calling for that help after your precious artwork has been turned into a monkey…

Get Connected!

In cities and towns all across America – there are meetings going on from SQL Server User groups… On twitter you can ask a help and add the #sqlhelp hash tag and get a worldwide audience of SQL Server experts (and no matter when you answer you’ll almost always get SQL Server MCM Robert Davis answering you it seems) actually answering you. Visit Stack Overflow… Ever hear of PASS? The Professioanal Association of SQL Server Users? They do all sorts of online and in person training – including the worlds largest gathering of SQL Server geeks for a week long conference jam packed with networking, learning and Q&A with the experts and the makers of SQL Server… There is no reason for you or anyone on your team to be a lonely art restorer trying to solve the problem at hand late at night by yourself… These people are here to help and offer advice. You can chat about your plans and most of them are bold and friendly enough to laugh and say – you’re making a monkey! But they’ll suggest alternatives and contacts.. Check out SQL Server central! They have some amazing “Stairways” which are soup to nuts lessons on a topic. They start on the ground floor and build up to 500 level content. There is an entire community of people out there ready to help you and your team!

In closing – I’m not poking fun of this story. I feel for this woman who meant well. I’ve been in her shoes before as a full timer early in my career. I’ve helped a lot of folks out who have monumental tangles caused by well meaning folks who weren’t connected, weren’t trained and weren’t allowed to get help. I think this is a good story to learn from.

The post Well Meaning Isn’t Enough appeared first on Straight Path Solutions, a SQL Server Consultancy.

Pardon The Cobwebs…

It’s been a.little.while since my last blog post! I’ve been busy this summer! My wife and I bought a 2 room schoolhouse built in 1904 and have been up there during most of our free time renovating it so we can open it up as a resource for all of the homeschooling families in the area (Union Schoolhouse if you want to see more). I’ve been busy with client projects and meetings and busy moving forward with growth and projects at Linchpin People. So the blog… Well it’s been a bit neglected (though it’s brought me a few jobs this summer so I guess we can blame the blog on keeping me busy ) But I saw this month’s #meme15 topic and it looked like a good one. Especially since I never finished my series that were trying to convince you, dear reader, to join the ranks of independent consulting – that series started with my “I’m Cheating!” post…  I’ve also just had a great long conversation over dinner with a friend from the SQL Server world at the end of a client meeting the other day. This topic came up so the ideas are fresh in my mind.

Onto the #Meme15 Post…

First some background – Jason Strate organizes this and has a few rules. You can read all about it on his site. The topic this month is simple… List 5 reasons you love your job. So I’m writing this both as an independent consultant working for myself and as one of the business partners in a SQL Server consultancy at Linchpin People. The answers work well for each.

… In no particular order:

1 The Change of Scenery

When I’ve had a full time job, I’ve been working at a company with a predefined culture and set of problems and typically in one industry. There were a lot of things that would never change with any one company. That can be a great thing sometimes but it can also be a horrible thing. Especially to someone who likes to see things planned right, done well the first time and with the future in mind. As a full time employee those traits sometimes can be big burdens. Early in my career this really caused problems for me. It wouldn’t take long before the wind of idealism was beat out from behind my sails and I’d turn into a sarcastic, frustrated employee. I ended up coming into a company, making a lot of improvements in performance, reliability etc. then get stuck in firefighting mode or get frustrated and leave… Maybe that’s too much to admit in a blog post that clients and potential clients will see – but it’s the truth.

As a consultant I find that I’m often going into an environment that has been in “let’s just worry about today” mode and been bitten by doing that – they want help getting out of that mentality. I get to have clients in different sectors – A couple longer term clients of mine are fun – A big enterprise Credit Union in Seattle – the 4th largest in the country, a large city in MA, a couple smaller mom and pop shops that just need to know their DBs are behaving and a huge data warehouse at an online travel industry site playing with SQL and Hadoop. Plus short term planning and strategy clients in all different sectors and sizes. I get to touch a lot of industries and work with a lot of different kinds of teams, structures and people. That’s great.

This also has meant I can really take lessons from one client and apply them to all others. I means I can hear someone say “we’re thinking of doing x” and I can say “PERISH THE THOUGHT!!! Client z just tried x and they’re still clawing their way out of it.. I really recommend you look at y instead…” I get exposed to things I already have “expertise” in and I get exposed to things I only know academically (I let the client know that, by the way) and get to learn and cut my teeth as I go. I’ve probably grown more in this past year of independent consulting than I did in any one year as a full timer.

2 I Can Make A Difference

This isn’t to say that “working for the man” Mike couldn’t. I like to think I did for the various employers I had. I hope I did anyway! But it’s different. My rates aren’t really low and when a company is in a relationship with me – they are looking to get their money’s worth from our relationship. Something about an initial engagement, references or our initial conversation convinced them that I was the right person for some of the professional services dollars in their IT budget. That means that I’ve felt as though the advice I’ve given as “Consultant Mike” has a much higher success ratio (in terms of being followed to actually see the changes) than it did as “Employee Mike” – now the advice hasn’t changed (well sure sometimes it does as I learn more and experience more.. If I were a politician you could call me a flip flopper then) but the “weight” of the advice has gone up. I don’t like that, and I’ve worked with some GREAT full time DBAs, Developers and Architects who had given great advice but it wasn’t until I said, “Amen!” that the company saw it as great advice. But I seem to have more freedom and power to make a difference. I can be a bit more blunt now and say “You know.. you really shouldn’t have just turned on replication without understanding it first. These decisions take a lot of time to plan properly and there are a lot of variables.. That is why your main system was heavily blocked all day yesterday.. I suggest we spend some time to understand just what it is you need from a reporting perspective and then work towards that.. In the meantime here is a workaround.” And instead of getting mad? They listen, follow the advice and they all live happily ever-after (or something like that).

3 Mentoring

I LOVE teaching. I’ve been working with a lot of clients lately in a mentoring relationship. Sometimes in person, sometimes via webex. Basically I spend time in couple or few hour chunks showing them all of my secrets. I check the health of their servers with them. I analyze performance with them. I explain my thought process and give them the “if you ask 10 of us about this one you’d get 6 different answers” caveats where appropriate and I get to watch them grow. I can see the changes in the questions they ask and can watch their skill level rise. That is awesome. Sure I may end up with less hours overall with them, but that is fine – there are a lot of potential clients out there. Besides that, they know that I share knowledge instead of horde knowledge, fix their easy issue and then walk away. So they still call me when they are ready for the next level.

