Tag: misc

Today is the last day of 2019, and the last day of the 2010 decade. I’m still somewhat amazed by the fact that we’re entering the 2020s and we still don’t really have flying cars. We’re well past 2001 and 2010, and still not much space exploration, though the growth in computing power and AI/ML likely accounts for the success of rockets that can take off and land and be used again. I’m still impressed by SpaceX. I’m also thrilled that I got to see the first rocket that landed successfully. Actually, we didn’t see much more than a flare light up and then go out, but my son and I were at Cape Canaveral, watching from the causeway on that historic night.

In the last decade, we’ve seen a number of SQL Server releases. 2008 R2 was released in 2010, and since then we’ve had 5 other releases. Back in 2010, we didn’t have Availability Groups. We had clustering, Database Mirroring, and Log Shipping for HA/DR. We had no in-memory capabilities or columnstore indexes, things we assume are available now, even though not many of us use them. Maybe more surprising, the idea of SQL Server on Linux was still my most popular joke for most of this decade.

Data became very important this decade, perhaps most notably with the passage of the GDPR in the EU. Whether you think this is a good law or not, it has changed how we view data. No longer is data something that organizations own and humans have no rights against it. I think it’s a good start, and lots of other regions are basing laws on the GDPR. We could do better, and ask for more control, responsibility, and accountability over data, but this is a good start.

I also think that many people have started to become more data savvy and competent in how they work with database systems. While we see lots of basic and silly questions at SQLServerCentral, I see less of the completely ignorant questions being posted and more often I see complex requirements that are hard to handle in SQL.

We’ve seen quite a rise in NoSQL database platforms. Neo4J was released in 2007 and MongoDB in 2009, but both have had a lot of growth in the last ten years. We’ve seen Apache Spark and Databricks appear and become integrated with SQL Server, which isn’t something I’d have thought about in 2010. Similarly, the evolution of Azure SQL Data Warehouse and Azure Data Lake are extremely recent. Windows Azure itself was actually released in Feb 2010. Now, it’s a collection of over 600 services that many of you use everyday. AWS has had similar growth to the point where I think many of us do think cloud first for many systems these days.

SQLServerCentral was in v3 of it’s existence back then. The original ASP site had been rewritten in ASP.NET and then nHibernate when Redgate Software purchased the site. Since then we’ve continued to grow and thrive, adding our popular Stairway Series and continuing to help you learn and solve problems every day.

T-SQL Tuesday was just getting going, in its first year. We’ve now had 10 years of the blog party happening every month. After a long run, Adam Machanic moved on in life and I now manage the event from tsqltuesday.com. If you haven’t ever participated, it’s a good way to get started with a blog and building a brand for your career.

Quit a bit has happened since 2010. Data growth is astounding, and continues to increase. Exabytes were surprising back then, but today we talk in terms of ZB, another order of magnitude. I think that provides lots of challenges and opportunities for us to grow as data professionals in the next decade. I’m looking forward to it, and I hope you are as well.

Steve Jones

Listen to the podcast at Libsyn, Stitcher or iTunes.

Just two days left in 2019, and I thought this would be a good day to look back at the year. It’s been a busy and long year, but a great one for me. I hope many of you feel the same, but if it’s been a hard year, I hope next year is better.

I started the year doing more learning for myself and some coaching 13 year old kids at volleyball. Those tasks kept my busy for the first third of the year, and I managed to get through a few books, learn a few skills, and enjoy some time with SQL Server. It was still busy, as I didn’t get a weekend off between Jan and April with either my daughter’s team or mine playing in a tournament.

After April, I picked up the pace with events. I’ll close out the year with 9 SQL in the City Summits and 7 SQL Saturdays. That was most of my year traveling, apart from the pre-con days at the PASS Summit. I normally go to a few more conferences, but decided not to this year. This was not as much speaking, but a lot of travel. This was my biggest year, where I flew over 140,000 miles and spent nearly 90 nights away from home. Fortunately, about 40 of those were with my wife, which makes it much more enjoyable.

This year saw a new release of SQL Server, one that I think is a milestone and will change the way we look at the platform. It will take a decade before most of our instances are at the 2019+ level, but this is the start of new ways to look at the platform with containers and scale out clusters. I’m excited by the possibilities and I look forward to how people will build systems in the future.

It seems that security was less of a news item this year, though there were still plenty of incidents. I was amazed that after all the press about security issues that so many Elasticsearch servers are still out there with no password. There really is not good reason for this. I’d like to think that this is the line in the sand, and if you install a server with no password after today, you’re just terminated. Or arrested. That happened this year.

Redgate turned 20 this year, which was amazing for me. I’ve known the company for 18 years and watched it grow and change in that time. I’ve worked there for 12 years, and hope to see 20. Next up is 20 years for SQLServerCentral, which will be just over a year away.

I had a great year overall, and I’ll write more on my blog if you’re interested. I am looking forward to 2020, and I hope you are as well.

Steve Jones

Listen to the podcast at Libsyn, Stitcher or iTunes.

It’s Black Friday in the US, and I assume, most of the world. With the advent of so many online options, I’m not sure how big a day this is for many people, but there certainly are many deals from local retailers. While I do like to buy local, I don’t plan on doing any shopping today. It’s just too crowded and busy for me. Likely a day of chores around the ranch for me.

There have been a number of Black Friday deals already going on for days. Brent Ozar has had a sale on training all month. Pluralsight had one last year, and I assume another coming. I expect there are other deals as well, but this week I wanted to talk about a few items that I use already or need to purchase. It’s the season for giving, so perhaps this will give you some ideas for the tech friends in your life.

I have a couple wireless charging pads I use regularly: one on my desk and one by the bed. It’s fantastic to be able to pick up or put down my phone without wires. I also have quite a few long Anker cords for my phone (here’s a USB-C and a lightning one). The more I use a 6ft cable in different places, the more I appreciate the length. Especially when charging in a public place. To help, I also have a travel adapter with USB plugs. I’ve used this often in the US when I need to share an outlet with someone.

I love music, and while I get by with cheap headphones often, I am tempted by a better set of noise cancelling ones. Maybe my wife will read this and get me something. She does carry a JBL speaker with us on trips, which we often use in our hotel room for some nice ambiance. I also carry around a wireless HDMI adapter, which comes in handy on the road, for work and pleasure.

I’m about ready to get a new laptop, and I’ll likely go with an HP Spectre again, though the Lenovo X1 and the Dell XPS both look really nice. I’m still debating, and if there’s a good sale this weekend, I might grab one. These days I think most laptops will do the job for me, but I like the small, lightweight ones for traveling. I’ve had no shortage of adapters, but I am thinking to get a small USB-C hub that might work well for a variety of tasks.

I’ve tended to stay away from any of the voice powered devices, mostly for privacy reasons. I have an older tablet, but most of the time my phone or laptop are what I use, so I don’t have a need there, but the new iPads look really nice, as do the Galaxy’s. I have a smart watch, and I love it. I certainly see the appeal of the Apple Watch or the Galaxy Watch. It’s on my list to pull down my data and start playing, something every data pro might enjoy.

There’s a lot more to the holiday season than shopping, but since it’s a big part of today, I wanted to list a few items that I’ve enjoyed, and encourage you to add more in the discussion. Perhaps you’ll give someone a good idea for a gift, or an item to put on their list.

Disclosure: These links are affiliate links for me, and I get a small commission from any purchases.

Steve Jones

Listen to the podcast at Libsyn, Stitcher or iTunes.