learning Archives - Grant Fritchey

09Feb 2022 by Grant Fritchey 6 Comments

SQL Server, PostgreSQL and the Future

This is just a quick note to talk about the future, mine, yours and this blog. First, I'm not abandoning SQL Server. I'm actively working on a revision of the query performance tuning book (something I should be working on instead of writing this post). SQL Server is my first, and best, database love. We're not going anywhere, SQL Server and I. You can expect more posts on SQL Server, query tuning, execution plans, DevOps, community, #sqlfamily, and everything I've blogged about for the last, ooh, 14 years next month. Second, our family is growing. Just like when a family brings home a new baby, well, I'm adding another database. It doesn't mean I don't love my first database. I still do. We're just going to ALSO be talking about…

22Jan 2019 by Grant Fritchey 2 Comments

Critiquing Grant Fritchey: Circa 2008

DevOps, SQL Server

For several years, I ran a regular feature on this blog, Speaker of the Month. I attend a lot of events, so I have the opportunity to hear a lot of people talk about various topics. I decided, as an attempt to help out, to call out individuals that I thought had given a great presentation. There was no other reward beyond my attempts to promote others. In addition to that promotion and praise, I did offer criticism as well. It was never intended to be hurtful or in any way negative. I was hoping to point out people that I thought were great at presenting and provide a tip or two to make them even better. Not everyone liked it. In fact, a few people were decidedly, animatedly, against…

21Jan 2019 by Grant Fritchey 1 Comment

Get Your Learn On

PASS, SQL Server

There is one truth that I can say about technology with an absolute certainty: It's going to change. Get your learn on! Technology is going to be shifting under your feet, constantly. Even if all you ever do is work with SQL Server, on premises, on hardware, without VMs, containers, clouds or any of that foofaraw, things are going to change. Dealing With Change What's the best way to deal with change? Get your learn on! Learning all the new stuff is absolutely necessary. It's unavoidable. Even if you're not running SQL Server 2019 in production today (and very few of you should be as I write this because it's still in preview) because you're still on SQL Server 2005 (and, by the way, support ended in April of 2016,…

28Feb 2018 by Grant Fritchey 4 Comments

Precons in Richmond, Philadelphia and New York

Professional Development

I love when I get the opportunity to present at SQLSaturday events. Even more than that, I love when I get the opportunity to do a precon at a SQLSaturday event. Well, I've got three coming up. All three are an all day session entitled "SQL Server Tools for Query Tuning." Seating at all the events is limited, so please register early. First, in Richmond, on March 23, 2018, you can register here. Then, I'll be in Philadelphia on April 20, 2018. You can sign up here for that event. I will be in New York, NY, my old stomping grounds, May 18, 2018. Go here to register for that event. I hope to see you at one of these events where I'll do my best to share as much…

03Apr 2017 by Grant Fritchey 3 Comments

Learning Azure From The Web

Azure

I'm working on a technical blog post that I hope to be putting up soon. I've run into a number of configuration issues that I'm working through. However, it's these issues that sparked this blog post. See, we're learning Azure all wrong. Use Google/Bing What's the first thing you do when you hit a problem on your computer, regardless of the language, the technology, etc.. Wrong! You don't call your son-in-law who "works in computers." That's what my mother-in-law does. We already "work in computers" so we have another resource. Bingle/Ging/Boogle. We run a search. So, let's say for example I'm interested in learning about an Azure Powershell command: Set-AzureRMDiagnosticSetting. Here are the first two results from Google (as of this date, 4/3/2017, or for all my UK friends, 3/4/2017,…

07Dec 2015 by Grant Fritchey No Comments

Learning R: Foundations

Azure, DevOps, Professional Development, SQL Server 2016

Learning a programming language is largely an act of using that language to do stuff. Done. However, the big thing about R is the mathematical and statistical analyses that can be easily run against your data sets. This means, part of learning this language is learning another, that of data science. I'll be posting about how I'm learning R, but I also should tell you how I'm picking up on Data Science. First and foremost, madman he may be, but one of theÂ few sources of information that I simply trust is Buck Woody. He's been running a series on Data Science. Here's an excellent example on how to pick a particular algorithm. These are must reads. Next, I'm starting a book called Data Science for Business: What you need to…

01Dec 2015 by Grant Fritchey No Comments

It’s Not Too Late

Azure, Professional Development, Redgate Software, SQL Server 2016

You know you want to go on the SQL Cruise. You can. You just have to convince the boss that it's worth doing. It is. I've said it before and I'll repeat it as necessary, SQL Cruise changes peoples lives. I've watched people go on the cruise with a job and come back with a career. People don't just learn on the Cruise. They get energized. They get engaged with the data professional community. How do I profit byÂ promoting SQL Cruise? I don't. Tim Ford is a friend and I'm supporting him. My company, Redgate Software,Â is a sponsor of the cruise, so I'm supporting them. I could just be doing the bare minimum in support of these parties. However, I'm not getting paid anything special by anyone for doing more.…

14Oct 2015 by Grant Fritchey 2 Comments

Getting Started With DocumentDB

Azure, DocumentDB

I've put this off for too long. It's time to get my feet wet with some new tech. Step 1 is easy. Go to the Azure portal and start the process for creating a DocumentDB: While that's running, let's see what's on the interwebs about getting started in DocumentDB... Nice. I know I'm going to have write a little code to exercise this thing. Here's a great run-through on exactly how to do it. Actually, the first hit when I searched on "Getting Started With DocumentDB." Microsoft has a start page on DocumentDB, but it was clearly put together by someone from marketing. Scroll down to the bottom. There are a couple of interesting links including SQL Query Within DocumentDB. Now we're talking. Here's a Curah! or Docs.com (which is…

30Jun 2015 by Grant Fritchey 41 Comments

Leadership Training Possibility

Professional Development

I know a few people in the SQL Server community who have been involved in Scouting. A couple of them have taken or helped lead Scoutings leadership training program known as Wood Badge. It's an amazing program. I won't even attempt to tell you what Wood BadgeÂ has done for me and what it does for Scouting. Suffice to say, Wood Badge helped to make me a better person and in return, I helped make Scouting better. What's this have to do with SQL Server? Not much really. But, what does it have to do with you and your career? Tons. It was pointed out to me that there's an Oracle users group that actually runs a leadership program. You can read about it here. It strikes me that, maybe this…

16Apr 2015 by Grant Fritchey No Comments

Azure SQL Database v12 and SQL Magazine

Azure

I spend many of my evenings researching and writing. Sometimes it's writing new books. Sometimes it's fixing and rewriting old books. Occasionally it's a blog post like this one. Lately, it's been a series of articles for SQL Magazine that are all about the new functionality available in Azure SQL Database v12 that was released in February for most data centers in Azure. It's a whole new ball game. Check out my introductory article for v12 and the one on DMVs in Azure. I have more coming up on CLR in Azure, getting started, PowerShell, DBCC, T-SQL enhancements, Premium Tier and more. I'll also get into "old" functionality like backup and restore. I'll also explore new functionality, Azure is nothing if not dynamic, as becomes widely available. I know a…

Tag: learning