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Discussion of issues related to SQL Server, the MSDN SQL Support Forums, the complex interplay between Developers and SQL Server Administrators, and our sometimes futile attempts to have a 'normal' life.
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I was recently in a conversation with several people that had previously organized one or more community events. The topic evolved into a discussion of Sponsors, and eventually, fund raising. Being able to adequately raise the funds necessary is critical to producing a successful event. Many vendors will readily provide products for raffles and give-aways (SWAG), but the success of the event hangs on being able to raise cold, hard, cash. Venues and equipment have to be rented, refreshments and lunches purchases -and insurers seem to always require payment. Being able to draw upon the supporting community of vendors for sponsorship funding is essential to producing free community events.
One of the topics we discussed is an issue that seems to be just below the surface in the community at large -it’s there, and no one really wants to bring it into the open. (Andy Warren wrote about the subject in this post just a few months ago.) The issue we discussed is about financial transparency -including what to do with excess funds after the event. And further, is it necessary or appropriate that all funds raised in the name of an event be expended solely for that event? It was even emphatically stated that it was good to over subscribe sponsorship for the event and re-direct the excess funds to other purposes. Some adamently postulated that intentionally over selling sponsorships allow funds to be used to support other seeming worthwhile community activities.
And I thought -just hold on now. To me, that’s approaching being misleading, if not outright deceptive to sponsors -and to the community at large.
My concern is this: If we approach a potential sponsor for funds to produce ‘Event A’, in my mind, the sponsor has an expectation that the funds go to produce ‘Event A’. If some of the funds are diverted to support activities B, C, D, etc., sponsors may feel that they are being unfairly used to support activities that they may not have chosen to support outright. Or at the very least, they were not provided the opportunity to make a rational decision to support activities B, C, or D. Vendors vote with their dollars -they give money to events that make sense for them. They are calculating the ROI for access to the attendees -factoring in the competitive environment with other sponsors. More sponsors means less access. When events are over subscribed, the calculation becomes skewed. When unknown amounts of sponsor money is diverted to other purposes, the calculation becomes almost worthless.
If organizers deliberately use the event fund raising as a cover to gain funds for other purposes, no matter how worthy, there is a real danger that sponsors will stop giving money. If that happens, everyone loses.
I propose that community events embrace transparency and provide a public accounting of Sponsor funds. Granted, there may be valid reasons to not disclose individual Sponsor contributions, and you will notice that is not being called for here. I propose to break this down into just a few simple categories -such as:
Total Received, less
- Venue, Equipment Rental & Insurance
- Banking Fees and Taxes (Including Paypal Fees)
- Printing, Signage & Misc Supplies
- Volunteer Expenses (Shirts, pre/post Event, etc.)
- Speaker Expenses (Gifts, Shirts, Dinner, etc.)
- Event Food & Refreshments
- Attendee SWAG (shirts, etc.)
- Attendee After Event
Amount Left Over
And then provide a statement of how the left over funds (if any) will be used to support the community. This level of transparency will allow sponsors to understand how their funds are being used.
I recognize that there may not be simple agreement to this level of public disclosure, that situations can be complex, and that there may be valid justification for some financial obscurity. Let’s start a public discussion about what is best for the community at large. To continue the status quo, where there are below the surface grumblings, questions, and even suspicions, is not good for the community at large.
I’d like to hear your thoughts on this.
- Should all funds raised for an event be spent solely for that event?
- And should event organizers be more transparent about funding AND expenditures?
(The recent SQLSaturday Oregon 2011 Financials are published here.)
(Originally published at http://1568.com/arnie)
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It seems like there is a widespread malaise in the country these days. Everyone's clamoring to cut taxes -but no one wants to have their neighborhood school closed, or fear bridges collapsing underneath them, or damage their automobiles while driving over deteriorating streets and roads. They expect Fire and Police personnel to magically appear when needed. The list can go on and on. Folks want and expect so many things to be available, yet they don't want to pay for them. They don't care if someone else has to pay more, they just want to pay less.
In the computer technology field, there is an excellent array of 'free' professional activities. User Groups, Code Camps, and SQLSaturdays are just a few opportunities often provided where you can pick up information about upcoming technology changes, gather a few tips and tricks, network with others, and even find a job. These events are made possible with the generosity AND self-interest of Vendors –companies that want the opportunity to put their message in front of the audience. In exchange for their money, these Vendor/Sponsors get exposure for their products and company message. Their logos may be on signs, they provide printed material, they offer raffle items, and they even send their personnel to be on hand to talk with attendees. They are trying to be noticed. They are trying to have the opportunity to put their product or message before a receptive audience for consideration.
