Voice of the DBA

Tag: syndicated

  • Speaking Ideas – Plan to End

    Over the years I’ve seen probably hundreds of technical presentations. I’ve seen good ones, bad ones, on all sorts of topics, many of which I didn’t completely understand. However a good speaker still leads me down the path of allowing me to connect the dots, or enjoy the talk, even if I don’t know exactly what he or she is discussing.
    One issue that I often encounter, however, is that speakers tend to run up until time is out and don’t leave time for questions, or not enough time. I’ll see the next speaker coming in and waiting, and unsure of how to interrupt. Speakers get rushed, and they try to slip a lot of content in the last 5-10 minutes.
    A suggestion that I have is that as a speaker, plan for 45-50 minutes of content for an hour presentation. I think the worry for most speakers is that people are expecting an hour of content and so you have to deliver an hour.
    That’s not necessarily true. I know some people might be disappointed in 30 minutes of material, but if you end at 45 minutes and allow 15 minutes for questions, they’ll be satisfied. They’ll learn something, they can ask questions, and if there are no questions, they can go have a few minutes to relax, check email, or network with others before the next session.
    Plan to end early. If you have too much material, look to cut things out, or build  a second, more advanced presentation that can follow on from this one.

  • MongoDB

    I found a comparison of MongoDB and SQL Server recently, from a C# MVP and a person that works with SQL Server regularly. It’s an interesting read, and on the surface, you might think that MongoDB is much better than SQL Server in terms of raw performance.

    That certainly might be the case, especially for large data loads. MongoDB has the ability to scale out widely, and that always can help with performance. Even in single server environments, I have no doubt that MondDB has less overhead, and likely requires less resources, so it can be faster.

    However it also lacks some of the robustness and security that comes with an ACID compliant systems. It’s entirely possible that you could lose work you think you have committed in a MongoDB system. Not likely, but possible.

    These are, however, very different products. SQL Server is designed to handle some domains, and some loads very well. MongoDB has other purposes and ideas in it’s design. They aren’t interchangeable in some loads, but for many simpler systems, like web site back ends, they might either work fine.

    I like SQL Server, and I think it offers a very rich, and well rounded environment on which to store and work with your data. I’m not sure how MondoDB would fair in some situations, especially those that involve lots of calculations and summarizing of data sets, but it does seem to be a very robust database system for managing documents and scaling widely across servers.

    It will be interesting to see in the future of NoSQL systems, like MongoDB, start to become more prevalent in those places where ACID compliance is not critical.

  • SQL Saturday #53 – Kansas City Wrap Up

    Another weekend, another new city, another SQL Saturday. This was my first trip to Kansas City, and it was a great time, once again, made by the people I met. I also managed to cross two items off my list of things that I have been wanting to do. On Friday, I landed and headed to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, a place that I had hoped to get to for quite a few years, even since I read Only the Ball Was White. It’s a nice walk through the history of a game that I have enjoyed for most of my life.

    On Friday night, our hosts, Bill Fellows (blog | @billinkc) and Mike G (blog | @mikesql) had rented a suite at Kauffman Stadium for the Rays v Royals game. I managed to get there just as the game started, removing my hat for the National Anthem and seeing the first pitch. It was a great event for the speakers where I got to see a number of friends from Colorado that had come over (Chris Shaw, Marc Beacom, Jason Horner, Andrew Dykstra, and Carlos Bossy), and spent a bit of time with them as well as a number of other out of town speakers (Wendy Pastrick, Arie Jones, Kevin Boles, Tom LaRock) as well as a few local people that helped organize the event. As is usually the case, the event broke up around 9, with a few people heading to a local amusement park for a roller coaster ride, and the rest of us seeing the game end before heading back to hotels for a little last minute prep.

    I rarely sleep well before these events, often worried I might oversleep, but I was a little more relaxed this time. Being just a couple miles from the event center helped, and I got going around 6:30, heading down to the event center, Cerner’s Riverport Campus.

    It’s a former casino, Sam’s Town, that was purchased by the Cerner corporation for training and events. MikeSQL had a tour on his blog, which had me looking forward to seeing it in person, and I have to say that I was impressed. There are old restaurants still standing, with nice booths and tables where we enjoyed some great BBQ for lunch, as well as a number of nice, modern, renovated training rooms with good A/V equipment.

    sqlsat53_a

    The panorama above shows what it would look like when you first came down the stairs into the lobby. The acoustics were a little loud in there for the end of day prize drawing, but otherwise it was a great spot for vendors to setup and people to walk around.