4 The Camaraderie

Maybe it is just the SQL Server consulting world, maybe it isn’t. But for the most part competition isn’t competition. The majority of the great (I’m not counting Straight Path there yet – I hope we are building Linchpin People to be there) consultancies and consultants out there help each other out. They refer around to each other when too busy. They give advice. They say nice things about each other to clients behind their backs. I never chose SQL Server DBA/Performance/Architecture as a career path 12 years ago. It chose me as I’ve blogged about before. I’m blessed that this is the path I went down, though. The people in it are amazing and we just get along and help each other out.

5 The Flexibility

I’ve been busy. When people ask me about marketing my answer has always been and today remains “I’ve been too busy to try and look for clients” that isn’t bragging – it’s just a realization that I’m in a skill set that still seems to have need. Clients have been finding me and I’m filling future months up. So life has been busier in some ways (there is all the non billable time I wasn’t considering when becoming a consultant at first ) but it’s been more flexible. I’ve been able to have days where I can say “let’s go to the beach” or “let’s go work all day at the schoolhouse” now when I say that sometimes some project work will have to be done later at night or double the next day or I may have to schedule a break from the fun to join a call, etc. but I’ve had more schedule flexibility than I ever had. I feel more free as an FTE in a few ways and this is definitely one of them.

It won’t be so long this time…

I need to get some posts going. Maybe I’ll start with the ones I promised at the end of the I’m cheating post back in May:

So the rest of this week the posts will look like (I can’t believe I said rest of this WEEK… That was back in May… that’s one of the downfalls of being busy on my own and with the schoolhouse.. Blogging has taken a new priority level)

• Things I’ve learned (and wish I knew) – Sick days are different, taxes are a bit different, etc.
• Relationships – We all knew they mattered, but they make a world of difference in business
• Slingshots, Parachutes and Partners – a few ways to go it alone without being so alone
• Benefits and Drawbacks (for me, for clients, for you)

The post 5 Reasons I Love My Job (#meme15) appeared first on Straight Path Solutions, a SQL Server Consultancy.

“I could never go into independent consulting! It’s way to risky!!!” - That’s the typical reaction when talking to other technologists (mostly all who are better skilled than I am, it seems) about going off into the big bad and scary world of independent consulting. Truth be told, it’s where I sort of found myself for a bit before I decided to chase that dream and jump into the pool. You know what, though? It really isn’t that scary…

This week I’m going to share a few observations from the “almost one year” point of my life as an independent SQL Server Consultant. I figured I should come clean in this first post this week and tell you all that I’m cheating but I figured I’d let you copy off of my paper while I’m at it.

Unemployment Is High – But Not In All Fields

The first cheat? For good resources with skills (heck, even for me) – there doesn’t seem to be a shortage of database related jobs. Even the ones that aren’t so glorious, that don’t pay so well and have long drives and other annoyances associated. I can’t speak for where you are but I bet you’ll find a similar situation in your job market – It seems hard to find good people. I’ve helped clients interview and phone screen through a LOT of folks to find quality people (even ignoring most of my “6 reasons I won’t hire you” it is tough to find lately). Jumping off of a perfectly good cruise ship to build a boat of your own sounds risky, but not that bad when you are moored 125 yards from a boat factory.

What is “Permanent” ???

Not only am I a cheat – I’m a liar…  I just said going off on your own means jumping off of a perfectly good cruise ship. Well that cruise ship is only as good as long as it stays good. What I mean is your full time job is only full time as long as it makes sense for your employer to spend their budget on salary and benefits for you. They may be the nicest employer in the world but if it doesn’t make business sense, you are being kicked off of the cruise ship –  no matter where it is. Sure you’ll hopefully get a life raft (severance pay) of some size, but you are still at risk of getting kicked off. To steal a line from the Princess Bride – “Job Security” you keep using that word but I don’t think it means what you think it means…

I Know I Can’t

With a self defeating attitude, who needs enemies? It is tough being independent. I’ll talk about that later this week. There are things you have to take care of that are different. There are non-billable tasks. There are taxes to pay. There are contracts to sign. It isn’t really that scary though. Let me put it this way – it isn’t as scary as you’ve convinced yourself it is. Like I said in that pool fear analogy post linked above – don’t be paralyzed by “I think I can’t” – that’s one prediction that always comes true, because it is self defeating. If I can? You can. I KNOW you can.

Have a Plan

If that cruise ship was in the middle of the pacific – and you still jumped – I’d call you a complete moron (in love, of course…) Just because you can and you have a lifeline (the ability to get even a 3-6 month contract position with long hours, a long drive in an industry you don’t like – but pays fine), it would be really irresponsible to leave without a plan. Later this week I’ll share some ideas about how you can slingshot, parachute or partner your way into independent consulting. I chose the parachute approach with a little slingshot added. It worked. There are other options, I’m sure, but the point is – work out a plan, create some savings and test out your relationships to see if work can find you first. I can’t think of a bolded sentence to end this paragraph with, just make a plan!

What’s the worst that can happen?

I’m a man of faith – this paragraph is about that – quick warning… I’m a Christian. I believe the Bible is the inspired and inerrant Word of God. I believe that God is a loving (among other attributes perfectly balanced) God. I believe I am Heaven bound when my time in this messed up body is done (I’ve blogged about this a lot already. The really long version of my testimony is here if you care to read.. In short – A loser w/o a high school diploma, living for himself avoiding God and “His followers” at all costs met the real Jesus and my life hasn’t looked the same since, in spite of my attitude at the time). That gave me a peace about this decision and was probably my biggest cheat of them all. What’s the worst that can happen to me? Even if I somehow managed to really screw this up and could never get a job doing anything ever again, my pitiful savings dried up and my church and family abandoned me and no safety net existed whatsoever – the worst that would happen probably involves death. Maybe even a slow or painful one. So? My God has a plan for eternity, I’m included in it and my eternity (I’ve seen some horribly slow queries in my life, but none were that long) is secure. I’m going to live forever in the presence of God. The one who fashioned this world, the one who created me, the one who holds the keys of life and death – my friend, my father. How risky is it to go off on your “own” when you’ve got an adoptive father who runs the show and already promised an ending that never really ends and is filled with goodness?

The Point

Coming Soon!

So the rest of this week the posts will look like

• Things I’ve learned (and wish I knew) – Sick days are different, taxes are a bit different, etc.
• Relationships – We all knew they mattered, but they make a world of difference in business
• Slingshots, Parachutes and Partners – a few ways to go it alone without being so alone
• Benefits and Drawbacks (for me, for clients, for you)

The post I’m Cheating! appeared first on Straight Path Solutions, a SQL Server Consultancy.

