Category: T-SQL Tuesday

T-SQL Tuesday 148: Just Keep Swimming

T-SQL Tuesday 148: Just Keep Swimming

Thanks to Rie Merritt (b | t) for the idea behind this edition of T-SQL Tuesday. The official title is “Advice on Running a User Group”. I do lead the Lexington (Kentucky, USA) Data Technology Group (t) so, in theory, I have some advice to offer on how to run a user group that will be coming up on its fifth anniversary this fall, right?

The truth is that I don’t have any tips that are guaranteed to get you more attendees, more and better sponsors, or a fantastic blend of local and well-known speakers. All those things are good and, based on the posts from earlier today (I’m getting this in just under the gun), there are many people with excellent tips and tricks to offer in these areas. Please be sure to read all of the posts this month to learn all the useful information being shared by fellow members of #sqlfamily.

My advice is simple and I have the one and only Bob Ward (t) to thank for this bit of advice, although he is likely only realizing this if/when he finds out about this post. I do not recall the specific SQL Saturday (it may have been Atlanta or Dallas?) but I was in the speaker room with a few folks talking about the schedule that day. We were all lightly joking about who would and wouldn’t have people in their session because some of us were up against “SQL famous” people. Bob overheard us and said, in a friendly way, something along the lines of “if you’ve helped one person today, you’ve done a good thing”. That may not be an exact quote given that I can’t remember the specific event, but that was the gist and it has stuck with me.

When COVID-19 impacted the world it threw many, many things into disarray. Many people lost family, we lost #sqlfamily (bless you @GarethSwan, for the impact you had on me and so many others), and the rhythm of data community events that we had come to know vanished. Organizers, speakers, and volunteers lost some or all motivation to assist with events, user groups, conferences, etc. This hit me hard and affected many others as well. Much appreciation to all who shared those struggles publicly.

But, through all of this, those somewhat off-handed words that Bob offered in that speaker room in days gone by have continually popped up in my brain. If you’ve seen me helping out, it’s because of those words. If you see me at SQLBits this week, it’s largely because of those words (and somewhat because my wife thought I should leave the house sometimes!). As a wise fish in a movie once said, just keep swimming. Keep doing good. Keep helping people. Whatever your role in a user group is, do it as well as you can. If you’ve helped one person, you’ve done a good thing. It’s good advice for your day, your life, and your interactions with #sqlfamily. Thanks to each of you for everything you do and feel free to reach out if you’d like to chat. Thanks for reading.

Gift Received: The Bravery of Vulnerability (T-SQL Tuesday #121)

Gift Received: The Bravery of Vulnerability (T-SQL Tuesday #121)

Thanks to Mala Mahadevan (b | t) for this wonderful T-SQL Tuesday topic for December: Gifts Received For This Year. While I started a new job this year (as an Architect for Insight Digital Innovation) that I am very thankful for and is a direct result of community involvement, that’s not the 2019 gift that I wish to commemorate. That said, it’s awesome to read the volume of posts from people whose professional lives progressed this year!

My post for this T-SQL Tuesday, the 121st edition, will be simple and to the point. The biggest gift that I’ve received this year is the emotional, personal bravery that’s been on display in our community this year. That’s certainly not new to 2019 but it’s been especially meaningful to me during this year. There are a number of stereotypical descriptions about data professional and data-curious folks but, in a year where I’ve struggled with some personal issues, it’s been absolutely inspiring to see how some prominent people within the Microsoft data platform community have put themselves out there publicly.

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Whether it’s a blog delving into personal issues, or a tweet displaying some vulnerability, or professional development sessions at community events that are deeply personal, I feel incredibly fortunate to have a small part in a community with people willing to speak openly about the personal issues that may (or may not) affect their professional lives. When you are fairly reserved, as I am, seeing other people call attention to issues that you are also dealing with is a greater gift than a free book, t-shirt, or some new bit of technical knowledge.