    The morning was a little hectic, with name badges and raffle tickets not quite sorted, but the speakers pitched in and we managed to get everything sorted in the lobby. The facility prevented crowds, though it was a little confusing for some people finding a couple of the rooms. Two were separate from the others, and the map wasn’t easy to decode, but there were plenty of volunteers around to help direct people. I also saw Kathi Kellenberger, longtime friend, and her crew that had come over from St. Louis.

    I had the first session of  I the day, presenting to a small crowd, about 15 people, and I think it went well. There was a gentleman there with his 13 year old daughter, which was impressive. She had a few questions at the end and is hoping to get into Harvard. Being motivated at 13 is a great start and I wish her luck.

    I alternated the day with a few sessions and some time talking with people. I caught the Women in Technology lunch panel that discussed how to get younger women interested in technology. Some nice ideas, from the panel, but I’d love to see some 20-somethings giving their opinions as the world has changed quickly in some ways and I wonder how they view the world. I also caught Bill Fellow’s session on CLR, which I’d like to do in Denver, and also caught a bit of Arie Jones’ talk on Resource Governer.

    The event ran smoothly, and wrapped up with a number of vendors drawing names from their buckets for prizes, as well as the organizers drawing for absentee vendors. Lunch was good, a BBQ buffet with plenty of food and the extra donated to the City Union Mission. No major snags I saw, though I did hear one speaker left early and missed a second session. The BI track was very popular, which tells me that at least in KC, people really are hungry for knowledge.

    The only thing I might look to improve for next year is a little more water/soda for the afternoon as we ran out around 3:30 or so. I might also look to go with only 4 or 5 tracks, and maybe some repeat BI sessions that try to satisfy some needs from the local community. My only other recommendation would be to try to schedule the out of town speakers at different times. Tom LaRock, Karen Lopez, Marc Beacom, Russ Loski, and myself were all speaking at the same time.

    powerandlightI might also move the after event to a closer location, but locating it downtown in the Power and Light District at McFadden’s was interesting. We ended up moving to another, quieter location so that we could talk.

     

    As usual, the people made the event for me. I had great talks with Peter Trast and Karen Lopez during the day, and a late night debating the state of IT workers and motivation with Katie (?) and Carlos Bossy until 11:30. The BBQ was good, although I was sorry that I missed the BBQ crawl among a few places on Friday. I didn’t get enough, and I’m already looking forward to next year.

    There are  some pictures, and there’s a Twitter daily  for the event as well.

  • Why Read?

    I love to read. Like my friend, Paul Randal (blog, @PaulRandal), I read a lot of books every year, usually over 50. As long as I can remember, I’ve enjoyed reading books, primarily fiction, and it’s been a part of my life that I often look forward to. It’s a joy to see both my boys enjoying reading, and even reading books I’ve recommended. Having my little girl starting to read on her own, and get wrapped up in books and read through them in one sitting makes me smile.

    I ran across this link, The Plot Escapes Me, from the NY Times Book Review column, and at first I was surprised. A book reviewer can’t remember plots?

    I just recommended The Treasure Hunter to my middle son. That’s a non-fiction book, about someone that hunts for Treasure all over the world as a part of his life, going to different countries for the adventures. Emeralds in South America, sunken ships in the Caribbean, old Indian graves in Central America and Mexico. I read that book as a kid, one of the few non-fiction ones I read multiple times. A friend of the family gave it to me, and I still have it on a bookshelf. I remember two authors, one Robin something, a former Green Beret having toured Vietnam. It’s one of the few hardbacks that I have carried from my youth, through moves and marriage, across the country and back.

    I believe that books make us better, they round us out, and they enrich our lives. That’s part of what the author of the New York Times article talks about. We are affected by the books, even if we don’t often remember them. They change our lives, and help us grow.

    As I age, I slowly realize that all the classes I didn’t like in college were actually good for me. The philosophy, the chemistry, the other classes that weren’t practical, and I haven’t used in my life, have contributed to who I am, and they have helped me be a more rounded person. I see more in life than just a narrow focus.

    I think it’s important to consume arts, whether that’s music, art, literature, or something else. It helps you to grow and expand who you are. It’s one reason that I now mix non-fiction and fiction when I read, trying to grow, trying new things, trying to expand my horizons.