I have now been on both ends of the process. Submitting abstracts for conferences and selecting them in this year’s SQL PASS process.
First, I would like to applaud PASS for taking a huge step forward in two areas. First is marketing. They have grow the submissions, sessions and attendees at an exponential pace. I guess they will beat TECHED this year. They also introduced a social element to the process. Once you submitted an abstract, it was open to others to view. This creates a crowdsourcing element. It makes the community to step it up a notch. The result is a better conference for the participants due to competition.
Here are a few tips from my experience on both sides of the isle.
Anyway, I would be happy to review your abstract in the future and provide constructive criticism. Feel free to drop me a note.
What happens in Seattle doesn’t stay in Seattle. I could not take pictures during the day because <nda> and <nda> cannot be announced yet. However, database diapers is fair game.
Anyway, here is part 1. Video next.
Click.
Here is the link the the original post if it doesn’t syndicate right.
There is a new meme started by Mike Walsh (Twitter, blog). He tagged Brent Ozar(RSS, Twitter) who tagged me amongst other.
Here is the the basis of the meme to quote Mike.
When I wrote about empirical evidence and learning through trying (instead of asking only), I got thinking about things I wish I knew when I was a Junior DBA that I know now.
So here is what I know now that I wish I knew then(and usually learned the hard way).
Microsoft Project is your friend.
I have written about this before but it is worth it to revisit. I started out making big production changes to mission critical systems with nothing but a task list in my head. I evolved to notepad and then excel. My success % improved with each jump. Now, I can floor my boss and customers with downtime estimates accurate the minute. On top of that, I can establish doable timelines and get more resources if my time line does meet expectations.
You can be your worst enemy.
Ego can make a brilliant employee a liability. It manifests is several ways( at least for me).
Life is so much better when you are modest rather than smug.
If the hole is round, a square peg may not be the best fit.
I have officially become platform agnostic. SQL Server will always be my first love and what I am best at but there are other products out there. Not that I know everything there is about SQL but I don’t learn 10 new things about it everyday like I used to. As a n00b, I learn 30 new things a day about MySQL\Oracle. There are valid reasons to go MySQL or Oracle over SQL Server. That is just the way it is. Imagine rewriting the DAL layer for Wiki or Wordpress just because you had to run it on SQL Server. If you drink that much koolaid, more power to you. I think knowing the features and limitations of other platforms helps me as a SQL Server DBA as well.
The GUI is not your friend.
I used to be an enterprise manager DBA. When I learned how to admin from TSQL, that is were the Senior DBA level skills came in. I still use the GUI if it a click or two vs. several lines of code but I know how to write it and, if need be, automate it. If you can’t, learn.
Know X as good or better than the subject matter experts
Where X is technology that interacts with the database: The OS, hardware, SAN, network, and application code. Of course, this is not always feasible. I have never jumped on a switch to prove it is not a SQL Server problem but I have gotten pretty close. Once when all fingers pointed at SQL Server, I had them check the switch for errors and sure enough the firewall was set 100/half duplex. If nothing else, learn the hardware and OS inside and out.
Next Victims
Jonathan Kehayias(RSS, Twitter)
Jason Strate(RSS, Twitter)
Rob Boek(RSS, Twitter)
Got tagged again. Here are the details:
So here are the rules, please answer the question with at least two answers, once you have completed the answer please tag 2 people that you know to answer the questions as well. If you get tagged by this Quiz please let me know I would like to add all the results to the bottom of this blog so all the answers are in one place.The Questions for this quiz…What are the largest challenges that you have faced in your career and how did you overcome those?
So here are the rules, please answer the question with at least two answers, once you have completed the answer please tag 2 people that you know to answer the questions as well. If you get tagged by this Quiz please let me know I would like to add all the results to the bottom of this blog so all the answers are in one place.
The Questions for this quiz…
What are the largest challenges that you have faced in your career and how did you overcome those?
1. OJT
I did not always used to be an uberguru SQL ninja expert googler. I learned SQL the hard way. I broke production stuff and learned how to it really quick. I didn’t always break but if it was broke, I had to figure out how to fix it fast. It was challenging but a good way to learn. I try to avoid that most of the time now. It is bad for customer satisfaction. :)
2. Evolving beyond an “enterprise manager DBA”
A really smart DBA way back when told me to get out of the GUI and learn how to administer through TSQL. Meh, EM is just generating the TSQL commands, right? It happened slowly over time. I think after I discovered sysprocesses and some of the other system tables, I realized that the GUI wasn’t all that. Picture giving execute permissions to a user on 50 stored procs through the GUI. Yup, I was that guy. Now, I highly recommend doing most everything through TSQL unless it is a couple clicks and even then know what SQL is running.