It’s 2006 – I’m at the SQL PASS Summit. My first one. A former manager, colleague and friend of mine invited me to dinner with a bunch of his business partners. It would have been one of the small number of social things I did that year. Otherwise I was a wall flower, in my room pretty early, alone and keeping to myself. So anyway – the dinner. My friend was Andy Kelly, his business partners were a lot of the founders or partners at his company at the time – what was then Solid Quality Mentors. So I had dinner next to Itzik Ben-Gan, across from Fernando Guerrero, near Brian Moran and I’m pretty sure Kalen was there. I can’t explain what it felt like at that point in my career to be surrounded by these folks but I think the conversation with my wife went something like, “You wouldn’t believe it! You know that orange book I always read and took everywhere – the woman who wrote it – Kalen – she was there!! You know that SQL Magazine?!?! Like the folks who edit and write regular columns were there. These guys are gurus of gurus and they know it all. They wrote the book. I had.. I had dinner with them. They talked to me! They talked about their work, I was eating with them!!” I admit it – I was star struck. Here I was – this kid who was decent at SQL and knew his stuff but would never even dream of writing a blog, an article, etc. I was shy – I hated public speaking – I was totally amazed at these people speaking up on raised stages, talking to rooms of people even with microphones! I’d never be anywhere near where these superstars were, but it was cool I got to eat with them once.

[Insert Movie/TV-Show Sound Effect to Signla Time Travel Here]

It’s 2012. I have a literal bald spot now that I can touch. I have two more kids, I’m 6 months away from my 10th wedding anniversary. I’m sitting in the airport waiting to board a flight home from a business meeting with my new business partners. I’ve been working on high end and fun SQL Server challenges for all sorts of customers as an independent consultant. I’ve gone into business with one of the very people I was having dinner with that night – one of the original founders of that company, in fact – Brian Moran. I’m going into business with two guys who are SQL Server MVPs and incredibly well respected members of the SQL Server community. I’ve actually taken flights just to go speak at events – in public – in front of people – with Microphones! I’ve spoken for two years at PASS – on those raised platform stages. I blog, I’ve had a couple people even say “Oh! So you’re Mike Walsh – I’ve read your blog!”

So… What the heck happened? How did I go from a high school dropout whose life consisted of partying to a technologist? How did I go from a tech support rep who couldn’t understand what the folks in training mean when they said something about an application having a database (“What?! An application is like an .exe file… Why would it need a database? What do you mean application ‘information’ is stored in the database?!?!”) to someone who enjoys teaching other people how SQL Server works? From a guy too afraid to speak up in a meeting to someone eager and pumped up to deliver a presentation to a room of strangers?

Well – I’ve blogged about that a bit for various #memes over the years (on my testimony, on mentors, on perspective) but I wanted to use that long introduction to setup three big parts of where I am. I don’t share any of this in a spirit of bragging (I firmly believe I am where I am because of God’s influence in my life and the three things I mention here. I like to say I am where I am in spite of me). Instead I share it to inspire. No… I’m not so proud to say “even you can be me!” (I wouldn’t want you to be me) but I mean you can do more than you think you can. You can overcome more than you think you can overcome. I am not smarter than you – I guarantee you that. In fact I could rattle of at least 40 names without applying any effort of SQL people who can tune better than I can tune, who carry more knowledge than I carry and can talk internals better than I can – and that’s without any effort, I am sure there are hundreds I could name! I didn’t have a better upbringing than you – I was on free lunch my whole life, had a hard working single mom, never went to college and didn’t even get my high school diploma until I was 20 something. I make up for these shortcomings by trying to work a little bit harder, I’ve focused more on knowing where to find the right answers and how to test and use searches to help me. I listen (my wife may disagree a bit here…) and work well with clients. I want to solve their problems with them. All of these things combine with an intense passion for SQL Server and its community to put me where I am.

Those three things that I wanted to thank?

Inside SQL Server 2000

Sounds silly, but I owe a huge part of where I am to Kalen Delaney and her work on this book. I started with SQL Server 6.5 and 7.0. but I really got going with SQL Server 2000. This hardcover book lived with me. It went everywhere I went. Right.. Everywhere. I brought it on the train ride to DC when my wife and I were going on a first trip together. I consulted it at work and read and re-read the chapters. The way Kalen treated the internals made it an exciting book to read. I wanted to know how SQL worked, and what the building blocks of the building blocks were. This book was an amazing thing to read for someone who wanted to learn it only cemented my desire to learn more. It only made me eager to read more articles and try more experiments.

Andy Kelly

I’ve mentioned him before in posts here. How blessed was I to have my very first DBA job manager be Andy Kelly?! He was in one of the earlier batches of SQL Server MVPs, he had a passion for internals in SQL and was working closely with the product team of SQL in a lot of ways already. I’ll never forget the first couple weeks working with him – half of my day was sitting in his office with him whiteboarding everything about SQL Server. He didn’t have to do this! There were experienced people around. He could have just gave me tasks, showed me how and been done. Instead he chose to mentor me . He chose to invest his time in teaching me. He didn’t just “teach” me, but he got me excited about SQL Server. He talked about all the new things in this SQL Server 2000 that was just coming out. He talked about why it rocked, how it worked and went as deep as I wanted with the knowledge. I learned a ton from him – but even more importantly, I caught his passion for technology. That’s what I want Linchpin People to be – I want the Andy Kellys of the world, even the folks who are where I am – even the folks who’ve been doing this for only 3 years – I want them to be able to invest their energy into mentoring others and see others grow both in knowledge and passion for their career.

SQL Server Community

I’ve been a broken record and cheerleader for the SQL community for a few years now but looking to list all the folks who inspired me to blog and taught me through their blogs would turn this already long post into a lot longer. The people like Paul Randal and his early days of blogging over at the Storage Engine blog. The people like Brent Ozar encouraging me to try it out and syndicate. The people like Adam Machanic and his SQLBlog site. These people further inspired me to be passionate about technology. Posts like Linchi’s showed me how to test things myself and quantify information before making a stand. The folks at PASS – especially now with the initiatives that board members like Tom LaRock thought up with the PASS first timers welcomes (wish they had that in 2006!) The PASS HQ folks who encouraged me to help organize the Birds of a Feather lunch. The people like Andy Leonard who encouraged me to run a SQL chapter. I could keep going but, as I’ve said over and over and over again, we have a community of givers in the SQL Server world. We have a community of people who throw themselves into other people. That has inspired me to a desire to do the same and I’ve learned in the process through receiving what knowledge they freely share.

