When we started the site, I had never met most of the other co-founders (we went from 7 to 3 inside of a few years). A few knew each other, but Brian, Andy, and I had only communicated through emails and phone calls. We ran the company remotely from Denver, Orlando, and Jacksonville. In fact, I met Brian for first time when he came to Denver for the 2002 PASS Summit (moved from 2001). I met Andy later that year at the Seattle Summit in November 2002. That, coincidentally, was my first meeting with Simon Galbraith, founder of Redgate Software.
Over the years, we’ve tried to enjoy running an online community in different ways. We wanted this to be a profitable endeavor, but one where we could have some fun. We did this in few different ways. One was with some off-topic articles. Early on, Andy wrote a piece asking Is Steve Jones Really Steve Jones? I still enjoy reading that one today.
Once I was running the site full-time, and stuck with the Question of the Day and editorial responsibilities, I added a category for humor that I used on holidays and other random times. April 1 was a fun day (and still is), with me trying to write plausible, but completely untrue articles about database topics. I’m still thrilled that my joke from Apr 1, 2005, SQL Server on Linux, finally came true.
We had a Lighter Side category for editorials that didn’t fit anywhere else, which I and others have used to try and remind ourselves that not everything is about databases and it’s also not the most important things in our lives. We have had a lot of articles on career topics and soft skills, especially editorials, as the guest editors and I know these are some of the most important skills to develop for career growth.
Thankfully, Redgate has supported some of my fun, as they agreed to pay for and publish a series of crosswords and cartoons over the years.
Perhaps the most fun I’ve had over the years was running the SQL Server Central parties at the annual PASS Summit. In exchange for promoting the event and getting people to register with our code, we got a small payment for each person. This started in 2002, and we decided not to take this money as profit, but rather to have fun with it. Each year we’d get a few thousand dollars from referrals, so we tried to be creative. We gave away books and shirts the first year, with a line stretching out the door during the welcome reception. In Florida in 2003 or 2004, we decided to have a video game party with XBOX consoles. We not only purchased consoles, but also TVs, and gave everything away at the end of the night to random people.
Somehow, I stumbled on the idea of a Casino party one year and contracted with a firm in Seattle. We ran those parties for years and even charged admission for people who hadn’t used our code. I would guess how many people would come and then go shopping at Best Buy when I arrived in Seattle, spending a few more thousand dollars on random prizes to give away. I’m sure we lost money in a few of those years, but it was all for fun.
Maybe one of the most memorable things I did was for TechEd in 2004 or 2005. We wanted to brand ourselves and try to raise awareness of the site. Since I was in charge, I ordered 3 different styles of Hawaiian shirts for each of us, with a SQLServerCentral logo and name embroidered on each, intending to wear a different one each day. Andy and Brian were good sports, going along with me most of the time. There was a day Brian refused to wear my choice as it was a little too out there for him.
However, I did meet Euan Garden (RIP) for the first time there and he loved our chili pepper shirts. I arranged for a shirt to be made and shipped to him and I loved seeing him wearing it at a events over the next few years. I also got inspired to do an interview series, which I really enjoyed.
Thinking back on the history of this business, I’m both amazed by how it changed my life, and I can smile at so many good memories. Hopefully, you feel the same way.
Steve Jones
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