Voice of the DBA

Tag: PASS

  • Make the most of your PASS Summit Evenings

    At this year’s PASS Summit, I’ll only be around for a short time, and really only Monday night. I have two pre-cons to do and then need to get home for some personal commitments. I am hoping to make the first of these events, but if you’re there all week, I’ve got two things for you to attend.

    Monday Night Networking

    Years ago Andy Warren and I (mostly him) set up a networking dinner on Monday night. The idea was to get people together that were there early and have them socialize and meet fellow professionals. We ran it for a number of years before handing it off to Lisa Griffin Bohm, who continues to run it now.

    This is listed as one of the community events, and it’s on Monday, Nov 4, at the Tap House on 6th. It’s from 5:30-8:30 and I’m going to drop by and say hi.

    You can sign up here, and I highly recommend this if you don’t have plans. There are free tickets, but this is mostly to manage the flow of people. This is buy your own, but it’s a fun time for everyone.

    Come meet some people and share a drink or dinner.

    Game Night

    Another idea from Andy and I (again, mostly him), but this one was fun. We decided that we didn’t want a loud night in a bar that some vendor hosted. We knew lots of fellow attendees felt the same way, so we hosted a game night in a room at the Convention Center. Quiet, bring your own games or join in with others. There are lots of gamers out there and some really fascinating games.

    To ensure we can cover a bartender with both non-alcoholic and alcoholic drinks, tickets cost something here, but the tickets can be exchanged for a drink.

    Kevin Hill hosts this now and there are two nights. Sign up for Wednesday with Kevin or Thursday with Matt Cushing (or both nights).

    Community and Vendor Events

    PASS doesn’t run a party anymore, but there are lots of things happening all throughout the week. There are a number of events (including those above) listed on the PASS Community Hosted Events page. Click the various boxes at the top to see different events that are happening.

    I urge you to engage in some social event. Something quiet, something fun, it doesn’t matter. Just meet and network with others. If nothing else, sit with someone at lunch and then ask if they want to get a quiet (or not so quiet) dinner later.

    Or set up your own event. A number of these events are started by someone in the community, and the next fun thing could be yours.

    One hint: if you want to attend a vendor party where things are paid for, go have an honest conversation or two with a vendor in the expo. Ask them questions, learn what their products do, and see if something might help you at work. Regardless of budget, educate yourself and maybe you’ll get a ticket to one of their evening parties.

  • SQL in the City Comes Back to Seattle

    This year at the PASS Summit, Redgate is holding our SQL in the City Summit as one of the pre-con events at the conference. You can add this in as a part of your conference registration and come learn about DevOps and how to build the best software development process for your database. We’ll focus on the Redgate solutions, but our speakers will talk about the general practices and ideas as well.

    sitc-summit-social 1200x630- Seattle

    We’ll just give specific examples with the amazing Redgate Toolbelt tools.

    I’ll be there on Monday, Nov 4, for our SQL in the City and hopefully I’ll see a few of you there as well. Kendra and I also have a pre-con talk on Tuesday on development patterns, so you can add in both and spend two days with me.

  • Feedback and Change

    Recently I heard from a number of people that they received an email from the PASS organization asking them for some feedback on why they weren’t registered for this year’s Summit. I didn’t get the email, which is both good and bad. I’m teaching two precons, but not attending the Summit, so it might be good to actually have my feedback.

    I think the email is a good idea, though since it comes directly from Grant, I hope someone is triaging his email. Rather, I hope that there actually is a need for people to triage his email because there will be lots of responses.

    This is a good chance for anyone to give feedback to our professional organization as to why they aren’t attending this year as opposed to previous years. There will be all sorts of reasons, but I’d like to think that if there is a pattern of something the conference doesn’t do well, the organization will address the issue. Or at least explain why things are a certain way.

    Those of you that have followed me for a long time know I have a love/dislike relationship with PASS. I do support many efforts they manage, and I’m generally pleased with their stewardship of SQL Saturday. However, if you peruse the list of posts I’ve made about them on my blog, you might find some older notes that showcase some displeasure. I haven’t changed many of my thoughts, but instead I provide feedback privately to people when I disagree. I am trying to be a better version of myself online, and limit my public criticism.

    PASS has been slow to change across two decades, and I’d argue, resistant to many ideas from the community. I understand that it can be difficult to change the way that the organization works, and that I certainly don’t have all the information that impacts decisions. I also feel that transparency and accountability are important, with too little of that over the years from those that have served on the board. My view is that there should be more public justification for spending decisions as well as open and honest disclosure about difficult topics. I also would like to see more data from the org made available publicly. After all, we are a data organization.

    However, I do see the organization changing slowly. I have been a member since 1999, when the first Summit took place in Chicago. We have a much wider group of speakers, more rotation for speakers at all levels, plenty of new speakers, new events and virtual chapters, policy changes to better support the board and governance, and probably plenty of other things I’ve missed. While I’m not always in agreement with specific decisions, I do think there has been change over the last decade.

    I’d like to see more change, and I think more comes about with feedback. If you got the email, I’d appreciate you sending feedback to Grant and the board. Me, Steve, is asking you to send feedback to PASS. Long, short, it doesn’t matter, but be specific.

    If you’re not sure about what to say, or don’t want to send it yourself, feel free to send it to me (sjones at this domain) and I’ll give you feedback or send it on anonymously. In fact, I’d encourage everyone that would like to see something changed to send a note to the board members or the info@pass.org email.

    Changes takes time and it takes effort. Be a part of that.

    Steve Jones

    Listen to the podcast at Libsyn, Stitcher or iTunes.

  • Update Your PASS Profile

    If you haven’t logged into your PASS profile, please do so now. You should be able to get to this page: https://www.pass.org/myPASS.aspx

    Once you’re here, there’s an announcement:

    2019-05-17 12_23_38-PASS _ MYPASS

    Voting is coming this year, and no matter what you think of PASS, I do ask you to vote and make your voice heard.

    You can check on your profile in the lower left side of the page, where you ought to see this:

    2019-05-17 12_24_25-PASS _ MYPASS

    The required items should be complete, though in my mind, the colors are backwards. Still, get to 100%.