Voice of the DBA

Tag: PASS

  • A Summit Rebirth in 2022

    This year the SQL Server and Data Platform community is getting together for the annual Summit virtually. You can still register and attend today through Friday for free. The content is also being recorded, and if you register, you can watch it later, or re-watch it, at your convenience. It’s free training for your career across a wide variety of topics, so take a moment and fill out the form.

    There’s another good reason to register now. Next year’s Summit will be hybrid, with the in-person portion happening back in Seattle next fall. However, there will be a limited number of tickets available for those that want to travel to the event and be in the same room as other professionals. Tickets for the live portion are only going to be available to people registered for this year’s event, so make sure you head over to the site and register today. You can also read about the announcement on the Redgate blog.

    I am thrilled that there will be a live conference next year. I have missed the chance to get together with others now that I’m vaccinated. I was lucky to attend a couple of events this year and am looking forward to SQL Server and Azure SQL Conference in December. I am hoping to get to SQL Bits in the spring in London, and I am very excited to go to next year’s Summit and spend time with the #sqlfamily that have made the last two decades a joy. I relish the chance to talk live with others, get inspired by their knowledge and stories, and bond over meals. It’s been invaluable in my career and brought many smiles to my face.

    I am also glad that next year’s event will be hybrid, allowing those that can’t travel, or don’t feel comfortable, to still access content and interact with others. I know that this is important, and I hope we find ways to provide additional hybrid options in the future. While I do think the pandemic will recede, some of the concerns will remain over large crowds and event safety. I think we should accommodate those that are not attending conferences live, and I expect we will find ways to do this better in the years ahead.

    The annual Summit has been a large part of my career for over 20 years. It has been a time and place where most of the best, brightest, and more generous Data Platform professionals from inside and outside of Microsoft gather to share information and help each other grow our industry. I look forward to the rebirth of this amazing experience in a hybrid form next year, with changes and ideas to make the event even more invigorating.

    Note: The deadline to register and be eligible for a ticket next year is Friday morning, before the Community keynote, presented by Brent Ozar.

    Steve Jones

    Listen to the podcast at Libsyn, Stitcher, Spotify, or iTunes.

  • What I Learned at Community Summits

    I went to the first  Community Summit in 1999. This was one of the first conferences of my career, and I was excited to have one focused on SQL Server and data. I met Kalen Delaney and shook her hand after having her educate me about how tempdb worked in SQL Server 7. That event started a 20-year journey of traveling to subsequent Summits nearly every year since. Over the years, I have a lot of memories from Summits, mostly of people that I’ve met and talked with. Much of the time I’ve been at any of the Summits was spent on networking and business purposes more than learning, but I have picked up a few things along the way.

    Early on Brian Knight and I delivered a presentation in a debate format. We were talking about the pros and cons of using identities. It was an enjoyable session and one where we learned a few things. A developer from Microsoft was in the audience and helped clarify some of the specific numbers related to limitations and scaling issues with using the feature.

    When SQL Server 2005 was ready for release, I still remember going to watch Donald Farmer talk about Integration Services, a radical change from the way that Data Transformation Services used to work. It was quite an eye opening session for me.

    Early in the time when I was working with DevOps and databases, I watched a talk on how you might apply some of the techniques with Reporting Services to implement CI and ensure your report changes would actually work correctly. It was a hack, but I think that a number of the technologies that Microsoft has added to SQL Server aren’t designed with version control and automated code review, which is a shame. However, that’s one of the great things about Summits. You can learn how someone else solved a problem.

    There are many other memories from the event where someone taught me a bit more about SQL Server. Being in the same place as so many smart, talented, inspiring data professionals was magical. That was one of the big reasons that my boss wanted to see the conference continue. Nowhere else in the world brings so many people together.

    You can still register for the event next week. It’s virtual this year, and completely free. No cost, and even if you get busy next week with work, you have access to the content after the conference, so register today. It’s a few minutes, and you’ll get the chance to learn from some amazing speakers.

    Steve Jones

    Listen to the podcast at Libsyn, Stitcher, Spotify, or iTunes.

  • A New Community Summit

    The PASS Summit has been an annual event for a lot of my career. I attended the first one in 1999 and most of the rest through the years. After last year’s virtual Summit, I was concerned that we wouldn’t have an annual event where the most, brightest, and friendliest data platform people came together. Redgate purchased the assets out of the PASS bankruptcy and has committed to future Summits. This year’s Summit is virtual, and more importantly…

    It’s free, and you can register today

    Free to attend the main conference, which means you have the opportunity to go to the largest Data Platform focused conference for no charge. Just ask your boss for a little time to learn, get inspired, and interact with your colleagues around the world.. There are still pre-cons that cost money (US$200), but all the proceeds go to the speakers. A great opportunity to learn from experts and support them at a cost you likely won’t see at a major event.

    I don’t love virtual events, and I do hope that we get back to live conferences, but I do like that everyone can come to the Summit this year without asking their employer, or their household, to fund the effort. Microsoft is a major sponsor and will keynote at the event, likely with some exciting SQL Server and data platform news coming. Lots of other sponsors will be there as well, which I’m pleased about because sponsors are an important part of events and user groups in our community.

    If you want to know what types of sessions are coming, the best of Summit 2020 is available for you to watch, again for no cost. This year there are three themes, Back to Basics, Reach for the Clouds, and Level Up. I’m glad for the cloud track as the cloud has continued to grow faster than I expected, with so many friends, customers, and clients looking to move portions of their data workloads into a cloud situation. I’m also glad to see the career advancement Level Up track becoming a place of focus, as actively managing your career is something I feel strongly about. Hopefully, I’ll get to deliver a session in that track. As of the time I’m writing this, I know I have one session, but not sure if the program is complete.

    While Kathi and Grant are managing the process, community volunteers are reviewing, rating, and making choices about sessions. That’s one thing I’m glad to see. There is a strong community effort in helping to program the conference. While I know paid professional staff organizes things and configures the platform (we contracted with a few people that have helped run the conference in the past), it’s the community that should really help decide which speakers and sessions they want to see. I’m hoping that some of the fun things like networking, the photo walk, and more are a part of the event.

    There’s no good reason to not attend the Summit this year. Unless you’re buried with a deadline the week of Nov 8, 2021, ask your boss for some time, register, and come join me in watching some sessions, chatting with old friends, making new ones, and getting excited about what you can do with data in 2021.

    Steve Jones

    Listen to the podcast at Libsyn, Stitcher, Spotify, or iTunes.

  • Register for the 2021 PASS Data Community Summit

    Registration for the 2021 PASS Data Community Summit opened today. This year’s event is virtual on November 8-12, and you can register for free.

    That’s right, free. No cost, just the time, which is something you might point out to your boss to get some time that week to attend.

    Join me and see my sessions, or any of the others that have been selected. There are plenty of great ones to choose from. Register today and I’ll see you online in November.

    2021_Speaking_Summit