Tag: SQL Intersection

One week to SQL Intersection

You still have time to grab the boss and convince him to invest in you. Show what you’ve learned in the last year. Tell him or her how some training you’ve taken, perhaps at a SQL Saturday, helped you at work. Make a good case to attend, and perhaps I’ll get to see you next week at SQL Intersection.

It should be a good show, with Windows 8.1 changes, the release of SQL Server 2014 and Visual Studio 2013 recently, and lots of amazing speakers. I still can’t believe that I’ve been accepted to go sometimes because there are some great presentations to see.

I’ve got three, Continuous Integration, High Performance Encryption, and Filestream, but I don’t know how many people I’ll actually present to when Paul Randal, Kimberly Tripp, Jonathan Kehayias, Brent Ozar, Bob Ward, Kevin Kline, Aaron Bertrand, Grant Fritchey, Andy Kelly, and more are going to be speaking at the same time. That’s without talking about all the great sessions to see in the other tracks.

It’s spring time, the weather will be great, and I’m looking forward to a few days in Orlando. If you get the chance to come, I’d love to shake your hand.

April 7, 2014
SQL Deep Dives at Intersection in April

SQL Intersection is coming to Orlando in April, along with the rest of the Dev Intersection events the week of the 13-16th. I’ll be there speaking, along with an amazing lineup of other SQL Server experts. The SQLskills crew is headline and organizing the event and I’m looking forward to going.

This is a smaller conference, and it’s located at an amazing facility in Orlando. It will be warm, relaxing, and a great environment to learn a ton about SQL Server.

If you’re looking to jumpstart your SQL Server skills and get excited about the platform, consider joining me in Florida this April.

February 4, 2014
Two Weeks to SQL Intersection

If you haven’t made it to a conference this year, you’ve still got a great one to think about: SQL Intersection. The second installment of this conference, run by SQLskills (Kimberly Tripp and Paul Randal) takes place in two weeks. Come to Las Vegas and learn a ton about SQL Server on October 27-30. You can register now and if you choose the SHOW package, you’ll get an XBOX One or a Surface RT.

I spoke at this event in the spring and it was interesting. There were some amazing speakers (Brent Ozar, Kendra Little, Joe Sack, and more), which meant I didn’t have too many questions (or attendees) at my sessions. That’s OK. If I had the chance, I’d probably rather go see those speakers talk about performance rather than some of my niche topics.

This fall I’ve redone some sessions and built new ones. Perhaps I’ll do better as I have some developer focused topics and there will be developers and hybrid technology folks at the rest of the Dev Interestion event. With ASP.NET, Visual Studio, Azure, and Sharepoint events taking place as well, perhaps I’ll get a few people to wander over as I walk about Version Control for databases along with Automated Building and Testing of your database changes. My employer, Red Gate Software, has tools and does a lot of work in this area, and while you don’t need our tools, you do want to be sure you implement these concepts in your environment.

I’ll also be talking about branding, but tell your boss not to worry. I’m not trying to get you a new employer, but help you stand out in your current one, get a raise, or find a better job that fits what you want to do.

It will be chilly in most of the country by late October, but it should still be beautiful in Las Vegas. If you stick around for the weekend, Halloween in the city is something to see. Come to the conference and extend it into a vacation that you’ll never forget.

Register today for the last big SQL Server conference I’ll be at in 2013 and I hope to see you there.

October 14, 2013

Opportunities Abound

There are so many opportunities for many of you to learn more about SQL Server. It’s amazing to think how many more choices we have today than I did early in my career. When I moved to Denver, we had a user group that met somewhat sporadically, an MSDN lunch hour every month, the PASS Summit, and training classes from various vendors like New Horizons.

That’s changed today and when I look at my schedule, it’s incredible to think how many of them I’m going to be a part of this fall. I’ve got a busy travel schedule the rest of the year, and I’ll only touch a small portion of the events that you could use to increase your SQL Server knowledge.

There are quite a few conferences this year. DevConnections in a few weeks, the PASS Summit mid month, and SQL Intersection at the end of October. I’ll be speaking at the former and latter, skipping the middle one this year. There are two SQL Rallys, Nordic and Amsterdam in Europe. There are also lots of pre– and post-cons and other workshops sessions around the events. There are even amazing training classes from vendors like SQLskills and Brent Ozar Unlimited that will teach you a tremendous amount about SQL Server. I’m hoping to attend one of these sessions in the next year.

If your boss won’t pay for a conference or class, there are plenty of free events as well. SQL Saturdays are everywhere, almost every weekend. I’ll be at San Diego, Denver, Charleston, Portland, and Washington DC this year, but there are plenty more. Many of them offer pre-cons, at low costs. You might consider covering the cost yourself and asking your boss to pay for the time off.

My employer, Red Gate Software, is putting on some of their own events. We are doing seminars before some of the SQL Saturdays and I have SQL in the City events in Pasadena, Atlanta, and Charlotte this year. These are free events, just register and come.

If you aren’t close to any events, there are more and more online resources. SQLServerCentral should be your first stop, but there are videos, webinars, virtual chapter meetings, and great subscriptions from vendors. If you want to self-study, there are great books you can buy as well as online challenges to help you learn.

There are all levels of costs, online, local, worldwide, etc. resources that you can use to learn more about SQL Server. I’d highly encourage you to make a plan and improve your SQL Server skills over the next year. I guarentee there’s something for every budget and situation.

Steve Jones

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Today’s podcast features music by Everyday Jones. No relation, but I stumbled on to them and really like the music. Support this great duo at www.everydayjones.com.