The SQL community inspired me to give. I started blogging a few years ago, I started answering online questions 5 or so years ago. I didn’t know it all then (in fact I probably thought I knew more then than I do now… The more I’ve grown, the more I realize how little I know relative to what is out there to know – if that makes sense – or do I sound like Yogi Berra?) I couldn’t answer every question, I didn’t understand every nuance of every topic I intended to blog on. You know what happened, though? I started learning more. I started increasing my knowledge – I grew. So I’ve grown by taking from the SQL community and I’ve grown by giving to the SQL Community. Interestingly enough that is also one of the models that Linchpin is looking to build out in our philosophy, or culture. Like I said in the announcement post – we all grow, or no one grows… And there will be times where we are on the giving and receiving end of mentoring and teaching  – but there is learning no matter which side you are on. I’m a great example of that – 12 years ago I didn’t know how to say SQL Server (well to be fair, some say I still say it wrong, but you knew what I meant…)

You add these three things together and it’s tough to not be inspired to strive to be better, to want to know more and to want to apply it. I am no different or better than you – I guarantee it. You’ll grow when you get involved. Whether you take advantage of the learning at SQL Saturdays, SQLServerCentral, the bloggers, the 24 hours of PASS, the conferences or you take advantage of learning through investing yourself in helping others grow (Or BOTH!!!) – you will learn. You will grow. It may not feel like it right now but you will.

The post A Book, a Mentor and a Community appeared first on Straight Path Solutions, a SQL Server Consultancy.

This month’s T-SQL Tuesday falls on Valentine’s day so Steve Jones decided to talk about the Love affair that seems to be going on right now with the term “Big Data” and the DB industry’s rush to court Big Data. You can read more on his announcement post. Anyway here goes my T-SQL Tuesday contribution.

It's T-SQL Tuesday Time! Another month well underway

What Do They Mean by “Big Data” Anyway?

I don’t know (see I’m not afraid to say it ) – But seriously, I don’t know. It gets thrown about a lot lately. I am not sure if there is an official definition out there that all can agree on. I found the below quote as the first search result in my recent search for “what is big data?” It comes from Edd Dumbill at O’Reilly and I kind of like the definition (emphasis mine):

Big data is data that exceeds the processing capacity of conventional database systems. The data is too big, moves too fast, or doesn’t fit the strictures of your database architectures. To gain value from this data, you must choose an alternative way to process it.

So for the rest of this post, that’s what I mean when I say big data. Well let me back up – the bolded sentence anyway. I think of Big Data as the data that comes in so fast, the data that humans don’t directly make – or don’t necessarily think about making. Financial transactions – even at Amazon – isn’t really what comes into my head as Big Data (I’m sorry but I think I’m going to have to say that phrase a few more times in this post, feels weird typing it over and over). I think of it as data that doesn’t necessarily need to have a schema defined first. Data that doesn’t necessarily need to conform to a certain order right away. Today you may want to do x,y and z with the data and tomorrow you may want to do a,b and c – so you can’t format away data elements, you can’t structure it in a way that prohibits a mid-stream change in approach to it. It isn’t just data that we need to be a bit looser around the structure of and hoarders of – it is also “big”.. So it probably doesn’t come from you typing something into a POS or client application. Think scientific data; sensors; traffic patterns; tweets from everyone – even when someone famous dies or an earthquake happens; web visits and all the associated data – lots of data. mmmmm data.

What Am I Doing With It?

I’m currently helping a well known travel industry website. They use Hadoop and Hive – a query engine that sits on top of Hadoop – turns queries that look a lot like SQL into map reduce jobs.. So folks who know SQL can more quickly ask Hadoop questions without having to be Java programmers writing their own map/reduce jobs. But they also use SQL Server Reporting Service and SQL Server Analysis Services. The model we are moving towards with them seems to be a great model for companies who want their unstructured data and want to query it fast too. The main data they care about are primarily log files. Two kinds – 1.) the log files from the web servers – IP of visitor, length of visit, referral, etc. and 2.) Internal xml logs that all of their servlets write to as a user does stuff on the site. This amounts to over 100 million new rows of raw log data per day from the millions of visitors per day which turns into billions of rows when joined to various data sources. We then query this data in a few ways based on what the goal is:

Brand New Question

Let’s say an analyst wants to ask some question of the raw data that we’ve never thought of asking and never really developed a cube or report to ask that question with. Well instead of sitting in a series of meetings, ramping up a BI project, etc. – the analyst just asks that question. They would write a Hive query in the Ad-Hoc Hadoop cluster that joins, aggregates, etc. the billions of rows they are looking at (typically the data is partitioned by date created in Hadoop with this client and the analyst may ask a sample question of a day of data or perhaps a month at a time). This will take some time depending on their query and the amount of data. That’s fine, the cluster can handle it. The jobs spin up on all of the nodes that the pieces of the data live on and the cluster spins through the map and reduce jobs and eventually spits out an answer. If this was really just a one time question, or one asked infrequently that’s the end of it. They ask it this way and they are fine with the delay because they understand how much data they are crushing through to get the answer.

Same Question More Often

So when the analysts realize there are questions that are good indicators of business and critical decisions can be made to optimize search engine traffic, optimize click throughs, make a more positive user experience, etc. they want to ask these questions more often. This sounds like a more traditional data warehouse experiment. There are key indicators of how things are going, there are reports that indicate how partners are doing, etc. These shouldn’t have to be run by submitting jobs to the Hadoop jive engine or through Hive queries. So now we can approach this in a few ways:

Create base aggregations in Hadoop and export to SQL – Rather than export the full set of raw data into SQL Server and have to scale up to be able to join and aggregate the data – we aggregate the data down into the set the business unit cares about (for instance the B2B teams don’t care about all of the vacation rental clicks, the consumer teams don’t care about business properties and neither team cares about all of the search engine crawler traffic). We aggregate the data down as much as possible – letting Hadoop and all of it’s nodes do the leg work for us overnight and we export the resulting aggregates to SQL. These aggregates can then be queried directly or with Reporting Services for some basic reports. If that isn’t enough we can

Create SQL Server Analysis Services Cubes – So if users need to slice and dice more, if they need to get access to further pre-aggregation and the benefits of analytical processing, the teams can create cubes. Either load them directly from the initial base aggregations in Hive (and other reference data stored in Hadoop and on some other processing systems – lookups for location names and other reference information like that) or they can create a dimensional warehouse in SQL which is populated from the aggs in Hadoop and then populates the cube.