So who else has responded:
Denis Gobo
Denny Cherry
Brent Ozar
Tim Ford
SQL Batman
Cherie
Who am I tagging?
Well, I’ll tag Kalen Delaney now that I know she reads my blog. :)
Louis Davidson(@drsql) since he squeeked by the first one.
Jeremiah Peschka(@peschkaj) since he was gloating about slipping through the cracks.
K. Brian Kelley (@kbriankelley)Just cause.
It seems like there is a lot of negative feedback for the SQL MCM\MCA certs. I tend to agree. I have taken all of the SQL tests since 7.0 and participated in the SQL 2008 test development process. I really just do it for fun. Yah, that’s how I roll. My boss does not put much value in those certs nor does the industry as far I can tell. Initially, I was happy to hear about the MCM but then I realized it would never happen for me.
It looks like they outsourced most of the teachers. Great industry renowned people with great kung fu but not the guys with access to the source or designed the architecture. In some cases, they teach better (They do it for a living) but in other cases it may be better to have it straight from the horse’s mouth. On top of that, Greg Low says most people don't pass the first time around. Imagine spending 21 long days and 18.5 large for a 50%-100% chance of failing.
I have recently been put in a position where I have to manage Oracle DBA's and, after looking at the OCM cert, it requires 3 weeks of class time, ~$9k, about 4 tests and a lab test. The expensive classroom time can be split up over time. The OCM holds some good street cred too.
What is the solution? Copy Oracle. It won’t be the first time :)
Here are a few posts:http://www.sqlservercentral.com/blogs/steve_jones/archive/2008/12/01/rangers-to-masters.aspxhttp://www.sqlservercentral.com/blogs/tim_mitchell/archive/2008/11/29/microsoft-certified-master-program-is-this-the-answer-to-certification-woes.aspx
I have been to SQL Connections and TechED this year so earlier this year I pointed out to my director that they could get a really good group and early bird discount if we send five people. I graciously offered to hold down the fort while they were out. Dumb me :) The session list looks awesome! All I am hearing on twitter is PASS this, PASS that. Yall have fun, asshats! All shenanigans need to end up on YouTube.
If you want to live vicariously like me, follow along here on twitter(RSS)
I also believe Brent Ozar(RSS) and Joe Webb(RSS) will be live blogging the keynotes.
Wow, what stressful week. I would much rather do a total disaster recovery on a VLDB than do this again. Last week, I announced I had taken a new job. Leaving my current position of nearly a decade. Well, I took a counter offer. When I resigned I told them I was not interested in a counter offer. I was so confident that I even announced it here before my butt was in the new seat. I took the job because it was really cool. There was not anything wrong with my current job or company. I was perfectly happy. The prospective employer contacted me on linkedin. I was not out job hunting.
My current employer respected that I wasn’t interested in a counter offer but a week and a half into my final two weeks the Manager of Database Services and Escalations resigned and they offered me that job. I thought that my decision to take the new job was tough. Well, let me tell you taking the counter offer was 10x rougher.
I weighed all of the pro’s and con’s. The only con for staying was the fact that I would be going back on my word. I don’t take that lightly but it was the best move for my family and I.
It came down to a lot of reasons but two main ones:
Conventional wisdom says never take a counter offer. However, I took the new job for unconventional reasons. It wasn’t about money. It wasn’t because I was unhappy. It was all geek factor. I just wanted to work on something of that scale.
I don’t think there is a totally right answer and I will always wonder “What if” but now that the smoke has cleared, I am feeling more and more that I made the best decision.
Thoughts?
I listened to the keynote @ PDC this Morning while catching up from my travels. Windows Azure was the big news. Microsoft’s Cloud OS. In a nutshell, “.Net as a Service” but that does not do it justice. Read Mary Jo Foley’s detailed description.
They also announced SSDS is now just SQL Services except you can’t actually run any tsql(yet). They did mention they will begin to expose some more relational features as time goes on but it is not a RDMS as far as the developer is concerned. I have a lot of questions and no answers so I will break it down with three highly consumable marketing slides.
Image via Matthew Roche. This is the part that interests us.
Image via WindowServer blog. This is where SQL Services fits in.
Image via WindowServer blog. This is where cloud services fits into the Enterprise. 1. Not at all, 2. a hybrid and 3. all cloud with a browser client.