On this note, I want to call special attention to two sessions at SQL Saturday Charlotte (which happened this past Saturday, December 7, 2019) that helped a lot of people. Tracy Boggiano (b | t) spoke about “Mental Illness in Tech” and how it may be more common than you think and Donna Ellis Wilson (t) spoke about how “Failure Needs To Be An Option” and the lessons you can learn from it. These sessions helped some people who will tweet, blog, etc. about how it helped them but, more importantly, it helped other people who will never acknowledge how much these sessions met them where they were at and helped them through issues in their own life.

For 2019, I am thankful for Donna, Tracy, and many others who take the time to sympathize, empathize, and speak to fellow members of our community about their own struggles. The bravery of vulnerability is not an easy thing to execute and/or embrace, but the folks in our community that are doing it are an asset to us all. If you’re celebrating a holiday during this season, I hope you find it restful and relaxing. Cheers!

T-SQL Tuesday #119: I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends

T-SQL Tuesday #119: I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends

Alex Yates (b | t) is hosting this T-SQL Tuesday (the 119th edition) and has given us a broad and interesting topic to work with this month. Alex has asked us to write about something in our IT career about which we’ve changed our mind. Several topics, both technical and non-technical, ran through my mind but I landed on something that’s quite a bit more personal and open than I’m inclined to be.

My path to a career in IT began as a Computer Information Systems major at Clemson University (go Tigers!). While the CIS program provided me an excellent computer science education, nearly all of the work in the program was individual development projects. This was fine for me because I was, as nearly all 18-year-olds are, sure that I was going to be a rock star developer and that I didn’t need help or assistance from anyone. My early CS grades were a clear indication that I was not nearly as smart as I thought I was, of course!

Nevertheless, as I began my professional career as a general IT person I was working on a lot of solo projects and, despite my GPA, still believing that I was pretty darn smart and didn’t need help from anybody. It wasn’t until I got into application support for a company in Greenville, SC – and was part of a strong team – that I realized what I had been missing.

What I had been missing was two-fold: 1) you learn much more much faster when you’re surrounded by smart people and 2) at some point in your life you will need the support of a team/community for professional and personal challenges that you will face. I was not wired to understand this at first, but with the benefit of hindsight and experience I’ve realized the value of making connections outside of yourself.

I’m wired to be shy. I’m an introvert. I used to stutter (and still do once in a while). For a long time, making connections to other people in social settings ranked just above “playing in traffic” on the list of things I wanted to do. My educational career and early professional career kept me in my individual comfort zone. As I started to progress in my career and was forced to be part of a team, though, I realized how much more information I was gathering when working as part of a group. As my career led me to data platform consulting, I began to realize how important it was to have a group of friends and a network with diverse interests and pursuits within the data community. I’ve learned a tremendous amount connecting with people far smarter than I am and I’d like to think I’ve helped some folks along the way as well.

My journey and my advice above is probably not earth-shattering and probably not unique with the community. What has been earth-shattering and unexpected, at least from my point of view, is the help I’ve received from the community that I never expected to get. As a few of my readers know, I’ve definitely struggled with my mental health over the last couple of years. Left to my own devices, I likely would have crawled into a figurative hole, tried to grind out enough work to not get fired, and done my best to maintain that status quo, such as it is/was.

However, I’ve been fortunate enough to make some friends within the Microsoft data platform community that were there for me to listen, to relate, to empathize, and to encourage. I am 100% not built to accept that kind of help but I am grateful for it and, truthfully, it has been essential. Obviously, like any community, our community has its share of bad apples and I’m not minimizing the negative experiences I know some folks have had. I do want to share, though, the positive experiences that I’ve had breaking out of my comfort zone on a personal level and working to make those connections.

Simply put, I’ve gotten by with a little help from my friends. Involving myself, personally and professionally, in this community represents a complete 180 degree mindset change from younger me but I’m thankful for it. I’d encourage you to also involve yourself in community initiatives and events at a level where you are comfortable and I sincerely hope your experiences are as positive as mine. Click here to link back to Alex’s original post – thanks for reading mine!