So what we’ve done and are doing is identifying the best tool for the job. In our case we’ve determined that it makes more sense to buy commodity compute clusters (though it’s hard to call them commodity, they are some nice servers that this client chooses to buy) with local storage for the big data, and then go with smaller SQL and SSAS environments that only contain the data necessary to answer those questions repeatedly asked. This is constantly changing – as new insights are gleaned from the raw data, new cubes and new reports in SSRS are created but we never have to worry about throwing away data and we never have to worry about having billions of useless rows stored in the relational databases slowing things down (or pushing us to more expensive SANs and servers) just because we were too afraid to throw the data away or put it “offline” or on cheaper storage someplace. – All of the data is available and the business can be more agile to market conditions and changes.

So yeah, I guess I kind of would say I love the concept of Big Data – but I still love my relational databases and I don’t think either minds my love for the other. When it comes to data, I guess I’m polyamorous. I’m glad that Microsoft also made the decision to start to love Big Data – I wrote this Big Data blog post for the SQL PASS Summit where Microsoft talked about some of their strategy around Big data.

The post T-SQL Tuesday – Love, Big Data Style appeared first on Straight Path Solutions, a SQL Server Consultancy.

A trauma patient can be “splinted to death.” So can a database server. It happens during at least one ambulance call each year and I’m sure it happens in many more data or network operation centers each year, too.

This post is my attempt to start back up with my “Lessons From Disasters” series I promised I would start awhile back. I’m intrigued by disaster preparedness and I have an interest in learning from history. We’ll take a look at some real disasters and find the things that we can learn as IT professionals in them. We’ll explore fields that deal with disasters and learn how to apply their training principles to our day jobs and we’ll hopefully search out some examples of “everything done right” to serve as examples to go after. I’m going to work on having one of these posts out a week  – on Thursday.

Splinted to Death, Really?

Yeah. I still remember the EMT course I was in when I first head the concept – it made sense immediately. In fact it is beat into your head in the Emergency Medical Services (EMS)  trough trainings and refresher courses in the form of the ABCs (well now the CABs) and the proper order of patient assessment. Most of the training and education standards in EMS come from data – really rich data collected and analyzed by states and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (the folks who maintain EMS standards in the US) They see what works and what doesn’t. They analyze the documentation done in the pre-hospital setting and then track the progress of patients in the system. One of the things they note is that folks in EMS had splinted patients to death. It still happens but less with the focus on proper assessment.

I keep using this phrase, what do I mean? Imagine this scene – you are on an ambulance crew and you arrive to the site of a car accident. You see that there is one patient and they are walking around screaming, “My arm! My arm! Help!!! Please, help, my arm!!!” you look down to the arm they are holding and instantly realize it isn’t setup the way it’s supposed to be. Obvious deformities, clearly broken – probably in multiple places. Every move the patient makes sends them into bone chilling, nausea inducing, scream worthy pain. It needs to be stabilized. The patient was up and walking – a great indication they have a pulse. They were able to scream  – a good indication they can breathe (contrary to what a panic attack patient believes as they tell you over and over again “I can’t breathe” while they hyperventilate at 50 respirations/minute.) You are there to help and you can almost imagine their pain, so it makes sense to start splinting that arm and treating the symptoms… Have that patient lie down on the stretcher and get to work on the splinting. It’s going to be a tricky one to stabilize just right and it hurts every time you touch it, so be careful. Eventually, you’ll have a well splinted arm on this patient who has really calmed down as a result.

But you forgot to check vitals… You forgot to listen to lung sounds… The patient is calm because the patient is on the downward slope of shock – decompensated shock. Their body gave up trying to make up for the issues affecting circulation or cellular respiration. They are just about out of it, you can’t even feel a pulse at the wrists anymore because the blood pressure can’t get it there, you can barely feel it around the neck… You focused on that obvious, ugly, painful arm and ignored everything important. You missed the internal bleeding in the chest crushing against a lung. You missed a cruddy blood pressure and a rapid weak heartbeat. You missed they were already trending towards bad on the “good/bad scale”… Now maybe you noticed all this in time after the fact and maybe you didn’t. Maybe the patient survives another couple weeks and then dies of organ failure, maybe they walk away fine, maybe they don’t leave the emergency room alive. You’ve splinted your patient to death.

But We’re IT Professionals

Right. Right. I was getting carried away. We “splint” our database environments to “death” all the time! With no NHTSA governing how we are trained and how we operate, with no databases tracking outcomes, we probably do it a lot more than you see in EMS with human patients. I know I’ve blogged quite a lot about troubleshooting and many of these points even sound like a SQL Server Central article I wrote a few years back but I’m still bumping into this phenomenon. So this does apply to us and I think the EMS training and tips for dealing with the risk applies to us, too.

The Solution

The same solution in EMS actually works here:

• ABCs – Spend time on the basics necessary for life before moving on. Power on? Services up? Machine pingable? The point is – the ABCs have to be the things that you can’t do without. Minor bleeding will stop on it’s own if you don’t fix the airway. You can restart the app server and reboot the client as many times as you like – if the SQL Server service won’t start you’ll never connect to it.
• Rapid (Primary) Assessment – Once you check for and fix any ABC deficits (Clear airway, adequate ventilation, beating heart and immediately life threatening bleeding), do a rough assessment of the patient. Note anything found and fix anything serious. Anything critical in the error logs? Blocking chains? Nightly job running crazy? Someone change the app’s config file? Can you log in yourself?  The point is - find and treat any remaining threats to life or limb, don’t get caught up buddy taping fingers – do take the time to splint and unstable pelvis that could damage critical arteries. Find and fix the things related to or likely related to the outage. Note the things you find that may not be optimal but aren’t causing this issue. The CIO wants those other things fixed, but they want the server up now.
• Make Transport Decision  – You’ve done the basic checks and you should know by now what priority this patient is. Need a helicopter? Closest hospital or trauma center? Do you need advanced licenses to meet you en route? Are we looking at an extended downtime? Can we try a few more quick things based on the info we have? Should we go live in the DR site because we need more troubleshooting time? Do I call in vendor support? Do I wake up the dev team? The point is – You’ve done some quick checks and quick fixes – what are you going to do next? Chat sports and wash cuts, hand out ice packs or get hauling with a critical patient – do you need more resources? Don’t get lost in this weird limbo state of “I don’t know what is going on and what I’m going to do next” – Move the situation towards resolution. If you need help, no one cares – they just want the system up. If you have to failover – do it and move on.
• Secondary Assessment – So you’re heading to the hospital, you have a bit more time – go back and look in more detail at the findings you noted during the rapid. Fix those broken fingers, clean wounds, look for other hidden injuries.Fix that max memory setting so this issue doesn’t happen again, create the task to take Domain\Staff out of thy sysadmin role, Look for the tertiary issues related to the outage and resolve them. The point is – you want to double check your findings, look for additional issues and continue to make improvements/prepare the hospital to make improvements. Look for other issues, go deeper where you felt “off” about something but didn’t see any obvious and quick issues -Remember – the secondary assessment only begins after the first three steps – you have your system coming back to life, users can start to get in to prod or DR – if not then you are still fixing ABCs and primary items – there are some ambulance calls where the entire call and drive never leaves the ABCs because you are fighting an airway the whole way in.
• Reassess/Monitor Vitals – How are your treatments working? Is the patient’s vital signs trending stable or going downhill? Are connections remaining? Can that first batch of users you let in get their job done? Are processes running and staying running? The point is – you need to monitor your interventions. You want to make sure that things aren’t getting worse again and if they are you need to act.
• Cleanup, Documentation, Etc – The next call doesn’t work if the ambulance isn’t restocked, organized and ready. The EMS system never gets better if the calls aren’t documented. That patient’s medical team misses an important fact about the call if you didn’t document it. Lessons learned meetings (not blamestorm meetings) help us avoid the problem and improve the troubleshooting approach for next time.

