Certifications are a Bonus, Not A Path to Employment

Professional Development
I've never been terribly shy about my beliefs about IT certifications. I sincerely believe they are largely a waste of time. I do recognize that one thing they do provide is a documented learning path. Having gone through that learning path, you will gain knowledge. Knowledge, I very much believe in. Unfortunately, certifications are not an actual demonstration of knowledge. I also know that for some organizations, having certified individuals gets them partner status and all that entails. Again, this means that the certificate is a bonus, not one of the major qualifications for a given position. If I worked for one of these organizations, I'd go and get certified. Otherwise, why bother? Which Certification Will Get Me a Job in IT? If you've never seen this question before, you…
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Continuous Learning

Professional Development
In case you can't tell from some of my blog posts, I'm a bit of an advocate for DevOps. I'm extremely fortunate in my employer, Redgate Software, that they are also huge advocates for DevOps. We not only teach it and promote it, and, oh yeah, make AWESOME tools for it, we practice DevOps in what we do. However, this post is not about DevOps. Instead, I'm trying to leverage some of the concepts of DevOps, Continuous Integration, Continuous Deployment, to arrive at some ideas around learning that I want to share. Pi-Hole Yesterday I spent several hours getting the software Pi-Hole set up for my home network. Now, this software really doesn't take several hours to set up. The reason it took me that long is because I hadn't…
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Learning Jupyter Notebooks

Azure, Professional Development, Tools
I'm starting the process of learning how to use Jupyter Notebooks. Notebooks are documents that contain live code, commentary, results, pictures and more. Jupyter Notebooks are used for presentations, documentation, run books, troubleshooting guides and lots more. Their support within Azure Data Studio opens up lots of opportunities. Azure Data Studio If you're interested in learning about notebooks yourself, or, as I publish the notebooks that I put together and you want to consume them, you need to have a mechanism. There are any number of third party or open source solutions to read notebooks. However, since I'm focused primarily on the Microsoft data platform, I'm using Azure Data Studio to do this work. I've written in the past about using Azure Data Studio (ADS). I also have a bunch…
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Jobs That Beat The Caring Out Of You

Professional Development
I was inspired by Jen McCown's story here. Read that first. It's WAY better than mine. This is not an April Fools post. Fools are involved, but none were harmed. Oprah-Level SA YOU GET SA! AND YOU GET SA! I'm working for a DOTCOM startup as a developer. I have SA privs. I have SA privs because EVERYONE has SA privs. We're developing a system (this was a long time ago) in SQL Server 6.5. The database originally was designed in Paradox (where I started my career). To be as kind as possible, the database design was a living nightmare, like the worst possible black, ichorous, Lovecraftian, tentacled monstrosity to walk the earth database. It was bad. On top of that, the code we were writing was always barely functional.…
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YouTube Channel Update: 27 April 2018

Professional Development
Despite a hiccup recently on Twitter where I managed to spam all my followers with links to my YouTube videos (so sorry about that), I am still posting videos. Please subscribe to the channel. Video Lists I created video lists. Here they are, in no particular order: SQL Server and Microsoft Data Platform GDPR and How It Relates to Your Data SQL Server Query Performance Tuning Redgate Software Videos DevOps and Databases I hope it helps to have them grouped up. Videos Here are the videos I've posted over the last few weeks. First, too many people take a "poke it and see what happens" approach to query tuning. I try to talk to that issue here: [embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHxOrPEyPb8[/embedyt] Want to know where I go to learn about the GDPR?…
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Presentation Tools

Professional Development
Let's face it, the core of a presentation is you. Your knowledge and your ability to share that knowledge through whatever means you choose, slides, demos, sock puppets, whatever, is the primary tools you need to hone. Know what you know and be ready to acknowledge what you don't. Put out the information as only you can. That's the key to presenting. But... A few things can help reduce your stress and make your life easier. Let's talk about them. My Presentation Tools Whether your travel to the event or not, chances are good, that whatever code camp, SQLSaturday, or awesome event where you are presenting is not your home or office. This means, you can't know what their set up is. Because of this, road warrior or not, if…
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Buggy Whips 2.0

DevOps, Professional Development
I recently found myself rereading a very old blog post of mine, from the very beginning of this blog, discussing Buggy Whips. I'll save you the long read, I was learning new tech, it made me second guess my working assumptions, I was curious if I was manufacturing a buggy whip while watching an automobile drive by. 2008 to 2018 Well, I'm still here. In fact, Feature Driven Development has disappeared from the lexicon and the project that it was introduced to took years longer than anticipated, performed horribly, and had to have a major redesign and rework to be fundamentally functional (all after I left the old organization). So, my fears that database design was a thing of the past were just that, fears... right? Yes and no. Here…
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YouTube Channel Update: March 30, 2018

Professional Development
Hey everyone! Here's the latest stuff on my new YouTube Channel. Please let me know if these videos are helpful. Also, if you have requests for videos on a particular topic, even a video of a blog post I did here, let me know. I take requests and I'm more than happy to help. I've been talking a lot about the GDPR. I released three videos on this topic this week alone: [embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSbrhv1Fuh4[/embedyt] [embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFyS45kvtMY[/embedyt] [embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLYxflj8O9A[/embedyt] I also released a video on using SQL Prompt to help your team audit their code: [embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TBHGuhgS4E[/embedyt] Finally, I added a video discussing database mirroring as it relates to Azure SQL Database [embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I26K-FWilXA[/embedyt]
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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…
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