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DBA Fundamentals pre-cons 2019

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While this post is for everyone, it is specifically written for  SQL Saturday organizers…

I am filling out my 2019 schedule of target dates/locations of SQL Saturdays I want to attend/present (US only…I don’t even have a passport)

I am offering to do my DBA Fundamentals pre-con and one or two Saturday sessions (Security/DR) with a twist:

You keep my part of the pre-con proceeds for your group.  I’ll cover my own travel, meals, etc. if you provide the space.  This should allow you to increase your funding for the rest of the event, buy some pizza for your local group, or even discount the pre-con price should you choose to do so.

If you only have 1 or 2 pre-con spots and cannot secure an additional room at your venue, please pick from the other submissions 🙂

Tentative schedule:

  • January –
  • March – Chicago (23rd, submitted) or Cincinnati (30th)
  • April – Dallas *
  • June –
  • August –
  • October –
  • December –

* All of these are tentative, some dates not granted yet

So, dear organizer…if you think this offer will be a benefit to your SQL Saturday, please get in touch and let me know what your planned date is so I can be sure to submit.  Kevin@DallasDBAs.com

Thanks for reading!

Kevin3NF

PASS Summit 2018 – My Schedule

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If you are going to PASS Summit in Seattle and want someone to sit with, check out my schedule (primary and backup sessions) – very much subject to change:

 

Wednesday, November 7, 2018

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10:15 AM – 11:30 AM Room: 2AB

dbatools Powershell Library – The Complete Introduction (Yes, my very first session is Powershell, lol)

http://www.pass.org/summit/2018/Sessions/Details.aspx?sid=85712

10:15 AM – 11:30 AM Room: 612

Uncovering Duplicate, Redundant, & Missing Indexes

http://www.pass.org/summit/2018/Sessions/Details.aspx?sid=77036

1:30 PM – 2:45 PM Room: 606

Improving Availability in SQL Server and Azure SQL Database

http://www.pass.org/summit/2018/Sessions/Details.aspx?sid=84728

1:30 PM – 4:00 PM Room: 6E

SQL Server Migrations Done the Right Way

http://www.pass.org/summit/2018/Sessions/Details.aspx?sid=84219

4:45 PM – 6:00 PM Room: 6A

SSMS & T-SQL Tricks: Working Smarter, Not Harder

http://www.pass.org/summit/2018/Sessions/Details.aspx?sid=78153

Thursday, November 8, 2018

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10:45 AM – 12:00 PM Room: 6B

Containers, Pods, and Databases- The Future of Infrastructure

http://www.pass.org/summit/2018/Sessions/Details.aspx?sid=78022

1:30 PM – 4:00 PMRoom: 606

Query Tuning Internals for the Advanced SQL Developer

http://www.pass.org/summit/2018/Sessions/Details.aspx?sid=78050

1:30 PM – 2:45 PM Room: TCC Tahoma 2

Top 5 Power BI Custom Visuals

http://www.pass.org/summit/2018/Sessions/Details.aspx?sid=82110

1:30 PM – 2:45 PM Room: 6C

Top Tips for Deploying AGs and FCIs On Premises or In the Cloud

http://www.pass.org/summit/2018/Sessions/Details.aspx?sid=78041

3:15 PM – 4:30 PM Room: 618

An Introduction to Partitioning

http://www.pass.org/summit/2018/Sessions/Details.aspx?sid=77002

4:45 PM – 6:00 PM Room: 604

Data Science 101 for the SQL DBA

http://www.pass.org/summit/2018/Sessions/Details.aspx?sid=86521

4:45 PM – 6:00 PM Room: 6C

Validate Your SQL Server Estate with Ease Using dbachecks

http://www.pass.org/summit/2018/Sessions/Details.aspx?sid=78382

Friday, November 9, 2018

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8:00 AM – 9:15 AM Room: 6C

T-SQL Habits and Practices That Can Kill Performance

http://www.pass.org/summit/2018/Sessions/Details.aspx?sid=78111

9:30 AM – 12:00 PM Room: 6E

Migrating to SQL Server 2017

http://www.pass.org/summit/2018/Sessions/Details.aspx?sid=78285

11:00 AM – 12:15 PM Room: 3AB

BI Power Hour

http://www.pass.org/summit/2018/Sessions/Details.aspx?sid=86517

2:00 PM – 3:15 PM Room: 3AB

Lightning Talks: DBA

http://www.pass.org/summit/2018/Sessions/Details.aspx?sid=85592

2:00 PM – 3:15 PM Room: 618

What’s New With Adaptive Query Processing?