Related Posts

• If You See Something, Say Something – If something is wrong and you know it – say something! Don’t assume everyone else already knows.
• Avoid Using Those Troubleshooting Skills – Acquiring troubleshooting skills is an important endeavor for folks. But what if you handled your environments in such a way you needed them less and less?
• Best Practices: Explain and Understand Them! - I hate it when folks say things like “this is best because I feel…” or “I’m not sure why, but just always do this!” No one will follow your best practices if you don’t explain them!
• Are You Planting Asparagus? – Asparagus can’t be picked for the first couple years after you plant it. It still takes preparation and hard work. Are you making decisions with the long term in mind? You’ll be less likely to find a situation where you have to splint your database.

The post Don’t Splint Your Database Server To Death appeared first on Straight Path Solutions, a SQL Server Consultancy.

Looking for that next technology job? I’ll let you in on a little secret – six little secrets – Reasons I’ve said “no thanks” to SQL Server candidates when interviewing them for clients & employers:

1 – “I Don’t Know” isn’t a phrase you know…

I ask different kinds of questions. Some are questions you’ll find in books or internet searches – like, “how many clustered indexes can you have on a table?” Some are more “describe or explain”  in nature with no absolute right or wrong answer – I want to see you can string some thoughts together and add common sense, logic and knowledge. Some questions I don’t expect you to know! In fact, I learned from a great manager awhile ago to go out of my way to ask a question you won’t know the answer to. I’m looking for, “I don’t know” as a response here. I’m fine with an “I’m not sure, but is it” type of answer. I don’t normally get those responses though. Even a “simple question” -  I would rather hear “I don’t know” to an easy question than some far fetched stab in the dark that was  confusing and off. (ex. “What are fixed server roles?” “well in those old versions of SQL Server the roles didn’t do what people told them to do, so now they went and fixed them, so the roles are right”) If I am recommending someone give you the keys to their prized production environment, I don’t want you to get all “what does this button do?” in it. “I don’t know” is not a bad answer*

2 – You have no defense…

I’m not mean in an interview. I’m not dishonest in an interview. I do like a little disagreement from time to time, however. I want to hear you defend a position. I want to hear you stand up for your answer when it is a case of lots of ways to do the same thing. So I may disagree with you mildly. Or play the opposing view of one of those “religious” wars in SQL circles. I don’t approach it in a rude way, but I want to prod you further along. Defend yourself. When I am hiring someone to join a team I am on or a team I help – I’m not looking at it like I’m a dictator trying to fill cabinet positions. We are dealing with important environments and significant investments. If I decide to do something that burned you at your last employer, I want to know you’ll raise a flag and say “Actually, the last time I saw this here is what happened… Here is why I don’t think we should do this and have you considered this instead?” not “Okay! Go for it, Mike!” Even in positions that have “junior” in the title, I want to see folks willing and comfortable raising objections… As I talk about in presentations on learning from real life disasters – agreement in spite of concerns is a disaster causing attitude… I don’t want that anywhere near database servers I care about.

3 – You don’t need to defend yourself…

Along those lines, I also really don’t want you if your only defense is, “I’ve been doing this a long time, that’s the right answer, how long have you been doing this?” Arrogance is also a disaster causing attitude. Just because you personally detest anyone ever using an identity column as a primary key doesn’t mean you are right and any exception to this rule proves the rule breaker is an idiot. So if I ask you to defend your position, just remember it has to be a valid defense (Or at least heading towards validity.. I’ll even take “the glove didn’t fit” over “I said I’m not guilty, what more do you want?”) Tell me why identities are bad as primary keys. Answer my counter points when we have that discussion. Then tell me how you’d work with them anyway if that’s the scenario we paint. You may be an industry expert, but if you can’t get over yourself and outrage that someone would ask you to explain a little further, I’d be hard pressed to suggest you join a team that ever has the potential of being staffed by more than one person.

4 – You do, know and learn what is expected…

Only. Only what is expected. It is a competitive marketplace out there!  So you need to stand out, you have to be different. I will always ask about what blogs you read (if you say my blog, by the way, I know you just googled my name before the interview), what SQL events you go to, what SQL books you’ve read lately, what you do to learn new features, etc.  If you are coming to me for a SQL related job, I will take points away if you can’t show me you actively work to improve your skill set. I don’t mean I expect you to spend every single waking hour living SQL Server – Family comes first, kids  come first, weekends enjoying the backyard come first… There is still time to increase your knowledge and wear your more important hats. Stand out from the crowd by showing you care enough about what you do to know more than just what the scope of your last role was! If you feel you’ve already learned enough and don’t need to grow anymore, then you aren’t the right person.

5 – It’s not you, it’s me (okay, it’s you…)

This one may seem odd to write and maybe odder to read. We have to be able to work together – especially if it is a team I am on or a team I help out frequently. I don’t mean that we have to have the same political leanings, faith, hair stylist (in fact, my wife does my hair, she better not be doing yours too) or like the same bands. I want to see -you- not just a talking resume but a human being. I’m looking for that in the later stages of interview processes definitely but even to a degree in the beginning screening calls. Basic things like eye contact, smiling from time to time, engaging in some idle conversation while walking someplace, you asking questions about the role, the company or even the team or talking about your life. We may have to work on some tough issues together from time to time, it helps to have that feeling of a team atmosphere. Again, I’m not looking for you to hug everyone and be fake, or to bring cupcakes to your interview (I won’t refuse them, though..) I just want to know we’ll get along. Be confident and outgoing, those little things add to the complete picture.