To me, it seems like such a simple bargain. I go to the event and consume whatever learning / skill / networking opportunities that fit my interests. I have rarely left an event thinking that it was a waste of time -I always gain from being there. In exchange, I listen to a few sales pitches, see a few new products, pick up some literature, and even expect to receive an email or two. It's not too burdensome. If the vendor's products and my needs are out of sync, then I ask to be removed from their mail lists. I get a great free opportunity, and the vendor gets the opportunity to show me their product.
In my experience, Vendors that sponsor technology events are reputable and ethical. If, upon receiving their after-event email, I ask to be removed from their mail list, they readily do so. And on occasion I have actually discovered that I really do wish to continue contact with a particular vendor.
As a 'free' event organizer, I am personally dismayed about how many folks, when registering for the event, automatically 'opt out' from receiving after-event email contact from the event sponsors. It seems like they just can't be bothered to receive an email from a Sponsor, and then, after receiving that after-event email, make an educated decision about remaining in contact with the sponsor.
That just seems so wrong!
Life is about balance. Everything has a cost. It's not sustainable to always expect and never be willing to pay. If you are going to accept the opportunity to improve your knowledge, skills, and professional network (and I truly hope that you are) -be willing to play the game and pay the Piper. It's not only fair, but it will help ensure that in the future, similar opportunities are available for you. If everyone opts out, one day the sponsors will all opt out too. Then we all lose.
Support FREE events, give yourself and Sponsors a chance.
Am I wrong here? What are your thoughts?
(Originally published at http://1568.com/arnie)
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When visiting clients, I often find that one or more databases have a table (or several) containing metadata. Most often, these tables have only a single row of data containing metadata about the company, the application, or the database itself. Quite likely, there should only be a single row of data in these metadata tables. Sometimes, I find an INSERT TRIGGER employed to make sure that another row of data is not accidentally added to the metadata table. The TRIGGER may count the rows in the table, or it may call a function that counts the rows in the table. I've even discovered SQL Agent jobs running on some schedule to remove accidentally inserted rows. By far, the simplest solution is this: - Add a column with an integer IDENTITY value.
- Set a table constraint where the integer IDENTITY value column has to be greater than zero, and less than 2.
The code example below demonstrates the simplicity of this approach. -- Use a scratch pad, don't make permanent database changes for a test
USE tempdb;
GO
-- Create a table with an IDENTITY column and a CHECK constraint
CREATE TABLE [dbo].[MetaDataTable]
( [RowId] [INT] IDENTITY(1, 1) NOT NULL
CHECK (([RowId]>(0) AND [RowId]<(2))),
[MetaData1] [NVARCHAR](15) NOT NULL,
[MetaData2] [NVARCHAR](15) NULL
);
GO
-- Add the First (and should be ONLY) row of metadata
INSERT INTO [dbo].[MetaDataTable]
VALUES ('Test, Row 1', 'Some data');
-- Verify the data
SELECT *
FROM [dbo].[MetaDataTable];
-- Try adding a second row of metadata
INSERT INTO [dbo].[MetaDataTable]
VALUES ('Test, Row 2', 'Some other data');
-- Error 547, constraint violation
-- Clean up
DROP TABLE [dbo].[MetaDataTable];
A constraint acts quicker and with less impact than a trigger.
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10/23/2010
Two more eligible developers and deserving projects have been selected.
Any proposals submitted but not selected this time will be reconsidered at each upcoming award cycle. (Refer to this to review the award criteria, details, and benefits.)
In no order of implied importance.
Michael Peterson, Leesburg, VA
Class Roster Management for Leesburg Open Arms School. The school currently uses a spreadsheet with a bunch of ugly macros to manage their class rosters. The information is duplicated from an existing childcare management solution. The existing childcare management solution backend is SQL Server Express. I would like to build them a solution with a separate database (so that software upgrades don’t affect it) that links the child record back into the childcare management database. There will be a service layer built using WCF that abstracts all the data access code from the front end with various interfaces to plug in different backend integration. The front end will be a rich UI built using WPF with the ability to do things like move a child from one class and to another using ‘drag and drop’. The primary technologies that the project is expected to use are: WPF, WCF, MSSQL.
