Voice of the DBA

Author: way0utwest

  • The 700 Milestone

    I’ve watched various SQL Saturday milestones go by. I missed 100 in Brazil, but did manage to get to 200 in Philadelphia and 300 in Kansas City. 400 was in Torino, and I am sad about not making the effort to get there. 500 was Boston, but I had a conflict. 600 Chicago, but again, other plans.

    Colorado Springs was awarded 700, and I had to submit ASAP to that one. I’ve got a morning commitment for volleyball, but I’ll be racing down to get to the event and attend the after party.

    I’ve got a repeat presentation, Branding Yourself for a Dream Job, but there are some other great talks. PowerBI from TJay Belt and Meagan Longoria, Optimizer secrets from Brian Hansen, Data Science from Reeves Smith and more.

    Plus there are two great pre-cons on Friday. The Midnight DBAs talking Enterprise Maintenance and Kevin Kline giving you 50 things you need to know.

    If you’re nearby, get a free day of training and say hi in the afternoon. If you can convince the boss, I’d say you should take advantage of one of these pre-cons as well.

  • Great Developers Use Source Control

    I was rewatching Ike Ellis (b|t) talk on the habits of Great SQL Developers from SQL in the City 2018, and his first item was “Use Source Control“. I happen to agree with Ike, which is why I’m writing this, and I really hope you do as well. Certainly at Redgate we’ve built tools that help you get your T-SQL code into a VCS, but whether you want to work manually, use someone else’s tool, use our SQL Source Control or ReadyRoll, I’d ask that you consider getting all your code into some sort of VCS (Version Control System).

    Ike notes that if viewers did this one thing, he’d be thrilled. I agree. Please, learn to use version control. If you wonder why, listen to Ike’s talk. He relates a story that notes that using source control doesn’t make you a better developer, but that better developers do use a VCS. This is a habit that helps build better habits and is a step on the journey to you becoming a great developer.

    Does it help? Well, I think it does in some sense. Developers that use a VCS often build a habit of checking in changes before they try something that might be problematic. They also in a more integrated fashion with their work, and easily rollback problematic code without wasting time (or focus) trying to undo something. They get a previous version back and move forward.

    I do think that this one thing changes the way you view code, and it provides you with a safety net. This is one of those skills that I’d really recommend you learning, as it will pay back it’s value tremendously over time as you learn to depend on the VCS and stop doing things like keeping multiple objects or files around, and trying to sort out what code is where. As you work with others, or even with your past self, you’ll learn to include better comments that help you change focus quickly and understand the particular reason behind a version of code. This will help you learn to be a better developer.

    There are numerous ways to get your T-SQL code into a VCS. There are tools, but there are plenty of PoSh or other scripting methods. In fact, every DBA should get in the habit of scripting out instance level objects (which most tools don’t handle). Store them away, and then repeat as you need to make changes. You might be surprised how often you’ll be glad you have the previous version of a job, a schedule, a linked server, or more. I learned to keep all my scripts, from replication to running a quick report for a business user, in a VCS. I’ve never regretted this choice.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcast

    Listen to the MP3 Audio ( 3.7MB) podcast or subscribe to the feed at iTunes and Libsyn.

  • The Last iPhone

    A few years ago the iPhone 7 was released. This was a big release for Apple, and I knew quite a few people that were ready to plunk down their credit card on day 1 and upgrade. I wasn’t, and in fact, I upgraded to an iPhone 6s+ from a 6 a few weeks after the release. At the time, my old phone felt slow and small, and I decided to make the upgrade sooner rather than later to my last iPhone. Why? Really for one main reason.

    Most of us reading this work with technology and software. We often deal with upgrades to our tools and systems better than most of our friends, but not without complaint. Quite a few of us have been annoyed, or even angered, by the changes that Microsoft has made to software. From SSMS to Office, what the developers in Redmond might see as an upgrade, we see as a step back. One that interferes with our workflow and forces us to adapt and build new habits. The Ribbon bar in Office and the “Modern” look in Windows 8 come to mind as some of the more disruptive upgrades.

    I get it. I work for Redgate Software, and we often struggle if we make significant UI or workflow changes to software. We might have reasons to view a change as better, but without a doubt, there are a percentage of users that always disagree. We try to ensure it’s a small percentage, performing a lot of research among customers before we implement a change, but someone will dislike our decision. As a side note, if you care about your software, participate in research with your vendors. You can help them determine if something should, or should not, change.

    In the case of my iPhone, I use this device to listen to music quite often. Whether at the gym, in an airplane, or between matches I’m when I’m coaching, I depend on headphones. In my case, I prefer wired headphones and I wouldn’t buy a new iPhone because there was no headphone jack. I’m on the go, in various places, multiple vehicles, with different bags, and I don’t want to depend on a dongle, nor do I want to have bluetooth devices run out of charge. I also sweat and destroy or lose a few pairs of headphones a year. As I watched rumors, and contemplated upgrades, I decided that the iPhone 6S+ would be my last device.

    I’ve owned 5 Apple mobiles, but I’m moving away from them for good. Not because of software, which I think is similar among both major platforms, but because of hardware here. I ordered a new phone, and I’ll say goodbye to the platform. I have liked iOS, and I think there are things it does better than Android, and certainly some conveniences that apps include, but Android is close, and I’ll adapt.

    Most of us won’t do that in our career. We won’t change desktop OS or database platforms or even programming languages. We might adopt something new, but we often stick with what works. There are good reasons to do this, especially when we can take advantage of the built up knowledge. However, never say never. If there’s a very strong reason to switch, I’d like to think most of us would.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcast

    Listen to the MP3 Audio ( 5.3MB) podcast or subscribe to the feed at iTunes and Libsyn.

  • The SQL Privacy Summit

    This May 18th, Redgate is putting on a SQL Privacy Summit for people that are looking for solutions to help them comply with the GDPR regulations.  I’ll be heading over to participate, and I’m looking forward to hearing from customers and attendees about the challenges they’re facing.

    sps

    The Details

    Friday May 18th 2018

    The Grange Tower Bridge Hotel, 45 Prescot Street, London E1 8GP

    8:15am – 5:30pm (GMT – convert)

    The schedule is out and I’ll be doing a variation of a talk I’ve delivered before on how the GDPR is really asking for solid data practices that we’d all like to implement. There are some panel sessions and lots of networking time built in.

    Registration

    This is an all day conference, though early bird rates continue through this week. You can purchase a ticket for the event from the event announcement. If you’re a customer, contact sales, and you may be able to get a set of discounted tickets.

    Hopefully I’ll see you there and we’ll get the chance to talk about how we can all do a better job securing and protecting our sensitive data.