 

Gonna Blog Like It’s 1999 (Hello, Past Me)

Gonna Blog Like It’s 1999 (Hello, Past Me)

Fellow IDERA ACE Mohammad Darab (b | t) presents this month T-SQL Tuesday blog party and the topic is absolutely wonderful for an introspective introvert like me: “Dear 20 Year Old Self”. Seeing as I am 40 years of age as I write this, 20 year old me existed in 1999 which was, thankfully, referred to in the Prince song that the title of this post references (I was getting desperate for a title). 20 year old me thought he had it all figured out, so I thank Mohammad for the opportunity to set 1999 Matt straight. Without further ado, here’s the letter to 20 year old me…tsql2sday-150x150

Greetings, 1999 Matt! Congrats on the sweet 8 GB hard drive you just bought. In 20 years, even the free thumb drives you get at conferences where you’re speaking (crazy I know, but we’ll get to that) will be larger than that and you’ll have a phone with 32x that amount of storage. Also, Clemson will have won two national championships in college football but not with Tommy Bowden (who you are very excited Clemson just hired but wasn’t the answer to our championship drought). In some ways, the future is pretty cool. But I’m not here to damage the space time continuum or give you a leg up in the NCAA championship future pools in Vegas. I’m here to give you advice. Here it is in semi-bulleted form since I still like that format and know you like it too:

Don’t Be So Dogmatic

You think you have it all figured out right now. While that confidence can be healthy and may serve you well off and on in the future, you’re wrong about a lot of things. Your world is small. Most of the people you know look like you and have similar experiences to your own. That’s fine, but seek out people from different backgrounds who can broaden your horizons. They will enrich your life and make you a better person. You are capable of critical thinking – apply that ability to examine the world and people around you and make the choices that make sense to you. Those choices may not be preferred by the people and structures around you but as your horizons expand your self-confidence will come from your comfort with yourself and your place in the world and not what you think you know. Make an effort to be a good person and present in the lives of those around you – being “right” doesn’t matter nearly as much as you think.

Learn More About Data

You think you are going to be an application developer when you grow up. You’re currently working your way through Clemson as a part-time general IT person but you really have no exposure to a database at all. If somebody submits an Access or Oracle ticket to the help desk, take it and run with it. Before you know it, much of the technical world will revolve around data. Those with the ability to understand, visualize, and explain where that data came from, why it’s important, and the value it can add will be in high demand and compensated fairly decently for their knowledge and adaptability in a rapidly changing world. You already know about as much C and C++ as you will ever need in the future, but take every data-related course you can take even if you think it’s beyond you. All the knowledge you absorb about data and data structures will be very important to you in the future.

You will work with new languages and platforms nearly all the time 20 years from now. Learn how to learn and learn how to study now and you’ll be in a good position once you graduate (yes, you do graduate eventually). And, no, your GPA really doesn’t matter so don’t stress about the letter grades.

Trust Those That Believe In You

Those friends of yours that believed in you enough to put you in charge of a student newspaper saw something in you that you didn’t see in yourself. They saw somebody who could represent an organization not just in writing but in person. Sure, you may stutter or stumble over a sound or letter now and then – so what?

When you were paralyzed with fear to speak in front of any group of people, no matter how large, you needed to take that challenge head on instead of finding every excuse to hide in the corner and stay quiet. Fear of embarrassment held you back for a long time and cost you opportunities. Your friends believed in you despite the flaws you perceived in your “public persona”. You’ll eventually find people in your professional life who share the belief in you that those crazy college friends of yours had and those colleagues will change your life. They will set you on a path to work and speak to audiences all over the world about what you do with data and how you can help them in their work and it will be fantastic. Don’t wait 17 years to take to heart the belief that others have in you even when you may profoundly lack that belief in yourself.

Have a good one, 1999 Matt! The next twenty years contain some very cool things and do whatever you can to remember those things and share them with those around you. You’ll also end up really liking soccer, so be prepared for that.

Sincerely, 

Future Matt

T-SQL Tuesday #108 – Logic Apps & Cognitive Services

T-SQL Tuesday #108 – Logic Apps & Cognitive Services

For this 108th edition of T-SQL Tuesday, Malathi Mahadevan (b|t) has come up with a wonderful topic – non SQL Server technologies. As the Microsoft data platform continues to expand, our jobs as data professionals are requiring us to learn and embrace technologies outside of the traditional relational database platform. After spending last week at PASS Summit 2018 and being reminded again about the amazing diversity of the SQL Server/Microsoft Data Platform ecosystem, this topic seems especially well-timed. Nicely done, Mala!