Gary Chin, Newton, MA
A Sunday School Classroom Aid for the Boston Chinese Evangelical Church (http://www.bcec.net). I plan to implement a Silverlight application that would be a web application or a web part to SharePoint for the purpose of listing Sunday School students in various classrooms, provide attendance, identify potential non-attending students and possibly store classroom training material.. The primary technologies that the project is expected to use are: Silverlight 4, Expression Blend 4.0, SharePoint 2010 and possibly PowerPivot.
Congratulations to Michael and Gary. These both seem to be very useful and valuable projects. The Details about your awards will be forthcoming in email.
You will be receiving the following:
We are encouraging both Michael and Gary to host their projects on http://Codeplex.com so that other developers and non-profits can benefit from their efforts.
Consider helping a non-profit, school, or church by offering your skills. See this for more information.
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9/14/2010
Two more eligible developers and deserving projects have been selected.
Any proposals submitted but not selected this time will be reconsidered at each upcoming award cycle. (Refer to this to review the award criteria, details, and benefits.)
In no order of implied importance.
Alan Minner, Camp Verde, Arizona
Verde Valley Robotics is an organization in central Arizona working with schools and youth organizations in the Verde Valley to promote STEM education through robotics programs and teams. We teach summer classes for ages 8-18 on beginning engineering and programming and develop opportunities to utilize robots as a teaching tool to create greater interest in education in rural and low income areas. We currently work with Camp Verde, CottonWood, Sedona, and Flagstaff school districts as well as NAU and Yavapai College. We have been supporting and developing Robotics Teams for LEGO League, and FIRST Robotics. This project will be to create a multi user remote control system for LEGO MindStorm Robots linking multiple PCs and robots with Teacher Control. The primary technologies that the project is expected to use are: C#, C++, Windows 7, Server2003, PHP, SQLserver, and Javascript.
Thomas Burl, Plattsburgh, NY
The Office of Field Experience (OFE) of Plattsburg State University is using an Access based information system to manage student teaching assignments. This system allows them to produce reports that enhance their decision making process and allow them to quickly locate information about students, schools, and participating teachers. This project will migrate the system to a Client-Server Architecture using ASP.NET and SQL2008, enhancing efficiency and increasing productivity. The migration will also allow for a design review as new requirements have been introduced that are not supported on the existing system. The web interface using ASP.NET would allow the system to be access by more users. This project will allow me to update my skill sets in SQL and ASP.NET. The primary technologies that the project is expected to use are: Server 2008, SQL 2008, LDAP, IIS, and ASP.NET.
Congratulations to Alan and Thomas. These both seem to be very useful and valuable projects. The Details about your awards will be forthcoming in email.
You will be receiving the following:
We are encouraging both Alan and Thomas to host their projects on http://Codeplex.com so that other developers and non-profits can benefit from their efforts.
Consider helping a non-profit, school, or church by offering your skills. See this for more information.
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A couple of months ago, many Microsoft MVPs received Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate MSDN subscriptions (retail value: ~$12,000) to distribute as we saw fit. I started Project Phoenix, encouraging unemployed or underemployed developers to engage with a non-profit to propose a software solution to a problem for the non-profit. I contacted a few vendors, asking them to supplement the MSDN subscription with additional items, such as books, training, and tools. Soon, other MVPs joined with me to broaden the reach and scope of the project. We are now giving out a package of software, books, training, and tools, valued at over $15,000 EVERY WEEK for the remainder of the year to eligible developers in the USA and Canada. So far, several excellent projects have been proposed to solve problems for non-profits, schools and churches. Proposals selected for awards can be viewed here.
I have been humbled by the amount of incredible and wonderful interest in this project, far more than I ever anticipated. See full details about Project Phoenix here.
Now I am happy to announce that a similar project is being established to support developers and non-profits in Australia and New Zealand. MVP Rod Colledge, joined by MVP Greg Low, and no doubt, soon to be joined by other MVPs and vendors, are establishing an ANZ edition of Project Phoenix to serve the Australia and New Zealand region.
Please help spread the word about this project to unemployed developers and non-profits in Australia and New Zealand. Details are available here.
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Two more eligible developers and deserving projects have been selected.
Any proposals submitted but not selected this time will be reconsidered at each upcoming award cycle. (Refer to this to review the award criteria, details, and benefits.)