Here are some places to watch:
http://oakleafblog.blogspot.com/ (RSS)
http://www.cloudave.com/ (RSS)
http://blogs.msdn.com/ssds/ (RSS)
http://www.amundsen.com/blog/archives/?category=15 (RSS?)
http://blogs.msdn.com/drobinson/default.aspx (RSS)
MSDN SSDS Search (RSS)
http://brentozar.com (RSS) Yes,I link Brent in every post because I have a mancrush.
Of course, this is incomplete. Post if you have good resources…
You should also be watching the PDC news because that is where all of the game changing announcements are going to be dropped. I would suggest http://search.twitter.com as it get closer.
Things move fast. Do you still feel the same way the first time you read this?
I ran across SQL Server videos on .netkicks (RSS). I think this is a fairly new site and I must say it is pretty nice. Good clean layout with RSS feeds to let you know when new stuff arrives. You can stream with WMP or silverlight AND you can download in 3 different resolutions plus ipod format. On top of all of that, there is a transcript of the video.
I watched the 400 level video on extra wide covering indexes. It was well thought out and I learned something new. What more could you want? Oh yah, it is free!
Update: You can also follow Michael on twitter here.
I have half written post called "The Rebirth of the DBA". I am not sure if it is going to make the cut. There is not enough time before I go on vacation and there is some good community discussion both in the comments and in the blogosphere(Brent O, Grant Fritchy, Pythian).
I will summarize really quick. I was halfway playing devil's advocate. While it is possible that they could write some really amazing software that could script the DBA, it is unlikely that they can totally do it. The DBA will still be around. The numbers may be less. Maybe substantially. The roles may change. Maybe drastically. Hell, your SQL Server 2015 VM may have a "cloud partition" in a physical table. There are other factors in the mix like consolidation, virtualization and LINQ\ORM that are also going to have to have an effect. It is all speculation but the only constant is change.
I'd like to retire a SQL Server DBA with 40 years experience but I don't think that will happen. The cloud is coming and it is bad news administrators, database or otherwise. Our government says the DBA field will grow by 37% between 2006 and 2016. I predict it will begin to level off in 5-7 years and begin reducing in 10 years or less. You have to remember that IT is measured in dog years and the government might not be up to speed on current technology like the "tubes".
Amazon\Google\Microsoft all have their v1.0 cloud database technologies. Amazon is actually in production. Amazon's other technologies are getting wide usage like S3. You basically just pay for CPU ticks, bandwidth and space. Yesterday, Intel, HP and Yahoo declared that they will not be left out of the party. The scariest news I have seen has also gotten the least amount of press. Microsoft has gotten into the hosting business under the cloud buzzword disguise. They are offering Exchange and Sharepoint hosting at a very completive price point. Email and intranet is the core and the thankless burden of corporate IT. Once email is in cloud, the database also begins to make sense. This is providing there is a cloud platform for application development like a Google App Engine.
The Best Case( or Worst Case depending on your perspective)
I think this technology has a long way to go. You really don't have all of the functionality yet. It is not battle tested. It doesn't have reporting functionality. It is not compliant. Not yet. Yet is the key word. What kind of reaction would you have gotten from a Sybase DBA's back in 1995 if you told them that they better reconsider their career path? There are still a few Sybase DBA's and Powerbuilder programmers out there. There are 7 openings nationwide right now.
Let's make some assumptions. The features get there. The availability gets there. The platform basically matures to as good or better than "classic" SQL Server and .Net. Now put yourself in the IT decision maker's shoes. No upfront capital expenses, no managing backups, and no patch management. Most company's core business is not IT. If they can remove their focus from managing and deploying IT, they sell and service more widgets. From the CXO's viewpoint, they can eliminate capex, reduce reoccurring costs and focus more on the core business.
Is this Science Fiction?
It may be. The "cloud" may turn out as useful as offshore outsourcing of software development. However, the biggest software and Internet companies are throwing a lot of resources at it. The result could be a hybrid with small to midsize apps in the cloud. The bigger apps in a blade\VM web tier and a bare iron data tier. However, it could be all cloud. All the way down to the end user's OS with your personal setting stored in an RFID implant. :-o Only time will tell.
Natural Selection
Change is good and inevitable. Otherwise, we would still be in caves. Follow the news and be agile. Even if these predictions are dead on, it is not going to happen over night. The Big Blue programmers did not go on to waiting tables and digging ditches.
Microsoft Online Services
SQL Server Data Services
Amazon Web Services
Google App Engine
Edit: Added MS marketing pic.