The non SQL Server technologies that I’ve selected for this post are the pair of technologies that have been oddly involved in my life for the last year or so: Azure Logic Apps and the Cognitive Services API. I was fortunate enough to be selected to speak about these topics at PASS Summit this year and it’s been a strange journey from, in a little over a year, never having heard of Logic Apps and Cognitive Services to creating training for them and speaking in the community about them. Long story short, I heard a Men in Blazers podcast last October where they jokingly mused about ranking English Premier League teams by the supporters’ feelings rather than actual results on the pitch. I had recently read some logic apps blogs from Brad Ball (b|t) and thought I could take what I learned from those and turn it into the “mood table” that was discussed on the pod. If you’re interested in the technical details of what I did, click here and read my blog from last year about how I did it. That post also links to a deep dive post with even more detail.

That post, and the mood table’s weekly appearance on the podcast for months, set the table for me to begin presenting a logic app and Cognitive Services session at PASS community event and non-PASS technical meetups as well. That drove me to better understand the power of logic apps and what else I can do with them with or without wiring in Cognitive Services as well. I submitted that session for this year’s PASS Summit and it was selected so I dove into these topics even further in order to build a robust 75-minute session.

The story behind my initial effort for the podcast and how that turned into a session brings us to today. What are my plans for learning more about this? I’ve partnered with a company on some logic apps training and will release that information when the course is released. There is a possibility of building onto that course with a subsequent advance course. Creating that training content forced me to really dig into some concepts within logic apps and cognitive services that I was not very familiar with from just my “playing” with these technologies for the mood table. It’s also really opened my eyes to just how powerful logic apps are for coordinating workflows for real companies with real data flows (not silly soccer-related podcasts :-)). I’m looking forward to integrating Azure Logic Apps and Cognitive Services with customer work in 2019 so customers can see how useful Logic Apps can be when moving and transforming their data. Cognitive Services can offer huge value to customer-facing departments such as customer support and marketing. I can’t wait to begin talking more about these technologies with my customers and learning more about them as we work together.

T-SQL Tuesday 99: Racing Brings Me #sqlibrium

T-SQL Tuesday 99: Racing Brings Me #sqlibrium

Thanks to Aaron Bertrand (b|t) for hosting this month’s edition of T-SQL Tuesday, the 99th in the blog party series, and for an interesting topic choice for this edition. You can find Aaron’s T-SQL Tuesday #99 introductory post here, but Aaron gave us a choice this time around: share a passion of ours with the SQL community or write about a favorite/most annoying T-SQL bad habit. While I gave some thought to the technical post, I couldn’t turn down an opportunity to talk about my love for racing and how much I enjoy getting to actually drive a race car a few times each year. Since thinking about, talking about, and planning for racing does help bring some balance to my life, #sqlibrium as Drew coined the term, let’s talk for a few minutes about how cool (and yes, relaxing) it is to drive race cars once in a while.

“There are only three sports: bullfighting, motor racing, and mountaineering; all the rest are merely games.” – Ernest Hemingway

I was a big enough racing dork when I was a kid that I had a t-shirt with this on it when I was in elementary school. I honestly don’t remember a time in my life when I didn’t want to look at, read about, or drive race cars. However, if this post turns into “Matt waxes poetically about racing”, it will be about 5,000 words long and incredibly boring to everybody but me. Put much more simply, while a lot of people look for relaxation from a good hike or a relaxing day on the beach, my beach is at a racetrack. Whether I’m watching the cars, working on them, or driving them, it has a way of clearing my head unlike anywhere else. For the sake of brevity(-ish), I’ll focus the rest of this blog on my on-track exploits, such as they are.

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As you can see, we take this racing stuff quite seriously. The picture is of me waiting on the grid at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in June 2017 before taking to the track for the first of two races. The grid marshals thought it would be funny to give us silly umbrellas to block the sun while we waited – and it was.