In no order of implied importance.
Carol-Lee Tutch, Hillsboro, OR
SOLV is a non-profit organization that brings together individual vounteers, service and conservation groups, businesses and government agencies in activities to restore our natural spaces and provide educational opportunities to encourage environmental stewardship. SOLV annually provides resources to more than 250 Oregon communities, focusing on cleanup, native planting, invasive plant removal and environmental maintenance projects. SOLV creates an average of 50,000 volunteer opportunities across the state. This project will modernize the SOLV Enterprise applications and data stores from Access/DAO to WPF, EF, and SQL Server 2008. The primary technologies that the project is expected to use are: WPF, Entity Framework, LINQ, T-SQL, and SQL Server Reporting Services. In addition, Carol-Lee will be making a large personal investment in moving from VB/Oracle technologies to .NET/SQL Server.
Alex Limpin, Maple Ridge, BC, Canada
At St Patrick's School, in Maple Ridge, BC, our aim is to provide an atmosphere wehre the whole person is promoted. In the educational process, we encourage good character, academic achievement and citizenship. This project, the St Patrick's School Management System, will allow the school to better manage its business processes and student records. The primary technologies that the project is expected to use are: .NET, SQL Server 2008, and Sharepoint..
Congratulations to Carol-Lee and Alex. These both seem to be very useful and valuable projects. The Details about your awards will be forthcoming in email.
You will be receiving the following:
We are encouraging both Carol-Lee and Alex to host their projects on http://Codeplex.com so that other developers and non-profits can benefit from their efforts.
Consider helping a non-profit, school, or church by offering your skills. See this for more information.
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Two more eligible developers and deserving projects have been selected.
Any proposals submitted but not selected this time will be reconsidered at each upcoming award cycle. (Refer to this to review the award criteria, details, and benefits.)
In no order of implied importance.
Nick Portelli, East Lansing, MI
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Lancaster County Pennsylvania offers children opportunities for professionally supported one-to-one mentoring relationships with qualified volunteers. Each relationship will assist the Little Brother or Sister to become a confident, competent and caring individual. This project will upgrade the current website and include event registration and payments. The project will primarily use ASP.NET, MVC 2, JavaScript, Linq, and SQL.
Albert Rugel, Brooklyn, NY
Feed My Sheep in Waconia, Minnesota, has been serving a weekly meal every Wednesday night for the past five years. Feed My Sheep’s motto is, “Spreading a table in the presence of communities hungering for someone to know their name and that they matter.” Feed My Sheep provides an opportunity for human connection and community. This project will provide a website to post general information, a signup calendar for volunteer's who will be serving each month, list of special events, photos, map and location information, and PayPal link for donations. The primary technologies that the project is expected to use are: ADO.NET Entity Data Model, AJAX, C#, Silverlight 4.0, Bing Map, SQL Server 2008, and Blend 4.
Congratulations to Nick and Albert. These projects are especially heart-warming because of the fragility of the communities both non-profits work hard to support. Details about your awards will be forthcoming in email.
You will be receiving the following:
We are encouraging both Nick and Albert to host their projects on http://Codeplex.com so that other developers and non-profits can benefit from their efforts.
Consider helping a non-profit, school, or church by offering your skills. See this for more information.
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The first two developers and projects have been selected –and there were some tough choices. However, those projects not selected this time will be reconsidered at each upcoming award cycle. (Refer to this to review the award benefits.)
In no order of implied importance.
Ayaz Bashir, Bayonne, NJ
A website upgrade including a robust content management system that would help Mosques conduct their daily and weekly activities, including a WP7 phone app that would automatically adjust for the constant changing time for the five times a day call for prayers, and alert the user fifteen minutes prior to prayers. This will be a Codeplex project and offered to all Mosques. The project will primarily use Expression Blend, WPF, Silverlight, and JQuery.
Darren Tebo, Millcreek, PA
A website upgrade that will include an attendance calendar, a news ticker complete with an RSS feed for current church events, a donation form, prayer request system, and a forum system where church members can have religious discussions and other discussions about everyday life. The proposed upgrades should increase utilization because they will permit church members and church administrators to better keep track of the people and events that they care about. There may be an integrated Bible Verse of the Day feature that will output an RSS feed so that members can easily complete bible studies based on the verses. The project will primarily use Silverlight 4, ASP .NET, and SQL. (We are encouraging Darren to also offer this as a Codeplex project.)