I think a good database professional knows their domain inside and out. Whether you are a classic production support DBA, a SQL developer, an ETL guy, or a mutant database guy, you have to know your stuff just to be considered "good". This is or should be expected so that alone doesn't necessarily make you great.
What crosses you over into "greatness"? This is just my opinion but I think it is being a generalist even if you are a specialist. When the sh!t hits the fan and all fingers are pointed at SQL, not only do you have to identify that it is or is not a SQL problem but you have to prove it. How do you prove it is not a SQL problem? You find where the packets are being dropped. You find the latency in the SAN. You find the bad .Net code. When you can do that, you get elevated to "Goto guy" status.
I am not going to pretend to be the goto guy. Maybe back on NT4\Win2k\VB6\ASP but I have had the SQL goggles on for the past couple of years. I am planning on changing that this year but I am not sure how yet. Maybe OS. I would like to get really good at Windows Server 2008. However, being good C# in VS2008 would be a nice asset too. Hmm...
What do you think makes a good database professional a great one? What non-db skills would you like to add to your arsenal at the expert level?
So you have a healthy subscription of blog feeds. You read the "legacy" NNTP groups. You might even have email alerts set up from google\yahoo! news to email you when SQL is mentioned in any article from sources like AP, Reuters and the other big boys. However, there is a good chance that by the time you get the scoop from those sources it is old or important new blogs or articles are sliding through the cracks.
Here are some good sources to find new feeds or 0-hour info on SQL Server:
FriendFeed (WWW, RSS) - The drunk uncle of all social aggregators. See this post for more info.
RSSMeme (WWW, RSS) - RSSMeme aggregates\ranks Google Reader shares. Why let the media, vendors or single person tell you want is important. Let the collective conscience of the intertubes guide you.
Summize (WWW, RSS) - Everything hits twitter first. Everything. From the Chinese earth quake to the 3G iPhone price, all on twitter way before CNN. The same goes for SQL...
Google BlogSearch(WWW, RSS) This used to be too spammy so I quit using it. Looks like they cleaned it up. I will be using again.
MSDN Blog Search (WWW, RSS) - The web search is flaky sometime you have to submit several times so submit again if nothing comes back. You get noise(to me) results from Japanese or Croatian bloggers but you also find new gems like Microsoft Bob or Moving Mars
Honorable mentions: SQL @ Digg, Spamerati Technorati, Technet BlogSearch
You can apply these concepts to all news. CNN\MSNBC\Yahoo! News could suffer the same fate that they did to the newspaper if the do not stay in touch with technology.
If I am missing a good source, please share!
I just got a discount code for the SSWUG conference. The code is: VIPJM2008DIS . It is good for 10% off. I am not a sales person so watch the commercial. Hope to "see" you there.
I was perusing the MSSQL 2008 site and I ran across the SQL Server store. Where are the tshirts and hats? Yes, that is how I roll.
Anyway, they do have the learning materials(HOL) at prices that cannot be beat.
There are a couple new features that I would like to quickly point out. These are basically just tools that I use daily so I integrated them into the site. I hope you find them useful.
ALT HEAD: HOWTO: Inserting dummy data
SQL jobs not SQL Agent jobs :) Andrew Fryer posted some interest tidbits of info on SQL Server related jobs in the UK. I suspect similar numbers in the US if not better. Or not, now that bush has wrecked the economy we are undergoing a slight correction. The full story is here.
I have created a LinkedIn SQL Server group. Join up.
I do not know about you all but I find myself spending quite a bit of time filling the shoes of a project manager. I usually don't get a project manager unless it is a really, really big project. So I wanted to share a few things that I have learned from experience and maybe learn a few new things. First, let say we are talking about a mid sized project that will require a couple weeks of preparation work like testing, development, implementation etc. It may require that you coordinate resources from different departments and vendors. It will usually culminate in a major change. Anything smaller may not require more than a task list. Anything bigger will probably need a full time project manager. What should we expect as a return on the investment of time?
These are just some. Project planning definitely does not make your project bullet proof. Things go wrong, deadlines slips, and resources get reprioritized. However, all of that stuff happens even if you don’t plan. Most likely, they will happen with greater frequency. The confidence you gain by having a good plan goes a long way with the stake holders even when there are problems. My manager thinks I am a savant when it comes to estimating down time now.
Anyway, I do not have any formal training but in the next couple of posts I will detail my methodology which comes from experience. I will use a SQL 2005 upgrade as an example. Keep coming back!
Here is a slide show of a few pictures I took at at PASS this year in Denver.
Enjoy!