Voice of the DBA

Tag: goals

  • Learning Goals–May Update

    It’s 5 months in, and this is hard. I find that the time I’ve picked each week sometimes gets bumped by other items, which do have a higher priority. More on this later.

    Extended Events

    An epic fail here for May. I started with one week and managed to get an hour watching part of a PASS session and building a few questions. However, the second week I got busy with some family stuff that impacted my work week. With deadlines and travel the third week, I skipped this.

    The third week I was gone, and the fourth, well, only a little focus, though I did start to write a short piece on using Jon Kehayias’ script to convert a trace to an XE session. We’ll see if I get this done.

    Fifth week, not sure. That Tuesday will be in the June update.

    Python

    Not a lot better than the XE stuff. Week one I had some family issues get in the way of my Friday learning and ended up skipping this as I was away from home. With a busy weekend, I didn’t make this up.

    Week 2 I was prepping for week 3. Week 3 I was gone.

    This brings me to week 4. While I like to try and do something, I really didn’t get much done during the week. I am looking to add Python questions to the mix on SSC, so I have taken a little time during the week to build a couple questions. Going through basics like lists and dictionaries helps me come up with things that I think people might not know and can get inspired to learn a little with a question. That helped me get a few things done this month.

    I did take time to go through part of a Pluralsight course in week 4, about 90 minutes of total time, some of that pausing the course so I could generate a question and practice some Python skills.

    I keep a few browser tabs open with Python links to try some problem solving, but I keep not making time.

    Moving Forward

    I didn’t travel much until mid May, but I had a very busy life outside of work and didn’t make much time to learn away from work. Fortunately my work is related to these topics, so I can take a little time for learning.

    As I close out the first half of the year, I’m somewhat disappointed with progress. I definitely continue to learn, as my job requires it, but I’m not getting the focused time in these areas. Looking forward to next year, I want to aim for topics that are more tightly integrated with work so that I get more practice. Here, even though I’m doing something, I’m not as focused.

    For June and further, I’m going to shift my times around and pick what I think are quieter times for me to get something done. Since I can ride a bike at home and watch Pluralsight, I’ll pick those times for at least passive learning. Then I’ll set aside a shorter time period, 30 minutes, for practice at other points in the week when I have found myself with time.

  • Learning is Hard–March Goals Update

    This is the third update for my goals for 2018. This is about 3 weeks after the last update, and it’s too soon. Not in time, but because I haven’t done a great job.

    This was a busy month. March and April are prime volleyball season, so I’ve had some longer weekends and time off to coach and watch my daughter play. Add to that some ski time and I haven’t had a lot of work or free time. As a result, my days at work are busy with catching up and ensuring I’m getting things done for work.

    Learning has suffered, and like the Oct/Nov conference season, learning is suffering here.

    My two appointments, Tues afternoon just after work and Friday afternoon, have been busy with other events, or with the need to do more work. As a result, not enough learning. Here’s an update in my two areas.

    Extended Events

    Very little here. This is Tuesday learning, and I’ve gotten myself jammed up for time every week. I’m considering moving this to another day, but not sure which one is better. I’m tempting to try and get through ski season and see if Tues then lightens a bit at work.

    I did watch more of Jonathan Kehayias’ Pluralsight course while on the bike, but not practical work.

    Python

    I spent a couple of hours working through some basics on lists and dictionaries. I realized that I haven’t been doing this enough and I needed a refresher. That was good, and it helped me build a few Questions of the Day, as well as get some practice.

    The one upside is that I was struggling with a puzzle in T-SQL and decided to try Python. I solved it in about 10 minutes, and my solution worked the first time. I was proud of that, and spent another 10-15 minutes solving another problem. So, I know a few things.

    No real formal learning, but I feel like I should race through a Pluralsight course and try to be sure I have a good grounding. Plans for next month as I’m traveling a bit.

    Too Busy

    A few things with family and then volleyball affected me more than I thought, but that’s part of a busy life and it challenges my focus on learning. I’m also letting myself get distracted with the shiny things, reading a bit on various other technologies, which is part of my job. However, CosmosDB and other items aren’t what I planned for this year.

    I’m putting pressure on myself to get through some XE and Python learning and then move into other areas. We’ll see if I can pick things up next month.

  • Learning Goals 2018–February Review

    Better than month 1. Only XE this month.

    My first week I got a reminder to spend some time on XE, so I watched a couple modules of Jonathan Kehayias’s Pluralsight course.  A lot of review, but I thought I’d start with the basics and Jon knows more about this than anyone I know.

    I spent a few days going through this. Some at my desk, but more while riding a stationary bike. This gave me the chance to actually sit and watch without being distracted by other items on the computer.

    I got through about a third of the course, but I still have more to watch. I also took about an hour in two sessions to practice a few of the items, explore how XE is setup and build some questions for SQLServerCentral. This allowed me to feel good about the process.

    Disruptions

    The first couple weeks of February were good here. Unfortunately things didn’t continue. I had travel the last week of Feb and a number of meetings that required prep and I got off track in working through XE.

    Even today, as Mar starts, I have missed an hour or learning time.

    On the plus side, I did take 3 days of vacation in Feb, which took away work and learning time, but allowed me to recharge a bit. I’ll continue that a bit in March, so it’s possible that I might not quite get what I want here, especially as I have a number of weekend commitments this month.

    This is a good lesson, allowing me to realize that I can’t count on adding to my busy schedule without having to make hard choices. Learning has been one of those lower priority items, though I am trying to continue growing in this area.

  • Learning Goals–January Review

    In December I participated in T-SQL Tuesday #97 and wrote a post about 2018 goals. I promptly spent two weeks out of the country and then a relaxing holiday season. Actually, holidays extended slightly with a ski trip and a wedding in January.

    This is a look back at my goals, since I have a monthly reminder to do so. This is the first review, a little late as I’ve struggled to focus a bit on work in January, but here goes.

    Progress

    I picked two things to work on this year: Python and Extended Events. I’m failing miserably in both.

    I did work on a little Python in solving a few of the Advent of Code puzzles, but I’ve only read a few pages in the Machine Learning book and not much else. I’ve gotten distracted by other items on my list.

    I haven’t done anything on Extended Events.

    I did play with a little more Pester, and I set up an MVC site in a project for a demo, so I tackled things that interest me, but not in the extra areas I wanted to learn.

    Planning and Moving Forward

    I didn’t actually do my planning in December. When the appointment came up, I was a little buried with other items and let it pass without rescheduling.

    Moving forward, here’s what I want to do. I’m going to set a reminder for Tuesday afternoons to spend an hour on XE. I’ll set that for 3 months and see where we stand. I’m hoping to work through a bit of Pluralsight courses and then some of Jason Brimhall’s series on his blog.

    For Python, I’m going to take some time on Friday mornings here. That’s likely a slower time for me, so I’m scheduling a half hour to work on something with Python. I need to refresh some core skills and then move on from there. I’ll likely go back through a bit of the Dive into Python book, then try moving to a bit of ML stuff. This is good as I’ll get some content, at least questions of the day, out of this work.

    I also realize that I continue to spend some time on R, as this is a part of SQL Server and it’s an area that generates some content for SSC. That along with my MVC project are things that will distract me a bit, but I’ll try to push forward in all these directions.

    Hopefully this will result in a better review next month.