Congratulations to Darren and Ayaz. Details about your awards will be forthcoming in email. We are excited about these projects since they have the potential to be used by many sites to help a large number of folks.
You will be receiving the following:
Consider helping a non-profit, school, or church by offering your skills. See this for more information.
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Project Phoenix expands to include Australia and New Zealand, more here.
NOTE: At least one developer and project will be selected every week for the remainder of 2010. View the Awards to date here.
Like the Phoenix rising from the ashes, over the next five months, twenty-four (24) unemployed or underemployed developers will be selected because of their non-profit project proposals. One eligible developer and deserving non-profit project will be selected each week to receive a valuable package of excellent software, development tools, training, and books. We are now calling this ‘Project Phoenix’ to celebrate these developers rising from the ashes of disrupted careers.
To recap, we are inviting unemployed or underemployed developers to propose a software project for a non-profit agency, school, or church. The idea is that we will provide a package of the latest software, tools, and training resources to help you improve your skills, get up to date with current technologies, gain practical experience, potentially earn a recommendation for your efforts, and in general, enjoy the feeling of accomplishing something useful for others. We are not giving out a ‘free lunch’, just supporting your efforts to personally gain from your own ‘sweat equity’. The award packages are provided with the support and generosity of the Microsoft MVP’s and vendors listed below.
Project Criteria:
- Client is a USA IRS 503(c)3 non-profit, school, or church, OR a Canadian CRA registered charity,
- Solves a problem or satisfies a need for the client,
- Client desires the project and is supportive,
- Uses any combination of .NET 4.0, Windows Server 2008, SQL Server 2008, or Windows Phone 7,
- May be a new software solution, or an upgrade to an existing software solution,
- Additional consideration given projects that will be posted on Codeplex with a GPL license.
All 24 selected developers will receive the following award benefits:
- Microsoft: Visual Studio Ultimate with MDSN subscription ($11,899 value),
- Pluralsight: three (3) month Standard subscription to On-Demand!™ .NET Training Library ($297 value),
- APress: three books(3) of the winner's choice ($150 value),
- O'Reilly Press: three (3) eBooks of the winner's choice($120 value),
- ComponentOne: license for Studio Enterprise components and tools ($1,300 value),
- Microsoft Learning: Vouchers for two (2) Certification Exams with Second Shot ($250 value),
- Quest Software: license for Toad® for SQL Server ($595 value),
- BillP Studios: license for WinPatrol's Host-based Intrusion Prevention System(HIPS),
- Infragistics: licenses for NetAdvantage for .NET, NetAdvantage for Silverlight Data Visualization, NetAdvantage for WPF Data, AND QuincePro.
A few of the selected projects will also be awarded one or more of the following:
A few additional eligible projects may be selected and provided with one or more of the following:
Award timelines:
The Awards for the first two projects were announced here on Aug 3, 2010.
Every two weeks for the remainder of 2010, two (2) additional developers and projects will be selected. Once your proposal is submitted, it will be kept in the queue for consideration. The earlier you proposal is submitted, the more opportunities for selection. If your project is selected, you will be asked to affirm that you still have time, interest and dedication to take on the project.
You may view all Project Phoenix awards here.
Projects Available:
If you are unable to locate a suitable project, you may be interested in one of these projects submitted by qualified agencies.
Feed My Sheep
We are a community feeding program, that originally started as a 3 month summer project, one night a week we would provide a free meal for anyone who wanted to attend. We are in desperate need of a website in which we could post updates, have a calendar of volunteers and groups that will be serving each month and list special events. (This project has been accepted by a developer.)
Our Oregon
Development of a mobile app that would allow Oregonians to upload info about foreclosed homes in their neighborhood. We're a non-profit that does advocacy work for policies that advance economic fairness, and one area we focus on is getting better legislation around foreclosures. We think that a mobile app accompanying it could be groundbreaking.
If you would like more information about these projects, please use the email link on the above right of this page.
An eligible developer may submit project proposal information here.
An eligible non-profit may submit a project proposal here. These will be posted here so that developers may choose to consider the project. A developer considering your project will contact you directly.