6 – You don’t have the right skills for the role…

Finally, yeah – you do have to have the right skills for the job. If you were great in every other aspect for a report developer role but you didn’t know what SSRS was, it would be tough to give you that position. If you were a little off on some of the technical questions but showed me you had a passion to learn, could explain your thoughts, use logic and apply common sense to troubleshooting I may consider you over someone with a bit more skill but less of these traits. In fact, I’ll do that a lot, I believe you can teach skills better than you can teach “traits” but at the end of the day the skills have to at least me someplace on the same map. Make sure you read about the position you are interviewing for and honestly assess yourself before committing. It shows when you just read a bunch of interview questions the second we go a level deeper.

I’m sure I missed a bunch, what do you look for when hiring for that next position? What are you most nervous about when looking for that next SQL job?

The post 6 Reasons I Won’t Hire You appeared first on Straight Path Solutions, a SQL Server Consultancy.

I’m a SQL Server Blogger – how could a week of Thanksgiving posts go by without at least one about this thing that is the SQL Server Community? To recap – I’m doing a series of posts this week on things I’m thankful for – one each weekday. This has looked like:

• Perspective - Why looking back at past challenges can make current ones seem, well, not that big.
• Relationships - I am where I am in large part because of the people who have put time into my life. Relationships matter.
• Self Employment – I made the decision to try it this year, and I’m glad I did. I think you can make that same decision.
  
• Community – To quote a mall or theme park map, “You are here”
  
• Grace – I touched on this in the relationships section but I’m going to talk a bit more about grace and perhaps Pass Prayers on Friday.
  

This Thing We Call “Community”

Or, as Thomas LaRock put it – #sqlfamily…

I’ve blogged about the SQL Server community before a couple of times (“Community, Community, Community” comes to mind first) but I still think it’s a mighty neat group of technologists. I am not even sure how it came to be this way and I’d love to study the family tree someday to figure out why this community is different than some other technology communities. To clarify when I talk about the SQL Server community, I’m talking mainly about the folks who actively blog, read blogs, tweet, speak at or attend events, answer questions on SQL Server Central, actively vote in the SQL PASS elections, etc.

So what is there to be thankful for about this community? Well in no particular order, let me count the ways – I’m thankful that…

We don’t always agree but we just about always get along.

To me the classical examples are the things we aren’t supposed to talk about in public. Faith. Politics. Dynamic SQL vs. Stored Procedures (Stored Procedures, btw) Surrogate Keys vs. Natural Keys, etc.

There have been many a sidetracked twitter conversation that escalated into a multiple person conversation with folks on very different sides. We’ve talked about heated points. There have been animated discussions over political policies and the direction a nation should go. Tough discussions/debates on principles of faith. Yet.. Yet.. It seems like anytime I see (or take part in) one of those discussions, everyone ends up knowing each other a bit better, finding points of agreement and even making new friendships with people whose views completely clash with your own. I’ve seen families torn apart by these divisions yet we find unity in our differences. That doesn’t mean I am endorsing views I disagree with – it means I see that a human being holds them and I want to learn about myself and my world through their views or why they came to them. That is a common attitude. I am thankful that we all can just get along.

The “leaders” seem to pour themselves into other people.

Have you seen the movie Pay It Forward? Well it’s almost like that kid was person one in the SQL Server community. With rare exception, take a look at the people with the “must visit” blogs or “must read” books. Take a look at the long time SQL Server MVPs, the sought after speakers, etc. They almost all share a trait that you don’t always see everywhere – They can’t help but help bring others up. Everyone who is active in this community of technologists seems to want to see others grow. Even the well experienced and much desired consultants at the top of their game seem only happy to give referrals to other consultants. They seem happy to give tips to others. They all realize there are a lot of potential customers and rather than get stingy and hoard knowledge, they share it and hope others do well. That’s different. Everyone learns something every day if they stay active in the SQL Server Community. SQL Saturday leaders have to say no to speakers because so many people want to learn by teaching. We are a community of learners and teachers.

We take time to get to know each other.

Meaningful relationships. When there is a SQL Server event (conference, SQL Saturday, etc.) I always bump into at least one person (and usually a lot more) that I know fairly well. Someone who wants to know how I’m really doing. Someone I care about and want to know more. Plenty of razzing and joking to go around but when someone is stuck… When someone is down on their luck… When someone needs a job… When someone needs prayer… When a family member dies… The community rallies around that person. The only real superiority contest I ever see is who can outgive or outcare someone else. That’s different than any other technology community I’ve been a part of.

 We could fix this country.

Seriously. Some of those political twitter conversations I mentioned? We talk about hard issues. We come at them from different points of view but through our logical and rational thought processes, we usually end up exploring the heart of the matter. We end up finding the points that unite us and let go of partisan bickering or allegiances. We talk about some interesting real solutions together. You fire Congress (all of them) and replace them with members of the SQL Server community and I think this nation is a bit closer to solving those issues that plague us perennially. Common sense wins. Logic wins. Doing what’s right for all wins.

We love new members of the SQLFamily.

No jealousy. No frustration with someone learning. We welcome people just starting out and put on big events for them at our Summits, we go out of our way to find the “new ones” and ask “how’s this summit treating you? Are you learning everything you wanted to learn? Have you met  so and so yet?” I was just chatting about this with Brent Ozar the other day and he drew a parallel to High School. I think it works…. If the SQL Server community were a High School or Middle School – there would be less traumatic memories for some… If the SQL Server community were a lot of workplaces, new employees would be more productive. Again – the folks in this community pour themselves into others and want to see new folks learn as much as possible and they love helping them out there.

So yeah, I’m thankful for this SQL Server community I fell into when I got deeper into SQL Server. I have some friendships that will last well beyond my time working with any one technology. I’ve seen projects touch lives (Like the Deep Dives books, Project Phoenix, etc.) and I’ve seen resources put together to get stuff done. This SQL Server community is pretty amazing.

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This is Thanksgiving week here in the US. This week, I am going to try and share a post each day about something I’m thankful for. So far I’ve shared how I’m thankful for:

Perspective - Why looking back at past challenges can make current ones seem, well, not that big.

