Voice of the DBA

Tag: Friday Poll

  • The Wish List

    It’s the holiday season and a joyous time for many of us. I do hope you are feeling the giving spirit and looking to creates smiles for others as you prepare for your particular celebration during the break from work next week. This is certainly a time to remember that many others are less fortunate that most of us that work in technology, and I’d encourage you to consider giving something to help others.

    Howver, many of us will receive gifts this holiday season, and in the spirit of having some fun, I wanted to make a fun poll this week.

    What is on the top of your wish list that would help improve your time at work?

    If you are like me, the one thing you’d really like is more time. It’s unlikely I (or you) will receive that particular gift, but I know that it’s the one resource that is always limited for me. Barring that, I think there are a few things that might make work time a bit better for me.

    I’m not in an office, but having a nice set of headphones to help me concentrate on a task, or even relax while traveling would be good. My laptop is starting to have some issues, so I’ll be looking to replace it at some point, but many of you might find yourself working faster with a newer, more powerful machine. No matter what your hardware, you need a place to work, so maybe 2015 is the time to try a taller, or faster, desk. Perhaps you just need a few more USB ports, a little power on the go, or even a new way to commute to the office.

    The array of possibilities for changing work continues to grow as technology advances the world. We can work anywhere, though it is important to stop working and relax. Perhaps the best thing for many of us might be a way to refresh and recharge away from work so that we’ll be ready to hit the ground running when we return. The best way to do that is to take your vacation.

    Let us know what might be on your fun list, and have a fantastic holiday season. I know I will as I’m leaving tomorrow for a week in Steamboat Springs.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcast

    Listen to the MP3 Audio ( 2.3MB) podcast or subscribe to the feed at iTunes and LibSyn.

  • Real World T-SQL Tricks

    I’ve been playing more with T-SQL this year, doing some testing and development in various places. I’ve been trying to improve my skills, and keeping up with the advancements the language has made in the last few versions. Like many of you, if I haven’t had the need for a particular feature, or the chance to implement it, I haven’t done much with it.

    I think that’s the case with many people, who may not catch all the changes in T-SQL with new versions, especially if you upgrade after a year or two and don’t often do more than refactor the existing code you have in production. In the spirit of improving skills, and also learning more about how others work in this profession, I want to ask you:

    Have you used any of these T-SQL items in production code?

    • APPLY
    • THROW
    • LAG/LEAD
    • a tally table
    • symmetric or asymmetric keys
    • TRY..CONVERT
    • CONCAT/FORMAT
    • IIF
    • SEQUENCE

    Some of these have been around for a long time, some are new in SQL Server 2012, but they are all improvements beyond the core T-SQL language that I see so many people posting and asking questions about.

    Let us know this week if you’ve used any of these constructs, and if you can, how they solve a problem that you struggled with in the past, or maybe how these new features have improved performance or sped up code development.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcast

    Listen to the MP3 Audio ( 2.0MB) podcast or subscribe to the feed at iTunes and LibSyn.

  • Bucket List Data

    I made a bucket list over a decade ago after hearing an interview with Ted Leonsis, former President of AOL. He had an interesting list, and while mine was more pedestrian, I have managed to knock off quite a few items, though there are more I’d like to get to. Actually, I need to redo my list and re-think my life as it’s changed since I first wrote things down.

    Over the years, I’ve also tracked other sorts of data about my life, things that just intrigued me. I had my running streak (1500+ days), 14ers climbed (4), states visited (38), books read each year (75-100), and more. I’m not quite sure why numbers have a fascination for me, but they do and perhaps that’s why I like working with technology and data.

    I’m sure that many of you share a similar passion for numbers, so I wanted to ask you this week:

    What interesting data points do you track, or have you tracked, about your life?

    It could be something with your family, hobbies, sports, weather, or something else. If there’s something you track and would like to share, let us know. If you have some interesting way of tracking data, or even an application you’ve worked on, I’m sure there are others that would find the data interesting.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcast

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

  • The Geek Costume

    It’s Halloween, and while many of you are too old to dress up in a costume, some of you may be planning on joining your kids for trick or treating, or even attending a party of some sort. It can be fun, though I have to admit that I’ve rarely dressed up as an adult. However if my kid asked me to, as Patton Oswalt’s did, I’d probably join in on the fun.

    There are not shortage of fictional heroes available for us as geeks. Many of us have admired characters from the science fiction, comic, fantasy, and other worlds. The various SQL Bits conferences have included some great themes, with steampunk this year and the medieval theme last year. There was even a Jedi sighting on Pass TV last year.

    This week, with the holiday in full swing tonight, I wanted to ask you a question on which costume you’d pick. Whether you have one ready or not for tonight answer this:

    Which costume would you choose to dress up in for an event?

    It could be a character from fiction, or even a device of some sort. Maybe you want to use technology to build an awesome costume? While I’d be tempted by the Indiana Jones look, I think I might choose something in the Batman genre if I had to.

    Let us know this week what you’d pick, have a safe holiday tonight, and have a great weekend.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcast

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