Voice of the DBA

Category: Blog

  • PASS Data Community Summit 2023 Registration is Open

    You can register today for the 2023 PASS Data Community Summit. This year the event is in Seattle, Nov 14-17, and in-person only. The event was a lot of fun last year, with many great sessions and lots of networking with fellow data professionals.

    I’m looking forward to this year’s event. I have submitted a session, though I am hoping for less of a load this year. Last year I had a session, hosted a panel, MC’d two lightning talk hours, was a part of two keynotes, and I’m sure I’m forgetting something. This year I hope to have a few less commitments and see more sessions and friends.

    There is a lot to learn, and this is a great chance to talk with many of the SQL Server developers from Microsoft. With the event in Seattle, I expect a lot of them to attend. It’s also the chance to talk to many of the experts in the community. People like Erik Darling, Allan Hirt, Glenn Berry, and more.

    This is the cheapest rate you can get now. They’ll be a few price bumps, and there might be some discount codes, but you can register for a three day conference for less now. Talk to your boss, get some funding, make a case for the ROI as well as suggestion that sending you helps retention.

    I hope to see you in Seattle this November.

  • Goal Progress for March 2023

    The grade for March is also D. Details below, but just not making a lot of progress in these areas. In fact, I find myself not motivated to work on goals very much. That’s a bit sad, but it’s also where I am in life.

    So far I have for 2023:

    • Jan – D
    • Feb – D
    • Mar – D

    I set goals at the beginning of the year, and I’m tracking my progress in these updates during 2022.

    Reviewing Goals

    The last month has been hectic. Both life outside of work and work have had me tackling lots of little tasks, which is distracting and reduces my energy for focused work. As a result, I haven’t been doing much on these goals.

    I think I’m slightly overloaded, and worried about burnout, so I’m going to ignore goals for Q2.

    Reading

    Two books on the list: marketing and coaching. I haven’t picked a marketing book, but I picked Wolfpack for coaching. With one started and one not, this is an F.

    Progress:

    Career

    My goals:

    • Set up a tracking system based on the book for my efforts with customers
    • Track and calculate my scores to help me better approach how I work with customers.
    • Review this with my boss and with someone in sales

    Rating: B

    I have been tracking my interactions with customers here. There haven’t been a lot, but it is interesting to stop and think about how this is going. I have chatted with my boss and gotten a little feedback.

    Community

    Here are the goals I set.

    • 2 speaking engagements for community (RMOUG Training Days complete. SQL Bits complete)
    • Reach out to 10 SQL Sat groups that did not run an event in 2022 and motivate them for 2023. This should be at least 2 emails to each person/group.
    • Reach out to all 2022 organizers and ask about plans for 2023
    • Start coding a tool for converting schedules to HTML.
    • Hold office hours once in Q1
    • Send 3 monthly SQL Saturday updates to the community

    Rating: D

    I did complete another community (unpaid) speaking engagement. I’ve reached out to a few SQL Saturday groups and we have a few more events on the schedule, but I haven’t had a lot of energy to do this and the limited responses are discouraging.

    Yes, I get discouraged.

    Haven’t started a tool, didn’t hold office hours, two updates sent.

    Personal

    My goals:

    • Use my Power BI report for stats
    • Update the Power BI report based on feedback from athletes
    • Build 6 wooden coasters – I haven’t made enough time for my hobby here, so I’m going to start small. We need more coasters (as noticed over the holidays), so I want to build 6. Same style, different.

    Rating: D

    I haven’t updated the Power BI report. In fact, I found a couple errors in calculations since DAX is a weakness of mine. As a result, I pulled down some pages. I also think my data model is slightly broken and needs work. No time spent on here.

    It’s been cold, and when it isn’t, I’ve had other things to tackle, so no time on wood projects for me. I feel bad about this, but I also know I have too many hobbies. With my Duolingo language stuff, guitar, and then coaching, not a lot of time to spend here.

  • Autonomous Driving Around London

    There’s a video of Bill Gates taking a drive in an autonomous car around London. I’ve been to London dozens of times, ridden and cabs and Ubers, and even driven a few times. It’s a crazy environment, and I struggle to process everything as a human. This is certainly a challenge for a car.

    It’s not a Tesla. In fact, I don’t see many Tesla FSD (full self driving) videos in the UK. I know they don’t have all the updates the US gets, but I struggled to find any actually in London. A few that looked like they were close to London aborted in city driving.

    In any case, this is a neat video, and if you look at all the things happening, as a driver, you can see the complexity of navigating around London. Imagine programming this.

    If the video doesn’t tender, the URL is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruKJCiAOmfg&w=560&h=315

    This is a car from Wayve, and it is impressive. Not the car, but the driving and control are something. It’s something I’d like to experience, since I could imagine this being a very neat thing in witness. Certainly would be better than the Uber I took in Las Vegas a few years ago.

    They’re hiring. Not for me, but maybe for you.

  • Daily Coping 24 Mar 2023–The Final Tip

    Today’s coping tip is to discover the joy in the simple things in life.

    This is the last coping tip for now. It’s been 3 years, and I hope you’ve enjoyed them.

    I have really tried to enjoy simple, little things in my life and travels. A text from one of my kids. A short chat with an athlete I coach. A conversation at a SQL Saturday or other event. The chance to share a picture, or see one, of a friend.

    Simple, little things make life interesting and wonderful.

    When I finish a book I enjoy. A small success in a game. Learning a new song or lick on guitar, or even having a single song play well. A tasty meal. A laugh from my wife.

    Looking at the world and enjoying little things helps me cope with the hard things, or the upsetting things. Remembering little joys, or noticing them, can reset my attitude or dampen other negative emotions.

    Try appreciating and enjoying something small. I bet you feel happier in the rest of your life.

    I started to add a daily coping tip to the SQL Server Central 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.