Supporting Microsoft MVPs:
- Glenn Berry, Denver, CO
- Aaron Bertrand, Providence, RI
- Colin Bowern, Toronto, ON, Canada
- Denny Cherry, Los Angeles, CA
- John Paul Cook, Houston, TX
- Louis Davidson, Nashville, TN
- Kalen Delaney, Poulsbo, WA
- Dan English, Minneapolis, MN
- Barry Gervin, Toronto, ON, Canada
- Bill Graziano, Kansas City, MO
- Larry Guger, Portland, OR
- Richard Hundhausen, Boise, ID
- Jonathan Kehayias, Tampa, FL
- Arian Kulp, Portland, OR
- Douglas McDowell , Rising Sun, MD
- Ted Malone, Colorado Springs, CO
- Mladen Prajdic, Ljubljana, Slovenia
- Bill Pytlovany, Scotia, NY
- Plamen Ratchev, Jacksonville, FL
- Sankar Reddy, San Ramon, CA
- Arnie Rowland, Portland, OR
- Rafael Salas, Charolette, NC
- Bill Simser, Alberta, AB, Canada
- Mike Smith, Cincinnati, OH
- Steve St Jean, Providence, RI
- Jason Strate, Minneapolis, MN
- Chris Tacke, Dyer, IN
- Paul Turley, Portland, OR
- Michael Washington, Los Angeles, CA
For more background on this project, read this post, and this one.
As this project matures in coming weeks, any additional supporters, vendors, benefits, or criteria will be posted on this page. Set a bookmark to easily return.
See the latest awards here.
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WOW!
A couple of weeks ago, I announced that I would be offering a few MSDN Ultimate subscriptions to unemployed or under-employed developers to help them improve and update their skills in consideration for doing social good by helping out a non-profit of their choice.
I didn't anticipate the level of resonance this has received in the development community. MVPs - both friends and friends-to-be contacted me and asked to join the project. I decided to expand beyond just the MSDN Ultimate subscription and ask a few carefully selected vendors to join the project. Everyone I approached was eager to join in and help in any way they could. And the project just kept growing in scope and excitement. The project has been discussed in a Channel 9 PING webcast, mentioned in an MSDN Flash newsletter, and has received extensive mention in blogs and twitter.
I'm struggling to adequately express my appreciation and joy to those listed below. If you know any of these folks, and agree with the concept of the project, take a moment and let them know that their contributions are a good thing.
MIcrosoft MVPs:
- Glenn Berry, Denver, CO
- Aaron Bertrand, Providence, RI
- Colin Bowern, Toronto, ON, Canada
- Denny Cherry, Los Angeles, CA
- John Paul Cook, Houston, TX
- Louis Davidson, Nashville, TN
- Kalen Delaney, Poulsbo, WA
- Dan English, Minneapolis, MN
- Barry Gervin, Toronto, ON, Canada
- Bill Graziano, Kansas City, MO
- Larry Guger, Portland, OR
- Richard Hundhausen, Boise, ID
- Jonathan Kehayias, Tampa, FL
- Arian Kulp, Portland, OR
- Douglas McDowell , Rising Sun, MD
- Ted Malone, Colorado Springs, CO
- Mladen Prajdic, Ljubljana, Slovenia
- Bill Pytlovany, Scotia, NY
- Plamen Ratchev, Jacksonville, FL
- Sankar Reddy, San Ramon, CA
- Arnie Rowland, Portland, OR
- Rafael Salas, Charolette, NC
- Bill Simser, Alberta, AB, Canada
- Mike Smith, Cincinnati, OH
- Steve St Jean, Providence, RI
- Jason Strate, Minneapolis, MN
- Chris Tacke, Dyer, IN
- Paul Turley, Portland, OR
- Michael Washington, Los Angeles, CA
I'm truly humbled to be in working in association with such generous, caring, and concerned people. These folks set a high standard for MVP community involvement.
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07/30/2010 UPDATE: Lastest News about the project is here.
UPDATE: Additional Microsoft MVPs have joined the project and we will now be selecting at least two (2) now three (3) qualifying projects each month. The selected first tier project will have the package listed below. The package for the selected second tier project is still being worked out -but will contain at least a MSDN Ultimate Subscription.
In a previous blog entry, I discussed making a package of software, tools, training, and books available to unemployed and underemployed software developers. You may review that post here.
Through the generosity of the following participating MVPs, as well as the listed Sponsors below, we will be offering this excellent package of software, tools, training, and books each month for the remainder of 2010 for a project submitted prior to the selection date.
