Voice of the DBA

Author: way0utwest

Speaker Guidance: Save Your Data
The PASS organization (and likely SQL Saturday) are shutting down their sites on 15 Jan, 2021. This means that potentially lots of links and data will disappear.

There are people in the community saving some of the data, and images. I’m hoping to put some of those in an archive that will live on and remain accessible, but for speakers, the links to events are part of our living CV. It may be important for you to capture some of this.

I’ve got a few things for you to do, especially those of you that are Microsoft (or other) MVPs, or nominated. I have thoughts here on image schedules and your living CV.

Note that you might not care about this, or you might not be sure. However, once the data is gone, it’s gone, so you might want to get it now and decide on its value later.

Sections here:
Image Schedules

I should have done this years ago, as some events (like DevConnections), get rid of their site for particular events and only show the schedule for the next one. As a matter of fact, they’re done.

For SQL Saturdays, you can get the schedule for an event on their page. For example, I spoke at SQL Sat 997 – Salt Lake City. I can get the schedule from an image capture:

Or at the bottom, there is an export to PDF. I recommend you save these, then upload the image/pdf to someplace you can link to from your CV.

Going forward, I’d continue to do this, and even take pictures on a marquee when we get back to live events.

Speaking CV

I track lots of activity for my Microsoft MVP award, but I also keep a Speaking CV I can point to from my resume. For me, this is a static page on my WordPress blog that I update, but I separate things by year and include the events and links.

Typically I link to a schedule page for an event, but these will all be broken, or some of them.

One of my tasks this winter will be to go capture some of the visual evidence of these, if I can. That way I can preserve things.

One other note is that the first day back to work after I speak, I usually update this and ensure it’s current.

Preserving SQL Sat Data

For posterity, or maybe just for me, I was curious what activity I’d had. If I log into the PASS site, I can go to My SQL Saturday, and see the events where I submitted things. If you’re curious, go here, and then you know where to go save an image.

The footer gets in the way, but you can copy/paste and resort this all if you need to.
December 18, 2020
An Experiment in Building Culture

While I have found that some aspects of my job with Redgate improved with our move to remote work this year, I think others have deteriorated. I have spent lots of time over the years trying to build relationships with people in lots of different departments. This year, I’ve gotten lots of time and more communication with those I often work with, but the connections across groups have been limited. I have worried this is affecting the great culture at Redgate.

We have a group of people who spend time trying to deepen and strengthen team relationships. They have a budget each year and typically try to plan different types of activities for teams, departments, and groups inside the company. During the pandemic, we’ve had some competitions (quizzes, exercise goals, best picture), and they’ve been good, but for our end of year celebration, they really did a fantastic job.

First, I saw Kendra post a picture of her end of advent calendar. Interesting, but I wasn’t sure what I thought. Plenty of other Redgaters posted similar pictures, which intrigued me, as I hadn’t gotten anything.

Then I got a package with a note not to open anything before Dec 1. It contained my advent gifts, 24 boxes, and I spread them out on a table. I opened the first few myself before my family got interested. Day 3 was a mug, which my wife promptly grabbed, washed, and filled. Since then I’ve been looking forward to seeing what I get each day, with my gifts slightly different than what my UK colleagues are posting each day.

Each year we usually have a large award ceremony, fancy dinner, and dancing with partners and colleagues. We can’t do this year, which I had expected to be a big loss when each office gets the chance to celebrate together. We’re separated, but this gift was an excellent substitute. Some teams jointly together get to celebrate our individual moments of joy with co-workers, bringing us together in a unique way when we can’t be together as a group.

Culture is hard to build and maintain, but Redgate did a fantastic job, despite the challenges. Hopefully some of you find your organizations trying to do something that brings you together as well.

Steve Jones

Listen to the podcast at Libsyn, Stitcher or iTunes.

December 18, 2020
Daily Coping 18 Dec 2020

I started to add a daily coping tip to the SQLServerCentral newsletter and to the Community Circle, which is helping me deal with the issues in the world. I’m adding my responses for each day here. All my coping tips are under this tag.

Today’s tip is to buy and extra item and donate it to a local food bank.

The food bank has always been important to me. I used to volunteer with my kids, helping them understand how lucky they are and how others may not be. Every year, I’ve tried to donate some supplies to either of those close to me, though probably not often enough.

This year, with the strange world we live in and fewer trips, I know there are plenty of people in need. I decided to do some extra donations to the local bank. Rather than give them some food items, I purchased some local gift cards and gave them. The food bank uses these for perishable items, like milk, eggs, etc.

I also set a reminder to do this regularly.

December 18, 2020
Join the New Stars of Data

Standing in front of a group, large or small, was one of the most intimidating things to me as a young man. I hated making presentations in school and university to others. As I moved through my career, however, I realized that this was an important skill for my career.

Often in many positions, I had the chance (or need) to debate, argue, or just present a viewpoint to others on my team or inside my organization. I had to train others, teaching them about our systems. I had to explain my decisions to management and defend actions. All of these moments required speaking and communication skills.

You can take a chance and share something with others by submitting to The New Stars of Data. Their next event is in March, which gives you lots of time to prepare, practice, and get feedback before delivering a session. If that’s too soon, I’m we’ll see another GroupBy conference, SQL Saturday, or other virtual event that will consider you. I’d ask that all of these events reserve 10% of their slots for new speakers to their event. After all, it can be less intimidating to speak virtually, and there are lots of opportunities right now.

Many of you might not think you’re smart enough, or an expert in some area. I’ll share a little secret with you: I’m not either. I often see questions at SQLServerCentral or in the Microsoft MVP email list that amaze and surprise me. I truly feel like an impostor at these moments, when I realize I don’t know or understand something.

At some point in life I started to take chances and deliver small talks at work or user groups. I realized that I didn’t need to be an expert to teach something to others. I realized I could have some success, even without being the smartest person in the room. There are always people that know more, but there are always others that want to learn something simple. Level 101 talks are always popular and in demand.

Take a chance today, and submit to the New Stars of Data. I’m happy to help you with an abstract, or give you feedback on a practice talk. William, Ben, and many others will help as well. Submit a talk, ask for help, and continue to grow your career.

Steve Jones

Listen to the podcast at Libsyn, Stitcher or iTunes.

December 17, 2020