Voice of the DBA

Tag: travel

  • Off to Flowcon 2014

    With all of the work on a deployment pipeline and Continuous Integration (CI) and Continuous Delivery (CD) I’ve worked on, I thought it would be instructive to go see how the software developers build their product better. A few months ago I noticed that FlowCon 2014 was coming to San Francisco. It’s a short, easy trip for me, a 2 day conference, and I thought it would be a good chance to interact with the Thoughtworks people, as well as others.

    So I booked the trip. Even though I travel enough, I rarely go for me, and this is a good chance for me to learn. I leave this afternoon, no commitments, no presentations, just the chance for me to learn a bit.

    I’m really looking forward to seeing how people are really making software happen faster, and at a higher quality level than in the past. I’ve read a few books in preparation for this, and it’s been interesting. The first one I really liked, though it has a lot to absorb. The second two were ok.

    continuousdelivery

    Continuous Delivery – Worth the read.

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    Refactoring Databases – Not bad, and certainly this gives some ideas for the challenges of database changes.

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    Recipes for Continuous Database Integration – Meh

  • SQL in the City 2014

    It’s official, we have a couple 2014 SQL in the City events scheduled, covering two countries this fall. Both events are packed into a short time (less than two weeks), so Grant and I have quite a bit of travel ahead of us.
     
    Once again we’ve divided up the sessions into administration for the DBAs and development topics for the developers, but feel free to cross from one to the other. Our theme is “Ship often, ship safe” and we hope to show you how to build better software, faster. Our goal is to help you get your enhancements and patches into production so your customers can make better use of their applications.
     
    London is first, on Oct 24 at Grange St. Paul’s Hotel. The agenda is set with Grant and I delivering a few sessions and a host of Red Gate developers along with some Friends of Red Gate presenting on a variety of topics. We also have a labs you can drop into during the day to gain practical knowledge on how to solve some of your SQL Server problems.
     
    A little over a week later, on November 3, 2014, SQL in the City returns to Seattle, with an all day event the Monday before the Pass Summit. We have a similar agenda, though a few different speakers at the McCaw Hall at Seattle Center.
     
    We do hope you’ll join us at one of the events, and get a day of training on SQL Server, the Red Gate way. We’ll also have a short happy hour afterwards, and Grant and I would love to share a toast with you. Feel free to stop and chat with either of us at anytime we’re not presenting.

  • On the Go

    So much for limiting events. There was a time in May when I had nothing scheduled as far as speaking goes.

    Now I have 12 events, and 9 trips in the pipeline. At least a few are local, with just an hour or so drive to speak.

    Crazy and I still need to plan a trip with my wife in there somewhere.

  • SQL Bits XII

    Last week was SQL Bits in the UK, and it was a blast. I think this might be my favorite conference, despite the long trip for me to get there. This is my third SQL Bits, and each has been more fun than the last.

    This one was in Telford, which is NW of London, W of Cambridge, and a two hour drive from Red Gate. There’s not a lot around there, though Grant did want to stop at the Ironbridge Gorge, which we did.

    Photo Jul 17, 8 33 00 AM

    The event is a lot of fun, with three different days and different feels. Thursday has pre-cons, and there were a lot of people walking out as I arrived Thur afternoon. Everyone I talked to that presented a pre-conference session was happy with the day, and as I queried people on Friday and Saturday that had paid for one, all felt it was worth the time and money.

    Photo Jul 19, 7 53 23 AM

    Thur night was quiet for me, hanging out with friend and chatting while a pub quiz (trivial pursuit type, bingo event) took place in the conference center. It’s a nice mix of professional and casual that seems to excite me at SQL Bits. We learn a lot, and there are great sessions, but it’s not as strict and big a deal with badges being constantly checked as happens at some other conferences.

    Friday was a day I didn’t have to present, so I walked around learning. I saw sessions on SSDT, Unit Testing, security, and more. It was interesting, and Andreas Wolter is a scary security presenter. His talk made me want to build an alert for anyone querying @@version on my systems. That seems to be the start of ways in which hackers can learn about what to attack inside your instance. Simon Sabin presented a great security session on encryption in which he also deployed changes to a live system without interrupting things. That was really cool.

    Photo Jul 18, 5 53 25 AM

    Friday night was the main party, which always has a theme, and is a lot of fun. Last year Red Gate gave me a costume, and I ended up looking like this:

    SQLBitsXI_a

    This year the theme was Steampunk, with an older carnival type flyer. I wondered what that would mean, and I have to say that I was surprised when I walked into the party.

    Photo Jul 18, 2 18 23 PM

    Yes, there was a carousel, along with a two story slide, various entertainers, and carnival booth games. Lots of people dressed the steampunk way, including Grant. Here’s one that was taken, showing the types of outfits.

    sqlbits2014

    It was a little loud, but a lot of fun, and I stayed much longer and later than I planned. Saturday morning was hard to wake to, especially as I needed to pack up and leave.

    Saturday at SQL Bits is the free day. I had two sessions, and while I sat in a few others, I also needed to prep. It had been quite some time since I’d actually worked with one of my sessions and the technology.

    My branding session had a packed room and went over well. People asked a few questions, and hopefully I helped a few people. My CI session wasn’t great. The room was packed, but my VM acted up. I suspect that some of the changes to the config of HyperV at Red Gate caused a few issues, and I couldn’t demo everything I wanted to. Some of my processes failed when I didn’t want them to, and passed when they did. My apologies to the attendees is coming soon.

    I didn’t stick around Saturday night as I had to get back to Heathrow for an early Sunday flight. Things were uneventful from then on for me.

    I met lots of new people, as well as seeing many more that I’ve known for years and only see in the UK. The event was run as smoothly as any I’ve experienced, and was a lot of fun, with quite a few spouses and even some kids there.

    Thanks to everyone that attended and huge thanks (and kudos) to the organizers. I’m already looking forward to next year and hoping to get to speak again.