- Glenn Berry, Denver, CO
- Colin Bowern, Toronto, ON, Canada
- Denny Cherry, Los Angeles, CA
- Louis Davidson, Nashville, TN
- Kalen Delaney, Poulsbo, WA
- Dan English, Minneapolis, MN
- Barry Gervin, Toronto, ON, Canada
- Bill Graziano, Kansas City, MO
- Larry Guger, Portland, OR
- Richard Hundhausen, Boise, ID
- Arian Kulp, Portland, OR
- Ted Malone, Colorado Springs, CO
- Sankar Reddy, San Ramon, CA
- Arnie Rowland, Portland, OR
- Bill Simser, Alberta, AB, Canada
- Steve St Jean, Providence, RI
- Jason Strate, Minneapolis, MN
- Chris Tacke, Dyer, IN
- Paul Turley, Portland, OR
- Michael Washington, Los Angeles, CA
To recap, we are inviting unemployed or underemployed developers to propose a software project for a non-profit agency, school, or church. The idea is that we will provide a package of the latest software, tools, and training resources to help you improve your skills, get up to date with current technologies, gain practical experience, potentially earn a recommendation for your efforts, and in general, enjoy the feeling of accomplishing something useful for others. We are not giving out a ‘free lunch’, just supporting your efforts to personally gain from your own ‘sweat equity’.
Project Criteria:
- Client is a USA IRS 503(c)3 non-profit, school, or church, OR a Canadian CRA registered charity
- Solves a problem or satisfies a need for the client
- Client desires the project and is supportive
- Uses any combination of .NET 4.0, Windows Server 2008, SQL Server 2008, or Windows Phone 7
- May be a new software solution, or an upgrade to an existing software solution.
Awarded for the Selected Projects:
Additional Sponsors:
· InnerWorkings: Enterprise subscription to the .NET training library
(These additional product offers will be available in the second tier packages. Second tier packages may not all contain the same products –but each month’s package will be specified in advance.)
An eligible developer may submit project proposal information here.
NEW: An eligible non-profit may submit a project proposal here. These will be posted so that developers may choose to consider the project.
Entries will carry forward, if your project is not selected one month, it may be selected the following month. We recognize that situations will change, so upon selection, you will be asked to verify that you are still unemployed and continue to have the time and dedication to complete the project.
IF you are excited about, and choose to complete the project prior to selection, and you are subsequently selected, you will still receive the package as outlined above.
The July selection will occur on July 30, the selected developer and project will be posted here.
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07/30/2010 UPDATE: Lastest News about the project is here.
NEW: Project Criteria and Submission Here
I was again awarded the ‘Most Valuable Professional’ (MVP) designation from Microsoft for my community activities, especially for my contributions with the SQL Server and .NET communities. One of the benefits of being a MVP is that on occasion, a special opportunity is made available by Microsoft.
This year, I have been provided with a few subscriptions for MSDN Ultimate to give out as I see fit. For those unaware, a MSDN Ultimate subscription allows the subscriber to download and own full featured versions of Visual Studio Ultimate, as well as most any Microsoft software. The license is for development use, and is not transferable. And it has a retail value of approximately $12,000.
A couple of years ago, when I had a similar opportunity, I struggled with what to do. It seemed too much to just hand out to friends. I asked myself why I would give someone $12,000 if they were not deserving or contributing anything in return. I then considered offering the subscriptions as raffle items at user group meetings. But that caused me some concern, for there would be no certainty that the winner would value the product or put it to good use. Or perhaps the winner would be inclined to attempt to sell or barter the subscription. (I had on a previous occasion been contacted by the winner of a similar product who had no use for it and was attempting to get some value from the prize.) That would not coincide with what I considered in the interest of the larger software development community. And I just didn’t like the possibility of knowing that such a valuable ‘gift’ would be not be put to societal gain.
So, I gave out the subscriptions to folks that committed to volunteering at least 100 hours to develop software projects for several non-profits. On one project, there were excellent benefits from a group of folks learning to work together as a distributed development team. We all learned quite a bit. Other non-profits gained excellent software at no cost.
This year, I will be seeking proposals from unemployed (or under-employed) developers that would use the tools to improve their skills with .NET, SQL Server, and Windows 7 Phone. The proposals should be for a project for a non-profit -either a new project or an upgrade to an existing project. In addition to the Microsoft MDSN Ultimate subscription, Pluralsight will provide a three month subscription to the training content available in their On-Demand!™ .NET Training Library, O'Reilly Press will provide three (3) books of the winner's choice, APress will provide three books(3) of the winner's choice, ComponentOne will provide Studio Enterprise components and tools, DevExpress will provide a one year subscription for DXperience Enterprise w/CodeRush, RedGate will provide a license for ANTS Performance Profiler, and Quest Software will provide a a license for Toad® for SQL Server.