http://www.pass.org/summit/2018/Sessions/Details.aspx?sid=78238

3:30 PM – 4:45 PM Room: TCC Yakima 1

A DBAs Guide to the Proper Handling of Corruption

http://www.pass.org/summit/2018/Sessions/Details.aspx?sid=78274

3:30 PM – 4:45 PM Room: TCC Tahoma 4

SQL Server Performance Monitoring Made Easy

http://www.pass.org/summit/2018/Sessions/Details.aspx?sid=85138

 

PLEASE feel free to come introduce yourself like we are old friends.  My brain is defective in remembering names and where we met, so you may have to remind me if in fact we have met before 🙂  Fair warning…I may ask you to take a selfie with me.  I suck at selfies so I may actually get a shot of your shoes, or the ceiling 🙂

Thanks for reading!

Kevin3NF

SQL Saturday Dallas, 2018

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Quacky rides bikes!

 

SQL Saturday Dallas #734 is a wrap!

I’m still tired, 2 weeks later!

This is my 7th or 8th SQL Saturday as an attendee.  3rd as a pre-con presenter.  5th delivering a Saturday session, 1st as a sponsor and 1st as a co-organizer.

And it was a blast.

Months of prep work went into getting things ready…venue change, sponsor chasing, speakers, goodies for speakers and attendees, pre-con stuff, after-part, speaker dinner…you name it, I at least read an email about it.  This was my first time around so I was following the lead of veterans on the NTSSUG board.  We had over 1000 people register…I don’t recall the final tally of actual attendees but the place was packed all day!

My pre-con (DBA Fundamentals) went really well, with a record number of attendees. By design this class is usually small and intimate.   The BI session next door had 65 or so!  I’ve done this pre-con 3 times now, and this was the first time I actually had a technical issue (fonts went wacky) and a brain cramp in the middle.  But, I recovered and people (hopefully) learned something they can take back with them to the office.

I also did my Disaster recovery session on Saturday, which I think went really well, and got a bonus of meeting someone I knew through a previous client and only by phone.  I always think you’ve done your session well when people line up to chat with you afterwards:

Either something was really funny, or my backpack has way too much stuff in it…

 

Our Dallas DBAs sponsor table went really well…except everyone seemed to think I was raffling off my personal racing bike.  Lots of folks came by for the raffle and the free t-shirts (100 only…gone in 90 minutes).  Some even stopped to ask what we do, giving me the chance to promote our Apprentice program.  Thanks to everyone that came by!  And also to Richardson Bike Mart for providing the $150 gift card for our raffle.

Not the raffle item….just clickbait apparently:

The entire staff of Dallas DBAs, in official uniform

 

A very special shout out to my good friend and graphics/web guy, Jeff Miller of Igniss Images for shooting this event as a free service to the SQL Server Community.  See the pics!

Thanks to all the attendees for coming, and to the Sponsors that make it possible!

Kevin3NF

 

T-SQL Tuesday: Giving Back

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T-SQL Tuesday is a monthly blog party for the SQL Server community. It is the brainchild of Adam Machanic (b|t) and this month’s edition is hosted by Riley Major (b|t) who has challenged us to “Pick some way you can help our community“…but not just give a few sentences on how you want to help, but to actually put feet, brain cells and dates to it.

Community service is something I’ve been involved in for decades in many different ways.  Within the SQL Server specific community, I got serious about it a couple of years ago when I changed the nature of this blog from “weird stuff I saw at work today” to “here is some info you can use to make your life better today.”  I also started speaking at SQL Saturdays last June in Houston.

Last year, I decided to take this a step further and set up an unofficial “Apprentice” program to help young people get into tech careers that don’t (for whatever reason) have the same opportunities most of us do.   My barrier to entry was low…others not so much.

