Voice of the DBA

Tag: speaking

  • Webinar – Navigating the database landscape in 2024: Shifting skills to match constant demands

    Next week on Jan 23, I’m part of a webinar titled “Navigating the database landscape in 2024: Shifting skills to match constant demands”. You can register today and join me live or see the recording.

    Redgate has run various surveys in the past, often with a professional survey company that reaches a wide audience. At the end of 2023, we surveyed lots of people about the state of the database landscape, with a emphasis on how the world of the database professional is changing.

    Ryan Booz, Beca Parker, and I will be discussing what we think of the results, as technical professionals. This is more of an informal chat, a discussion about some of the data that came back from over 3,000 professionals.

    Join us Tuesday the 23rd for a discussion and feel free to ask your own questions of us.

  • Skipping SQL Bits 2024

    SQL Bits has been my favorite data platform event for years. Both it and the PASS Data Community Summit hold special places in my heard and I enjoy going, but the community, casual feel of SQL Bits is just a bit more fun for me.

    I’m sad to be skipping SQL Bits 2024, but the timing doesn’t work for me. I saw Brent was also skipping (for different reasons), and decided to state my own reasons, since I have often attended. This was also Brent’s most commented on post in 2023, so I’m hoping to start the year off right on this blog Winking smile

    Managing Workload

    In 2023, I had 32 trips. By mid Oct, I was a bit worn out and struggling. I just wanted trips to be over with and get back home. Between my last pre-Summit event in early Nov and the PASS Data Community Summit, I was home for 12 days in a row. I hadn’t done that since May 2023.

    As a result, I’m trying to be more careful with travel workload in 2024. My boss and I meet every week or two and we review the schedule for the next couple months to manage things.

    I also coach volleyball in Q1 and I try not to miss events or practices so I try to limit my travel.

    Scheduling

    While I local SQL Bits, I’ve missed a number over the years because of scheduling conflicts. Their March events have conflicted with other events in my life, often outside of work. I preferred when they had an Aug/Sept event as well.

    This March, I am committed in March from the 9-11th, and then have to be in Atlanta on the 13th-14th. I have the next week at home, and I could potentially go to the UK on the 18th, but I have to be back on the 24th to coach an event in Denver. That means leaving Sat from the UK at the latest, and leaving SQL Bits on Friday. I’ve done that before, but I have to miss some practices in Denver that week and it’s not worth it just to indulge myself in another event.

    I also have to be back in the UK in April and travel the in between week in the US, so I’m thinking that this is a time when I could make the schedule work, but it would impact my managing my workload.

    Skipping a Year

    I’ve been blessed and honored to speak at many events. While I would like to go back and enjoy SQL Bits, I also want to make room for others and let them enjoy the experience. Missing a year is OK, and I’ll look forward to 2025 (and cross my fingers that the date doesn’t have workload or scheduling impact).

    If you’re anywhere near London or can get there in March, attend the event yourself. It’s fantastic and a lot of fun.

  • SQL Saturday Boston 2023 Slide Decks

    Thanks to everyone who came to my sessions at SQL Saturday Boston 2023. I’ve added the decks to the schedule, so you can click my session and will see the download there. You can see this below, and all speakers can edit their sessions and upload the deck. See the download below:

    2023-10-14 13_43_08-SQL Saturday Boston 2023 (#1046)

    I’ve also copied the links here for slides:

    For the first session, Architecting Zero Downtime Database Deployments, there is also a GitHub repo here. Clone the repo down (or fork) and you can follow the sessions along. The repo is at: https://github.com/way0utwest/ZeroDowntime

    In here, there are a few folders, as shown here:

    2023-10-14 13_45_44-way0utwest_ZeroDowntime_ Code for my zero downtime presentation

    The two items from the session are the DBClient, which is a Visual Studio 2019 project, and the SQL folder, which has all the setup (and teardown code). Each script is numbered, and you can run them in order. There are also some comments in each for when to flip feature flags.

    If you find issues, please submit an issue in the repo.

  • The Database DevOps Roadshow Continues (with fun photos)

    At SQL Saturday Denver 2023, I had a few people ask me about the Redgate Database DevOps roadshow and how it was going. A few people asked about the van as well.

    Here’s the van, with my ready to rock in Chicago:

    IMG_5860

    Chicago is done, but we have a few more dates coming:

    • Oct 11 – Atlanta
    • Oct 19 – Jacksonville
    • Oct 26 – San Diego
    • Nov 1 – San Francisco
    • Nov 14 – Seattle

    All these are on the Redgate Events page.

    IMG_5776_copy

    I won’t be doing any in October, as you can see above, I’m tired. With the 3 US ones and the 3 UK ones I did across Aug/Sept, I was gone 24 days from Aug 23-Sept 21. I need a break, as shown below:

    IMG_6182

    The show goes on, and I’ll see (some) of you in Nov.

    Redgate-on-the-move