Relationships - I am where I am in large part because of the people who have put time into my life. Relationships matter.

These are slightly off topic but I think you’ll find that there are some lessons that intersect life and career. Professional development, if you will. Today I’m going to continue and share the thanks for these first five months of working for myself. This post isn’t shared out of a bragging or self-promotion intent. The purpose, instead, is to give thanks first and to maybe encourage someone else second.

Thankful That I Did It

I have talked about and thought about this decision off and on over the past few years but it never seemed right. Even when I started approaching the decision it took awhile from me to go from the “thinking about” to “doing phase. I tell you, though – it has been great since making the choice. I am thankful for the “leading up to” events that unfolded and for the confirmations along the way. Back in June as I was thinking through the final decision I used that perspective I talked about on Monday. I remembered the fear of jumping in a pool but the reward that always came once I got used to the water (that time has increased as I get older each year, btw). I wrote about that in my post, Your Dreams? They don’t come looking for you. So I went for it. People have asked me since about the motivators or driving force behind that decision and I guess it comes down to more things to be thankful for but in a nutshell:

• 80(ish) years vs. Eternity –> I’m going to be around on this planet for around 70-90 years total, if I live according to the average life expectancy.  As a Christian, I am going to live forever in perfect eternity. What is the worst that could happen right now by taking on this “risk” of working for myself? Some tough financial times, maybe some hungry days. I believe God will take care of me here and even if I suffered for the next 40 years – I’m heading to a forever in Heaven. I was talking to another Christian businessman about this and I said “it’s kind of like we are cheating.. the risk of entrepreneurship isn’t the same for us”.
• Full Time Employment Isn’t a Guarantee –> Let’s face it – look around the economy… How was I any more stable and how did I have any more job security working as a number on another’s budget?
• I Have Skills –> That’s not bragging. There are many things I don’t know but when I look around the companies that I help out, I realize that I know quite a bit more than I give myself credit for. I’ve seen differences in the clients I have helped so I knew that if I could just get in the door of clients, I’d have customers.
• Money & Time –>  My wife has changed me in many ways. My faith has changed me in many ways. One of those ways is having an attitude of giving. I firmly believe that all of my time and all of my money is God’s. Working for myself means I have the opportunity to potentially have a bit more of each – that means I have the chance to give more of it away. We love giving and I have more freedom there financially now. I also have more freedom to engage differently in ministries and give my time – or even my skills – to those ministries, charities, etc. that need them.
• My Kids are Kids Once –> Now this is an area I need to fix in the business – when to say no, when to decide which projects can be taken on at the same time, etc. but one of the motivations is that I can be more flexible. That I can take my daughter to a class, that I can do events during business hours with my kids more often than previously. That we can have a “slow” income month, dip into savings and work less and do more with them. As I learn more about myself and working for myself I’ll balance the schedule out and have the ability to be around more.
• I had a Network –>  Linked In, Former co-workers, recruiters, other consultants who somehow trust me enough to recommend people to me, friends of friends of clients. I have a network of people already and that beats marketing dollars. So far because of that network, because of being “out there”, I’ve been too busy to figure out how to market. Now I’m working on that because it won’t always be like that but I knew I had contacts.

When I looked at those facts and reasons, I had to say “If I don’t jump in the pool, I’ll never even have a chance to get used to the water”.

Thankful For Pioneers

I got to talk to some people who have successfully led businesses of their own. People like Brian Moran. People like the owners of Winxnet, the company I left full time employment with (but stayed very close partners with – helping them with their SQL work from afar), people like Joe Webb or Andy Kelly. People like Paul Randal and Brent Ozar. People like Karen Lopez. These people all gave advice, encouragement and even warnings and honesty when I was either making the decision or after I made it. All of them working in the same space, but all of them offering their time to see me be successful. I am so thankful for those relationships.

Thankful for Providence

Two opportunities came up at the same time that would have only worked if I were on my own. Winxnet was okay with seeing me try to go on my own and still do their advanced SQL stuff for them as a partner instead of employee. All of these things came at once, as I was praying and thinking about the decision. It was like I walked up to the automatic door at a grocery store by thinking about going on my own, by praying for the decision making process and the doors just swung open. Even after going on my own, I’ve actually had to just turn away clients because I realized I was taking on too much and had to say “no” or “not yet” or “call these guys instead” to give the best service to my clients. I really do serve a God who answers prayers.

Thankful for Clients

I’ve worked with some great folks. Winxnet with some steady (and fun) work; The well known online travel industry site that I’ve been learning Hadoop and Hive at while improving their SQL environment, the Credit Union that has given me some steady work and some patience as I sort my schedule out, the training opportunities, the opportunities to help Microsoft Learning with some projects, and many other projects. I’ve worked on some fun projects, I’ve taught a lot and learned just about as much in the process of helping people get the most out of SQL Server. I am thankful that clients give me a try and I’m thankful for the longer term relationships that many have formed through working with them.

Thankful For Support

My wife has put up with this adjustment and me being home a lot more. We’re still married. In fact, when I was going back and forth on my decision and having that “what did I just set in motion.. how will I find clients?” thing  she was great. She gave me a pep talk and reminded me of all of the calls from recruiters that I could just take some job I wouldn’t love but could do for 3-6 months while I figured it out. She was supportive and has been supportive even when the schedule hasn’t been as free as I thought it would be going into it. She’s been so supportive.

Thankful For “That Feeling”

I gotta say. When I went to the secretary of state’s office in shorts, t-shirt and sandals to file the paperwork to incorporate my llc, I felt great. When I go do a walk through with a client and tell them that their most frequently run query (by a wide margin) used to take 3-80 seconds and with a little work I have it down to an average measured in milliseconds it feels great to know they’ll have happier customers and can feel better about selling to more. When I see a light-bulb go off  when teaching a DBA a tip or trick it rocks. There are many occasions to get what I call “That Feeling” and I love it. Now, instead of just solving problems and making things go faster, be more secure or reliable – I am doing that but I am also creating something – a business – at the same time. While I pray about the business and know that God is in control, I also know that I have the ability to make something or nothing out of this thing I’m trying and that is a great feeling (and a scary one at times also).

Thinking about going off on your own? Send me an e-mail. I’d love to talk to you about the lessons I’m learning even now as I am trying to see how this first year of full time self employment goes. I can share some of the “just starting out” lessons which are still fresh in my mind because I’m only just now learning them.

But yeah. I’m thankful that I’ve been able to go into business on my own in this bad economy and make something that sustains itself.

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