Voice of the DBA

Tag: speaking

  • Mental Health Day from the WIT Group

    The pandemic of the last year has been a difficult time for many individuals and organizations. I know that I have had a number of ups and downs across the year.

    The Women in Technology virtual group is putting on a one day event, full of talks from a variety of speakers on Mental Health and Wellness. The event is on May 7, 2021, from 8am EDT to 6pm. You can register and attend, as well as view the schedule from the link above.

    I was asked to submit a talk, after publishing a year of coping tips at SQLServerCentral. It was an honor, and an interesting challenge. I’m not an expert in this area by any stretch, but I have had some struggles and worked through my own challenges, often with the help of the tips I published for others.

    I’ll be talking at 11:10am EDT, going over some of how the year has gone for me and the ways that I’ve tried to ensure life is still, well, enjoyable.

    Join me if you want something different. I’m certainly looking to some of the other talks from people that are sharing some of the experiences on the non-technical part of our lives.

  • The Diverse Data Platform–Dativerse.io

    The other day I got a note from Ben Weissman the other day that he was running a new event,  http://dativerse.io/. Not much information, but I liked this list in the call for speakers.

    1. Your session must be related to the Microsoft Data Platform
    2. You contribute to the diversity of the Microsoft Data Platform

    I often talk about the first one, but the second? That’s interesting. I assume this means some sort of new talk that expands on the way we use the platform. New technology, new ways of putting things together, new something.

    Or maybe a diverse speaker, someone that isn’t one of the same speakers that are often at most events. It’s an interesting idea here.

    I don’t know if I’ll submit. While I can speak on the data platform, I don’t know I add much diversity in some ways. I do sometimes pick niche topics, but if I do something I’ve already done, is that adding to diversity?

    I’m not sure, but I’m thinking about it. The CFS closes on May 16, 2021, so I, and you, have time.

    Even if you don’t want to submit, perhaps you want to encourage someone else to submit, or even co-submit with you and help them deliver a session. We need to encourage and broaden our horizons, which is something that we all can work on.

  • ConFoo–The Future of Database Development in Containers

    I delivered a talk at the ConFoo conference. I’ve never been to this live, and when I submitted last year, I was hoping this would somehow be a live event in Montreal. It didn’t happen, but I joined the virtual event and gave my presentation.

    The deck is here: FutureDBDevelopment_confoo.zip

    No real questions, but lots of interest, which is great.

    If you didn’t stay near the end, I talked a bit about the Spawn.cc project and the journey the research group has taken to learn about Kubernetes and file systems. It’s been fascinating to watch the project evolve. The API used to change almost weekly as it was improved and enhanced.

    A few resources:

  • Looking to Role Models

    I’ve spoken at many conferences and user groups over the years. These have been one of the more enjoyable times in my career, and I encourage people to give it a try. You may not like it, but it can be exciting, rewarding, and certainly helpful in your career.

    One of the things that helped me start speaking and gain confidence that I could do it was seeing other people I personally knew deliver a presentation. They were a role model, and they gave me the confidence to start.

    In a few weeks, the Women in Technology virtual group is putting on a Data Platform WIT Day, with a lineup of speakers that are covering a wide variety of topics, and are great role models for anyone, but especially women in our industry.

    Many of us wander through our careers, and often look to others to help inspire us to set, work towards, and achieve goals. The SQL Server community has shared, inspired, and supported each other in a way I haven’t seen in other areas. I am glad to see that we have different groups that continue to do this, even in this difficult pandemic time.

    Steve Jones