That said, this picture does a decent job of showing what my Formula First looks like up close. For those that are interested in the technical specs (which is likely very few of you), the basics are that Formula Firsts are 1600cc air-cooled Volkswagen engines mated to purpose-built open wheel chassis riding on Hoosier R60 tires. Hoosier has been a great sponsor of our U.S. Formula First Championship, which is a 5-6 weekend series that is currently in its 12th year of competition this year. We run at great tracks all over the eastern half of the U.S., from Road America in Wisconsin, to Watkins Glen in New York, to Road Atlanta in Georgia. If you’d like to read more information on the series (and see some great videos), the link is here.

Now that we’ve covered the basics of the car and the series that I race in, you’re probably wondering “what cool stuff have you done in these cars, Matt?”. Now, some of you asking that question may think cool stuff is “what have you won?” and others may think cool stuff is “what have you crashed into?”. I’ll cover both angles before we wrap up this blog, but if you’re just here for the crashes, here’s a picture of a crash I just missed at Indy last year (thanks to Brian Schell for the image).

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First, what have I won? I’ve been fortunate enough to win trophies and take podiums (finishing in the top 3) at places like Indy, Watkins Glen, and Road America. Road America (in Elkhart Lake, WI) was my favorite race track (other than Indy) growing up and it still is, which makes this next story particularly frustrating even though it happened 12 years ago. After doing a couple weekends in 2005, I committed to running a full Formula First season in 2006. I went to Road America in the top 3 in championship points and was looking to have a great weekend. I qualified 2nd for the our race on Saturday but, near the end of the first lap, the right-front suspension spectacularly came apart, ending my day quite early and giving my right hand a gnarly bruise to boot. I went into Sunday morning’s qualifying hopeful but still frustrated and qualified 5th – then a clutch problem reared its ugly head towards the end of the session. That sent the crew into a massive thrash to get the clutch replaced, an effort that was completed just minutes before we had to head to grid for the race.

Once the race started, the car was really good. I could run comfortably in the draft and started picking off cars and working my way up the order. With 3 laps to go, I passed for the lead and was leading for the first time in my career! The other driver and I traded the lead (and fast laps) back and forth over those last few laps and, on the last lap, I exited the final turn (turn 14) in the lead. I didn’t get the best launch off the corner, though, and the other driver had a run on me. I put on a within-the-rules blocking move but ended up losing the race by roughly the length of the nose of the car. I was crushed, especially as my wife and dad were there to see it. The picture below was taken just after the race while the top 3 finishers waited in line to make sure our cars met minimum weight. I’m still in the car chatting with the guy who beat me. My wife, as you can see, was not thrilled with the loss (she’s a bit competitive)!

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Our series’ next race that season was at Nelson Ledges in Ohio, and after a solid finish during the Saturday race, I was involved in a nasty crash near the end of Sunday qualifying. I was hit from behind by another driver after sliding through the first turn, and that contact resulted in his left side tires bouncing off my roll bar and then my helmet and him flipping end over end numerous times. The impact cracked the shell of my helmet, so I was incredibly fortunate to only be checked out for a concussion and treated for bruises and scrapes – that could have been far, far worse and it really put the previous race’s frustration into perspective. It did not, though, knock any sense into me and I’ve continued racing through the years (except for a break when the kids were born) as time and budget allowed.

I could go on for hours, but this ~1000 words is long enough. As I said, the racetrack is my beach. I love it and it must be in my blood, because I don’t remember not loving it. Based on the picture below (taken after my 3rd place finish at Indy in 2017), one of my kids might end up writing this same blog post in several years’ time. Thanks for reading – hopefully I’ll see you at the track.

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T-SQL Tuesday #93: Shock and Subtlety of Sexist Interviewers

T-SQL Tuesday #93: Shock and Subtlety of Sexist Interviewers

First of all, thanks to Kendra Little (b|t) for hosting this month’s T-SQL Tuesday. This month’s topic (Interviewing Patterns & Anti-Patterns) is a great topic that’s generating a lot of interesting responses from many different perspectives. Beyond that, I’ve seen Kendra present at PASS events and various webinars and she presents deep technical content in a very engaging way. Definitely check out her blog and follow her on Twitter!

