TSQL Tuesday: Folks Who Have Made a Difference

 

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 Ewald Cress (b|t), asking us to post about those who have made a difference our life in the world of data.

I’d like to call out 3 (of the many) people who have been instrumental in my SQL Server career (and two of them will only see this if I send it to them):

The early years:   Max Lutz

Max was my manager at Jobs.com back in 2000.  He taught me quite a bit about T-SQL development that I had no clue on.  Max had been with Microsoft for some time before jobs.com and came in with a wealth of experience.  He also covered me when I took down the company by pointing out that I had implemented a “disaster recovery” plan for situations just like that.  I have not seen or heard from him since 2001.

The middle – current:  Rand Boyd

Rand is one of my best friends on the planet.  I met him in 2004 when I was on the first of two contracts I did at Microsoft in the SQL Support center in TX.  He was my go-to for calls where I had no clue what to do.   After my second contract was up I recruited him into the job I was moving to and we worked side by side every day either in person or WFH for the next 8 1/2 years.   He’s still there, I’ve moved on but we stay in touch as well as 2 introverted DBAs can.   His friendship is more valuable to me than all the SQL I know.

The current:  Brent Ozar

Cliché?  Probably.  I met Brent at PASS Summit 2008, when I was wandering around the Daily Grill at the Sheraton the first morning.   Brent was waving people over to his table to join him for breakfast.  Funny guy, super approachable and great stories.   I recall bacon.  Tim Ford was there as well and someone else I’ve forgotten the name of.   Since then I’ve been reading his blogs, buying his training and went to a pre-con of his at SQL Saturday Houston this year.  A lot of people know the same things as Brent, but his style of teaching them works as well for me as it probably doesn’t work for others.  I’ve started speaking/presenting this year and in addition to my own personality I’ve brought in some Brent and some Pinal Dave to my style.

Special shout-out to Andy Yun (b|t) for giving me the kick in the pants I needed to start the public speaking journey I began this year. 3 SQL Saturdays, one pre-con and two DFW area independent classes…all in 6 months.   I had the chance to thank him in person last week at Summit.

There are a great number of people that could have been mentioned here due to their amazing work in and for the community, but these are the ones that have impacted me directly and in person.

Thanks for reading!

Kevin3NF (<<stalk me!)