Voice of the DBA

Tag: speaking

  • Kicking off SQL in the City 2018

    I’m off today. Not taking a break, though perhaps it’s a touch of a break. I’m actually in an airplane, heading to the UK for the first 2018 SQL in the City. We’ll be broadcasting this Wednesday, and you can still register and watch. Let your boss know that you can get some cheap training (it’s free), refresh yourself away from work, and you’ll appreciate the perk as a part of your job. Maybe you’ll even get to watch from the comfort of home.

    Grant and Kathi are already in the UK enjoying SQL Bits, but this year I’ve been trying to do less travel and coaching volleyball more. My team of 14 year olds had a tournament yesterday, so I was blowing whistles and giving (loud) advice in a high school gym. Today I’ve got a laptop on a plane and am making my way a third of the way around the world. I may get to watch a movie, but there will certainly be a little demo practice as well.

    The theme for this SQL in the City broadcast is Data Privacy and Protection. GDPR will start being enforced this spring, and many people around the world with be affected. Those outside the EU might not be sure of the ramifications of the regulation, but I wouldn’t be surprised if similar legislation gets passed in other countries. In any case, the idea of ensuring you can control and protect data, with an eye on designing privacy for users into the system, is a good idea.

    You can read the GDPR text, but that’s what many of us have done and tried to interpret it for you. We have a great piece at SQLServerCentral and our product teams have been working hard to ensure that our products will help you improve your compliance. Lots of other vendors are doing the same thing, either working to change their policies or enhance products. Microsoft has certainly spent a lot of effort getting ready, and I’m sure they’re not along in their efforts.

    We all want better security for our data. Many of us empathize with the customers and clients about whom we collect data and often wish our systems provided better security, controls, and options. Sometimes our management doesn’t agree, but certainly they feel the impact if we suffer a data breach. This Wednesday we’ll be talking about Redgate products specifically, but also including general knowledge and ideas that you might use within your organization.

    Register for the event and watch along on Wednesday. Ask questions and see how you can improve your data privacy. Most of our applications could use a little work on security, and we hope to help educate you on what you can do and how Redgate might be able to help.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcast

    Listen to the MP3 Audio ( 3.8MB) podcast or subscribe to the feed at iTunes and Libsyn.

  • Off to SQL in the City 2018

    I’m off today on a plane, flying to the UK for this Wednesday’s SQL in the City broadcast. This is our first event of 2018, and I’m excited. We’ll be talking GDPR and security, not the most exciting of topics, but we also have some cool new products to show off. I’m excited to see what people think of the work that our development teams have been doing.

    I’m also doing the keynote, which is both a little exciting and scary. Usually Simon Galbraith, founder and CEO does these, but for some reason I’ve been picked this time. I hope you enjoy what I have to say, and hopefully I don’t mess things up.

    I’ll also be showing you some improvements to SQL Clone with integrated data masking. This is a very well thought out product, which will really help many of you prepare databases for development and test without exposing sensitive data.

    Register today and I’ll see you, or rather, you’ll see me on Wednesday.

  • Influence the Program

    When I first started going to the PASS Summit, I was enthralled with the speakers, no matter what the topic. Meeting Kalen Delaney at the first Summit was a milestone in my career. In those early years, there weren’t many speakers, and they submitted the talks they were interested in giving. The program committee made their decisions, and many of us went to watch whatever was available. The surface area of SQL Server was much smaller, so we could probably guess many of the topics, and that worked out well.

    As SQL Server has grown, some of us have questioned the makeup of the sessions over time. At one point it seemed we were very light on BI, almost as if the conference hadn’t kept pace with the changes in the platform. It seemed that the next conference was based on ratings and attendance from the previous Summit, but that’s a slowly changing way to pick talks.

    Things changed, and for a number of years PASS has been trying to understand what content you’d like to see. There have been surveys and polls to understand not only what worked last year, but what changes should happen this year. Last year’s tracks were set not by technology, but by the Analyze/Build/Design/etc. monikers. I’m not sure I loved that, but it was a worthy experiment.

    There’s a survey open from PASS from now until Feb 14, trying to understand what you’d like to see. Once again, they are asking what you’d like to see. I’d encourage all of you to fill it out, as you can truly influence the balance of sessions that will be presented. Do you want more ML/AI/bots, and other advanced topics? Do you need more beginning content for your junior DBAs? Is the core engine still important for you, or are you looking for SSIS, SSRS, or other content. Power BI on your radar?

    Speakers often have preferences, and I see no shortage of conferences that just pick talks from what they get. This can make a disjointed event at times. I like the idea of having submissions in areas that I might not consider as an organizer, but I also think that inviting speakers to talk on specific topics is good. I’m glad PASS does a mix of these things, inviting some speakers, asking for topics, and also taking community submissions. Many of us that present are happy to slightly tailor our talks if we know that’s what the audience wants.

    So take the survey, with a chance to win a Summit admission. Tell the committee if DevOps and testing are important (they are), or if you want to see more SSAS content (are there that many of you using this?). Even if you aren’t going, it’s useful for us as a community to learn what’s of interest to everyone. I’d also request that you ask PASS to release the data, which will help SQL Saturdays and other events better plan their schedules.

    Steve Jones

    The Voice of the DBA Podcast

    Listen to the MP3 Audio ( 5.1MB) podcast or subscribe to the feed at iTunes and Libsyn.

  • SQL in the City is coming Feb 28

    The next edition of the SQL in the City broadcast is coming Feb 28, and I’m planning travel now to head back to the UK for the event. The schedule is up on the Redgate Hub Livestream page.

    This edition has lots more GDPR/security/masking content as well as updates on the new products.

    Mark the date on your calendar, let your boss know it’s a training day, and get some friends together to join us for the day.