As for my submission to this month’s blog party, I was excited to cover the original topic I had for this post – “Interviews Aren’t Trivia Contests”. I may still blog that at some point, as I believe I’ve definitely improved as an interviewer and would like to pass along some things I’ve learned the hard way so you don’t make the same mistakes I have.

That said, a couple of conversations I had at SQL Saturday Louisville this weekend changed my mind on my post for this edition of T-SQL Tuesday. Hearing women discuss the subtle and overt sexism that they have to deal with in IT is always jarring and it prompted me to relate an interview story from my wife. Even though my wife has been in technical fields her entire career and I’ve both managed and worked alongside women in IT, hearing these types of stories is always jarring, upsetting, and thought-provoking. This post is most certainly about a couple of interviewing anti-patterns, as you’ll see below.

While my wife is currently in IT (she is a PMP-certified project manager specializing in software delivery and implementation), this story dates from 2012 when she was interviewing for a ceramic and materials engineering position in the Midwest. She has a B.S. in Ceramic Engineering, an M.S. in Materials Science and Engineering, and has her name on at least one patent and multiple academic papers. Long story short, she was indisputably qualified for the position for which she was interviewing.

Anti-Pattern 1: Subtle Sexism

This interview, as many others are, was a series of one-on-one meetings with folks in HR, on the technical side, and points in-between. There had been nothing particularly noteworthy until she interviewed with a guy in a very senior technical position. After a few minutes, he asked my wife a seemingly innocuous, albeit cringe-worthy, question (but more on that in a bit): “how does a woman get into engineering?”. My wife explained her interest in and aptitude for math and then a little more about what drove her specifically towards materials science and engineering.

Anti-Pattern 2: Shocking Sexism

His response was “interesting, most women who get into engineering are more flat-chested.” This is the part of the blog where you should hear a record-scratching noise in your head as you’re shocked by what you just read. Sadly, the few times I’ve relayed this story over the years the women I tell are not nearly as surprised as the men I tell. It goes without saying that this is an interviewing anti-pattern of the highest order. It’s sexist, demeaning, crude, lawsuit-worthy at best, and illegal at worst.

Summary

But I said I’d take you back to the seemingly innocuous question, as over the years it’s troubled me nearly as much as the obviously horrifying commentary on my wife’s figure during an interview. “How does a woman get into engineering?” As one of my wife’s friends said, the proper response was “the same way a man does”. The subtlety of this is perhaps more insidious than the overt sexism of the crude comment, as the implication is “why are you here, you don’t seem to belong?”.

If you take anything away from this post, I want it to be this sentiment: as an interviewer, that candidate across the desk/phone from you is there because they believe they’re qualified for the opportunity and want to work with you and your company. Everybody’s career journey is different, but the subtle or overt implication that because they don’t fit the stereotype in your head they don’t belong there is simply unacceptable. Not only could you be costing your company the best candidate for the position, you may plant a seed in that person’s head that takes them years to overcome or puts them off their chosen career path entirely.

To end this on a positive note, this did not have a negative impact on my wife’s mentality and she’s fantastic at her current job. I still wish she would have slapped the guy, though!

 

 

T-SQL Tuesday #87 – The Roundup

T-SQL Tuesday #87 – The Roundup

First of all, a sincere thanks to everybody that took the time to contribute posts to this month’s T-SQL Tuesday (#87) – Fixing Old Problems with Shiny New Toys. I realize the time it takes to put a post together, so thanks for participating and helping the community.

Secondly, I couldn’t decide whether or not to call this the “rollup” post or the “roundup” post, but since I’m in Texas this week for work, “roundup” won the day. If you think I should have gone “rollup”, by all means email Adam Machanic (amachanic at gmail dot com) after taking a look at the T-SQL Tuesday hosting rules, agree to host a month, and call your summary post whatever your heart desires!