The idea is to provide the recipient access to all of the tools needed to improve his/her skills, an opportunity to gain practical experience, the potential to earn a recommendation and/or referral –and to positively contribute to society as a form of 'give-back'. No free lunch, just sweat equity –the kind that makes us all feel good for the effort.
I have been joined by a few other MVPs to extend this offer, so we will be selecting at least one recipient and project each month for the rest of this year. Participating MVPs:
Arnie Rowland
Arian Kulp
Denny Cherry
Larry Guger
Michael Washington
Full details how to qualify for consideration will be posted here on July 12th. Start thinking about how you might find a qualifying project, or if you know of someone that could benefit from consideration.
Stay tuned…
Project Criteria and Submission Here
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"The world's favorite season is the spring.
All things seem possible in May."
- Edwin Way Teale
This spring, the Portland, Oregon, development community is coming together in a way never experienced before.
Using the University of Portland campus, SQL Saturday and Portland CodeCamp are combining and coordinating efforts to bring 700-800 regional technology professionals together for the opportunity to immerse themselves in seminars, presentations, group exploration, and networking -using both the 'professional conference' and the 'unconference' models. Participants will be able to engage in their preferred technology, as well as to 'sample' other options
Mark your calendar! Portland SQL Saturday and Code Camp 2010 is scheduled for May 22, 2010, at the University of Portland campus. The event is scheduled from 8:00 AM until 10:00 PM. The UP facility offers a great venue –including larger, fully equipped (and air conditioned) meeting rooms, excellent parking, access to public transportation, and easy bike commuting. Admittance to this event is free, all costs are covered by donations and sponsorships. Please register soon as seating is limited, and let friends and colleages know about the event.
Register here to attend.
Portland SQLSaturday is encouraging presentations related to interoperability of any of the SQL platforms, including T-SQL (SQL Server), PostgreSQL, MySQL, and PL-SQL. Abstracts for Platform specific sessions are also encouraged. Most sessions are one hour fifteen minutes (1:15), and a few 'deep dive' sessions will be longer (2.5 hour) in duration. The 'deep dive' sessions will be scheduled for 7:00 PM (after the snacks and refreshments.) Also, through out the day, there may be opportunities for 30 minute sessions. (Be sure to indicate your preferred session length.) Remember, in addition to folks working with a specific SQL platform, there will be a large number of developers seeking information about using one or more SQL variants to create solutions to their problems, as well as needing to work with multiple SQL platforms.
Consider adding your presentation abstract here.
If you are in the Pacific Northwest in May, don't miss this event!
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Database Design. Sounds simple, and at the same time, demanding.
I mean, what's to design. You just need a few tables to hold the data for the application you are creating. You just can't really take the time to design -the entire project is agile and under continuous evolution.
Or, you are trying to support a database that someone else allegedly 'designed'. Yes, you know it is bad, held together with more of a wish than a demand. Yes, you would just love to take the time and 'do it right' -but let's get real, it's impossible. Too many moving parts, too many applications, too many folks depend on what is there right now. No way can you make 'design' changes.
Help is now available in the form of a new Forum on the MSDN and TechNet Forums sites. The Database Design Forum is moderated by a group of MVPs from around the world. They have a lot of experience with database designs -good and not so good. Heck, even some of them have written books on the subject.
Sure there are other forums and newsgroups where you can get help, where you can ask questions, where you can seek 'work-a-rounds'. At the MSDN/TechNet Database Design Forum, you can ask the questions no one wants to hear, you can challenge the 'conventional wisdom' of database designers, and you can propose your design and ask folks to help you see if there are any flaws. At the MSDN/TechNet Database Design Forum you will not be berated, belittled, demeaned, or in any way dismissed just because you are diligently working to do something different, or support someone else's mistake.
At the same time though, expect to be asked difficult questions, expect to explain and educate about your design decisions, expect to have your thoughts challenged. For it is through rigorous examination that your designs and your skills will improve. And everyone participating will learn from the process.
MSDN or TechNet -your choice.
Give it a try and let me know what you think...
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