The 1st Apprentice is ready to become a part-time Junior DBA and I couldn’t be more proud of him for his hard work.  He entered the program as a bit of a test case.  His barrier to entry – zero desire to go to a 4-year school and chase a possibly useless (for him) degree.

I will soon be looking for the next Apprentice.  Will s/he be like the first?  Maybe from a low income area?   Possibly aging out of the Foster Care system?  On the Autism spectrum?  Who knows.

For now, I will be working with one at a time.  I would like to get to the point where I have 2 or 3 that can learn together by working out solutions as a team.   This will help them not only learn Database Administration, but teamwork, trust, communication skills, etc.  Some of them may decide they hate databases but think Security is really cool.  Or Python.  Or Networking.  And that is great!  If they can find a career that they enjoy and provides a stable lifestyle financially, then I’m thrilled to be a step along a glorious path for them.

HOW YOU CAN HELP!

As these young people get to the point that I run out of things to teach them, they need real-world practice. Eventually I will have an “Apprentice” rate/offering on my Services and Pricing page for them to do the grunt work on your servers.  Part-time, with oversight from me or another Sr. Level DBA.  There are caveats and conditions on this I have not sorted out yet, but its coming sometime in the next 6-12 months.  Please keep an eye out for my posts here, on Twitter and on the Dallas DBAs LinkedIn Page.

I want your thoughts on this…privately or in the comments as you see fit.

Thanks for reading,

Kevin3NF

 

SQL Saturday Dallas 2018

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Hey all!

I am doing my DBA Fundamentals all day pre-conference at SQL Saturday Dallas on Friday, May 18.  Register HERE. $120 until May 1, then $140.  If you are not sure if this is the class for you, please go watch this promo video I threw together, then email me if you still have questions.  If you are a mid or senior level DBA, this is not a good use of your money and time…check out the others that are happening that day.

And then on Saturday, May 19 (Free!) I will be giving my Disaster recovery is everyone’s job! presentation, currently scheduled for 11am, subject to change at the whim of the organizers (spoiler alert…I’m one of the organizers, lol)

This is going to be a great event…the theme is “SQL de Mayo”, because Texas!  Go register now to reserve your spot, because it will fill up and being on the wait list is kind of a drag.  And buy lunch too!  No free lunch…

Hey…we still need more sponsors at Bronze, Silver and Gold levels to make this event even more awesome and I’m the guy to contact about that, so…contact me!

Thanks for reading!

Kevin3NF

^^^ follow me, you stalker 🙂

 

PASS Summit 2017

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PASS Summit 2017

PASS Summit is the largest gathering of SQL Server developers, admins, vendors and MS product people in the world.

I’m making my third trip to Seattle next week for this festival of brain-melting, best friends making insanity.   For those not in the know, there is FAR more going on over the 3 official days of the conference than any person can possibly consume.  From all day pre-conferences, to multiple sessions across multiple time slots, to just chilling in the community zone, there is ALWAYS something to do, see or learn.  Plus the vendor area and their unofficial evening events.

As with last year, I have planned out my schedule, knowing full well that I will probably skip at least one session a day to just network with other members of the #sqlfamily, or even just be a new friend to someone that is on their first trip and looking very overwhelmed.

I have also volunteered to be the “host” of the Thursday night Game Night…set up for those that either are not into or just need a night off from the bar scene but still want to be around others.   Lots of board and card games available, or bring your own and teach your new friends.

I might even attend the unofficial #SQLRun on Wednesday morning.

I think so highly of this conference and the opportunities available that I pay my own way.   As with last year, I will not be paid while there (contractor blues), unless a client needs me to resolve an emergency.   Conference fee, airfare, parking, Uber, hotel, food, beverages, etc.   This will cost me several thousand in non-income and expenses.

Worth. Every. Penny.

A short list of people I want to meet or see again:

  • Jen and Sean
  • Shane
  • Brent
  • Pinal
  • Dave M
  • David K
  • Ola Last Name not needed
  • Bob Ward
  • Rie
  • Andy
  • Alex
  • Sooooo many others 🙂

And I’ll do it again next year, Lord willing and the clients don’t dry up in between 🙂

Thanks for reading!

Kevin3NF