On a personal note, one of my goals for 2017 was to be more disciplined about blogging and this has gotten that initiative off to a solid start. I highly recommend hosting/participating in T-SQL Tuesday and hope you’ll return here to read my regular posts as the months and years go on.

Finally, as a first time host, I was obviously hoping that this topic would garner some responses, but you never know until you hit that post button whether you’ve selected something of interest to the community or not. Thankfully, this month’s topic picked up views from over 20 countries and over 20 blog responses. The list (with a brief post-by-post commentary from me) is below. Happy reading and thanks again for reading/writing/participating!

This Month’s Responses

Row Level Security – Steve Jones provides an intriguing solution using very new toys (SQL Server 2016 and/or Azure SQL Database) to solve a very old problem (users seeing data they shouldn’t).

Fixing Old Security Problems with Shiny New Toys – Duncan Greaves reviews four new or new-ish security features that you need to understand (and should probably be using).

SQL Server 2016’s JSON Functionality – Bert Wagner details JSON support in SQL Server (from community support to official support) and some use cases for it as well.

Calculated Tables and Role-Playing Dimensions – I was really pleased to get a few responses on SQL Server topics outside of the database engine. My colleague Ginger Grant provides a blog that’s guaranteed to save a few SSAS users some hassle.

Data Theft and Backup Encryption – Mark Southall provides a fascinating object lesson on how useful it can be to encrypt your backups. This one should give all of us something to think about.

Server Level Database Permissions – Kenneth Fisher gives us a great reminder that server level database permissions exist and that they make our lives easier.

Solving the Net Changes Problem with Temporal Tables – Adam Machanic (thanks again for letting me host!) gives us a detailed look at how we can use temporal tables (a shiny new toy) to potentially replace the functionality of change tracking (a less shiny, older toy).

String Splitting – Aaron Bertrand gives us a look at string splitting in SQL Server 2016 along with a bonus look at the STRING_AGG() we’ll see in SQL Server vNext.

Granting Read Permissions on Everything! – Shane O’Neill gives us an interesting look at easily granting read permissions to users.

STRING_SPLIT – My colleague Steve Hughes gives us another look at one of SQL Server 2016’s hidden gems.

New Way to See Wait Stats for a Single Query – Robert L Davis gives us a great look at how to zero in on the wait stats (including the worst offenders) for a single query.

Beware Shiny New Toys – Wayne Sheffield turns my topic on its head and warns us about the danger of blindly trusting shiny new toys.

Better Index Maintenance in Maintenance Plans – SQL Cyclist shows us the improvements in index maintenance tasks within maintenance plans.

Where Did My Backup Compression Go? – Garry Bargsley gives us a great look at backup compression on TDE databases in SQL Server 2016.

Angle Brackets vs. Curly Braces – Riley Major reminds us that not everybody has these shiny new toys but that there may be some different ways, in older versions, to approximate the way some shiny new toys (like JSON support) behave.

Using AT TIME ZONE to Fix a Report – Rob Farley gives us a great new solution to solve those brain-bending timezone issues for reports and other query-driven datasets.

Providing Data to Customers More Quickly – Jens Vestergaard gives us an interesting look at how SQL Server 2016 SP1’s performance improvements (and an Azure VM) provided the horsepower to generate data that had been previously requested but whose generation used to take far too long before now.

Power BI in SSRS – James Anderson gives us a look at a cool new innovation in the BI realm of the SQL Server world: Power BI in SSRS 2016.

Musings on SESSION_CONTEXT() – Ewald Cress takes a deep dive into SESSION_CONTEXT(). Great, in-depth thoughts here.

Temporal Tables – My colleague Bob Rubocki gives us a blog version of his well-received temporal tables webinar. This is a good, easy-to-understand walk through this shiny new toy.

Performance Tuning Out of the Box (tempdb) – Björn Peters gives us a good look at the tempdb configuration options Microsoft included in SQL Server 2016 setup. Although I took 3+ years of German, I had to break out the English translator for his one, but it was awesome to get responses in multiple languages!

Two New Useful DMV Columns – Rodney Landrum points us to a very convenient way to check whether or not two important configuration options are set without having to fire up Microsoft Management Console.

