Voice of the DBA

Author: way0utwest

  • Why Work on a SQL Saturday?

    46729252[1] I was having a long call with Andy Warren (blog | Twitter), fellow founder of SQLServerCentral and SQL Saturday. We were talking about a few things that could be done differently with SQL Saturday and getting a little passionate about it. I stopped in the middle and thought for a minute, why am I so worried about this?
    I think the answer lives in Motivation 3.0, an idea put forth by a few people, but something I heard about from Dan Pink in his book Drive.
    We have things that we believe in, that we see as worth doing, and regardless of the compensation, we drift towards them and become much more focused when working on them.
    SQL Saturday, PASS, the entire SQL Server Community has somewhat become that for me. I’m driven to spend time trying to make it better, not because it makes me money, but because I believe in it.
    I want SQL Saturdays to be successful. I want them to train people to better use SQL Server. I want speakers to be proud of their efforts to help people. I want PASS to mean something to people’s careers, and help them. I want people to enjoy working with SQL Server, and use it to solve problems.
    It’s a bit of a strange feeling for someone that has typically been a capitalist, and looked to be more profitable in my endeavors each year. One of my concerns over SQL Saturday initially was the lack of a way to monetize the time spent on it by Andy.
    Now I find myself, happily, in the same boat.

  • Q2 Goal Review

    I have a monthly reminder, which is currently making me feel guilty. It’s there to tell me to review my goals, and I find myself lacking a bit.

    My goals for 2010 on this site were:

  • Continue managing the forums, but at a reduced, 300 post a month level.
  • Blog 5 times a week, M-F, on at least 2 SQL Server technical topics a week.
  • Learn Reporting Services – at something better than an average level. Maybe not an expert, but work towards being able to use it and answer > 50% of the questions I see.
  • Attend one SQL Saturday – At least, though I think I’m slated to hit 2 in 2010 at least.
  • Write a book – I’ve had three topics in mind for awhile, but I haven’t moved forward well on this. I need to finish one in 2010.
  • Build 2 new presentations. I’ve given one of two presentations pretty regularly over the last few years, but I need to expand, and find some other things to talk about. Not that these aren’t still relevant and good presentations, but I need to try some new ones.
  • Take all my vacation in 2010 – I’ve been bad about this in the past, carrying some over, selling some back. With some good guest writers, there’s no reason for me not to get away from work more.
  • Travel to one new city for work – Likely this will be Vegas, but I ought to spread my time around the community.

    • My current review:

  • Continue managing the forums – On Target
  • Blog 5 times a week – For the most part on target, though I think I’m once a week on T-SQL/SQL Server
  • Learn Reporting Services – I wanted to do 100 hours on this, but I am woefully behind. Security issues on the laptop that keep cropping up are annoying.
  • Attend one SQL Saturday –  Completed. I’ve been to Charlotte and Pensacola. Baton Rouge, Denver, and Kansas City are scheduled, possibly another one.
  • Write a book – I have done some work here, but not enough. Not on target to finish in 2010.
  • Build 2 new presentations – Completed. I built two beginner presentations, one technical, one non. I am working on an auditing one.
  • Take all my vacation in 2010 – Working on this. I’m in Vegas on vacation as this goes out.
  • Travel to one new city for work – Completed. I did get to Charlotte, so that counts. Kansas City and Vegas are on the agenda as well.

    • Not bad, not great. The SSRS one and the book are bothering me, but I feel that I might have overextended myself on this. I am adding in one additional goal that I had promised to do this year.

    Volunteering for PASS – Completed. I worked on the spotlight and pre/post con committees.

  • Making a Little Effort at Networking – Part 2

    I wrote recently about my efforts to network a bit more at events. Part 1 was to spend more time with people that engage me. This entry continues with the second thing I’ve done.

    2. Look for Someone with a Connection

    Since I speak, it’s easy to pick out people that have been in my sessions. I make it a point to look around the room as I speak and make eye contact with everyone, or at least look at everyone. Do that often enough across 60 or 90 minutes and quite a few people stick in your mind.

    Then when I see people walking around later, I’ll say hi, and ask them if they enjoyed the session, did anything stand out, maybe ask about their job, etc. I look for a connection.

    If you’re not a speaker, you can do the same thing. When you go to an event, look for people in the audience. You can pick the speaker, but it’s often easier to connect with audience members. Scan and pick out a few people. When you see them later, even immediately after, strike up a conversation. Ask them if they enjoyed it, ask them what they thought of some point, or if they understood something.

    Try to engage for 3 or 4 minutes. You might never see them again, but you also might find a new friend that you keep in contact with.

  • The Raw Bloopers

    A raw dump of stuff from Memorial Day 2010 until July 4, 2010

    Since Community Server has trouble with this, here’s the link on YouTube: The Voice of the DBA – July 2010 Bloopers