Voice of the DBA

Author: way0utwest

  • Telepresence

    I remember seeing the telepresense robot on The Big Bang Theory and thinking it was somewhat silly, and not a great substitute for a live person. The whole episode was a bit humorous and funny, with Sheldon attempting to prevent himself from befalling any harm by using the robot to substitute for him at work.

    It’s amazing how your view of the world can change in a few years. The past three years have had me traveling 15+ times a year to various events to deliver presentations on a variety of topics. However I’m cancelling all future talks in 2014, at least for live travel.

    The VGo telepresence robot has been offered to Red Gate on a trial basis for us to test it in a number of ways. We are looking to use this robot to allow us to reach more users and deliver more talks as well as perform consulting for some of our customers. We have worked with VGo to not only allow a broadcast presence of myself or a developer from Red Gate, but we have built a turnkey demonstration system.

    With a custom shipping container holding the VGo and a Gigbyte BRIX mounted on it, anyone can easily unpack the robot in minute, unfolding it in a room, plug it into power, a microphone, and a video projector. It will automatically power up and log onto the Verizon network, where I can connect to it from home and reconfigure it for local networking. I can not only control the robot and address an audience (as well as hear them), I can also control the various VMs on the BRIX and demonstrate any SQL Server setup that suits the talk.

    As you might guess, this will allow me to broadcast to SQL Saturday events every week as well as attend many other conferences. If things work well, Red Gate is looking to deploy a few of these for not only presentations, but also for consulting in helping our customers use our tools to build robust software delivery piplines. We can ship one to a customer and then work with them in a remote situation.

    I’ve very excited about the entire pilot, mostly because it’s a joke on April 1. For now. Perhaps we’ll give this a try at some point.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcast
    Listen to the MP3 Audio ( 2.9MB) podcast or subscribe to the feed at iTunes and  Mevio . feed

    The Voice of the DBA podcast features music by Everyday Jones. No relation, but I stumbled on to them and really like the music. Support this great duo at www.everydayjones.com.

  • Oracle, MySQL, and MongoDB Come to SQLServerCentral

    We’re in for a name change. As of May 1, we’ll be welcoming the Oracle and MySQL communities to SQLServerCentral. Our daily content will grow to include articles and questions about these platforms as we look to become more inclusive to the large numbers of data professionals that work on other platforms.

    At Red Gate Software, my employer and owner of SQLServerCentral, we’ve built a number of tools for other platforms. We have our Compare product working on Oracle and MySQL, and we are actively working to extend this technology to MongoDB and other platforms. With so many professionals wearing multiple hats at their employers, we’ve decided to also consolidate our community sites.

    As a result, we are going to change the name of the site to

    DataCentral

     

    That’s the new site and don’t worry, all your old URLs will redirect. We’ve been working hard to ensure that everything still works as planned, and we have some new tags coming that will allow you to easily filter information to the specific platform you need.

    We think this is a great move forward, to include other platforms and give you the opportunity to learn more about other technologies, even if your company doesn’t use them. This is also an April Fool joke, so if you’ve read this far, hopefully you’re smiling with relief.

    I do like Oracle and MySQL as technologies and they work fine. I just think in many cases SQL Server works better and I like using it. That being said, the site isn’t changing, but I would encourage you to learn more about other platforms if you have an interest, or your company uses them. Having additional skills can help your career, even if it’s a safety net.

  • X in Technology

    I have attended quite a few of the women in technology sessions across the last few years at various SQL Server events. I think the effort to promote technology careers to women and support them in the challenges they face is a worthwhile effort. I hope the groups continue and I look forward to more local chapters forming, like the Denver WIT group that is starting this year.

    However not everyone agrees. I heard from someone not to long ago that thought these groups were divisive and might end up fragmenting the community. This person asked me if I thought WIT was a good idea, then should we also have a black men in technology group?

    I do.

    I was asked if I thought there should be a Hispanics in technology as well?

    I do.

    I do think that any minority group that feels they want to support others in their group should consider setting up an organization to help their members. Different groups of people face different challenges in being part of a minority. Finding support from others in similar situations can help you overcome the obstacles that are in your way. It can help you realize the possibilities and opportunities that exist. Lots of groups do this, why not technology? The WIT and other minority organizations I’ve seen aren’t advocating against white males or any other majority. They’re just trying to help their own members have better careers.

    If we can encourage others to consider technology careers, become better professionals, and support people as they go through their lives, I think that’s something worth doing.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcast

    Listen to the MP3 Audio ( 1.9MB) podcast or subscribe to the feed at iTunes and Mevio . feed

    The Voice of the DBA podcast features music by Everyday Jones. No relation, but I stumbled on to them and really like the music. Support this great duo at www.everydayjones.com.

     

  • All in Fun

    My first commercial!

    Steve on a Horse

    This comes from our DBA Team promotion, which is ongoing this year.