 

 

 

 

 

Announcing T-SQL Tuesday #87 – Fixing Old Problems with Shiny New Toys

Announcing T-SQL Tuesday #87 – Fixing Old Problems with Shiny New Toys

T-SQL Tuesday is a monthly blog party for the SQL Server community. It is the brainchild of Adam Machanic (b|t) and I am thankful for the opportunity to host this month’s edition. The concept is straightforward – each month a blog hosts the party and everybody who wants to contribute can write a post about the topic that is selected.

I’ll get into a few more specific rules at the bottom of this post, but first let’s dive into this month’s topic!

This Month’s Topic: Fixing Old Problems with Shiny New Toys

While the SQL Server ecosystem is constantly evolving, it seems like that evolution has sped up considerably in the last year or two. From the constant improvements in Azure, to the rapid changes in Power BI, to the powerhouse release of SQL Server 2016 last year, those of us whose professional life resides within the SQL Server world have a multitude of new tools in our toolbox.

What I’d like to see from the blog responses for this T-SQL Tuesday is how you’ve used a “new” Microsoft data platform toy to fix an old problem. We’ll define new toys as something from SQL Server 2014’s release date until now. We’ll even accept a SQL Server vNext response if you’ve got one!

Did you work around a database design/performance issue by using memory-optimized tables and natively compiled stored procedures (brought to us in SQL 2014)? Did you use Power BI to present data visualizations to a client in a way you couldn’t have previously? Did you use SQL 2016’s mobile reporting ability to extend SSRS reports to a mobile client and solve an issue that way? Did you solve an archival issue by stretching your database into Azure? Basically, did you solve a data problem with a cool new Microsoft data platform toy?

I think many of us settle into old habits when it comes to solving problems with our data, so I can’t wait for the responses to this topic to see what cool new things people are doing to solve some old problems.

The Fine Print (aka The Rules)

  • Your post must be published between 00:00:00 UTC and 23:59:59 UTC on Tuesday, February 14th (yes, feel free to throw a Valentine’s joke or two into your blog)
  • Include the T-SQL Tuesday logo in the top of your post and link your post back to this one (preferably via a comment on this post, but a trackback is OK as well)
  • If you’re on Twitter, tweet your post using the #tsql2sday (if you’re not on Twitter, get on it!)

 

T-SQL Tuesday #84: Growing New Speakers

tsql2sday-150x150Thanks to Andy Yun for hosting this month’s T-SQL Tuesday #84: Growing New Speakers. This is a topic near and dear to my heart as I made my first presentation at SQL Saturday 531 in Louisville, KY in August. Since I’m a rookie, I’m not going to pretend that I have any brilliant tips for new speakers beyond the ones that I am sure are being shared throughout the community today. You should definitely practice your demos, you should definitely practice your speaking, and you should definitely go watch other experienced speakers to see how they approach a session, how they handle the room, and how they manage questions. However, none of that matters if you don’t commit to speaking and presenting to the community and that is where I want to focus this post.

Speaking in front of a group of people is not something that comes naturally to me. I am, as some in the community are, a bit of an introvert. I don’t come charging out of bed in the morning fired up to speak to a large room full of people. That said, I am fortunate enough to work at a place where I am encouraged to share my knowledge with the community. While that encouragement is important, my first session taught me two important things.

The first important thing that I learned is that any real world experience you have is useful to the community. While you may think something you are doing is boring or old hat to everybody, it’s not. Everybody is in a different place in their career journey and could be receptive to the information you have to share.

The second important thing I learned is that the community of SQL Server data professionals is full of wonderful, supportive people. Even if it’s not your natural inclination, volunteer to speak. Beyond that, if possible, go to the speaker’s dinner and introduce yourself to people. You may glean some knowledge, you may make some important networking connections, and you may even make some friends.

As I said, some or all of this may not come naturally to every single one of us. In my experience, it’s worth forcing yourself through that wall and out of your comfort zone and presenting to the community. In fact, my experience was so positive I volunteered to do it again and will be presenting two sessions at SQL Saturday 552 in Lincoln, NE on Saturday, November 19. Come see me and introduce yourself!