Participating in 3 SQL events in 8 days

AaronBertrand — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 15:08:00 GMT

Well, 8 days not including lead and lag travel time. A quick summary of the three events, and the flights it took to get me to each:

SQL Saturday #105 - Dublin, Ireland

Flights on March 21st:

Providence -> Philadelphia (236 miles)
Philadelphia -> Dublin (3,260 miles)

Time zone change: +4 when we got there, plus Daylight Saving Time kicked in, so +5 after the event.

I spoke at this event, and manned the SQL Sentry booth with cohort Scott Fallen. This event was a fantastic SQL Saturday - very well organized, a quite unique speaker dinner (on a boat that went up and down a canal, through several old-fashioned locks), and I had my speaker feedback before I even returned home:

We also had the Sunday free, where we rented a car, drove on the wrong side of the road (and the wrong side of the car), and visited the western coast - most importantly, the Cliffs of Moher:

I hope we get an opportunity to sponsor and attend future events in Ireland.

SQL Connections - Las Vegas, Nevada

Flights on March 26th:

Dublin -> Philadelphia (3,260 miles)
Philadelphia -> Las Vegas (2,170 miles)

Time zone change: -8

I presented two sessions in the SQL Server track: "T-SQL : Bad Habits to Kick" and "What's New in SQL Server 2012." These two sessions are getting a little old, but both seem to continue to be well-attended and appreciated. As a company we really enjoy this conference because we get a lot of different folks at the booth - developers, general admin folks, even some SharePoint people. We also really like hanging out after hours with the SQLSkills folks and other friends in the industry.

SQL Bits - London, England

Flights on March 29th:

Las Vegas -> Charlotte (1,910 miles)
Charlotte -> London Gatwick (4,000 miles)

Time zone change: +8

Bits is always fun - those guys do a bang-up job organizing this conference and we always find it very valuable as a company. I didn't speak at this event because I was a last-minute addition to the company roster - I had already committed to Connections, which overlapped with part of this conference. I did make it there for both the Friday pub event and the entire Saturday day session. This was the only leg on this entire journey where I felt any sort of jet lag whatsoever - I took a 2-hour nap on Friday afternoon. Greg (@sqlsensei) ran a half at Reading to benefit children with cancer, and set a personal record by finishing in about 1:49.

On this leg of my journey I also did the unthinkable - I forgot my iPhone in the seat back pocket when I deplaned at Gatwick. And the US Airways staff there was far less than helpful. They told me they had checked my seat multiple times (during the five hours it sat at the gate) and found no trace of my phone, however the passenger in my seat on the return flight to Charlotte later that day e-mailed me from my phone and told me he would drop it in the mail. So this in a way restored my faith in humanity, in spite of being completely frustrated with the ground crew at the airport.

And then...

...I had to get back home. Flights on April 3rd:

London Heathrow -> Philadelphia (3,530 miles)
Philadelphia -> Providence (236 miles)

Time zone change: +5

All in all it was a great trip. A little stress on Friday with my phone, but US Airways made up for it yesterday, and I hope to see the phone in my mailbox today. Total mileage (not including preferred bonuses and Nicole's miles): 18,602. Net time zone changes: 26. Value: priceless. Thanks to all the organizers of these great events.

A (Late) Meme Monday Post: On SQLFamily

Argenis — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 22:42:26 GMT

Yesterday a member of the SQL community who I deeply admire sent me a DM on Twitter asking whether I had done a SQLFamily post for Thomas LaRock’s (blog|@SQLRockstar) Meme Monday for November. I replied that I did not, and I regretted not having done so. A subtle DM followed my response: “Get on it, you have all week”. And indeed I must. So here’s an attempt to express some of my feelings on a community that has catapulted my career like nothing else before I embraced it.

Nanos Gigantium Humeris Insidentes

I stand on the shoulders of giants. My SQLFamily has given me support at all levels. Professionally and personally. There is never a lack of will to help and provide advice to others in this community. And I do my best to help. On #SQLHelp on Twitter, via email, or even on the phone. I expect no retribution, because I know that when and if I do run into problems, my SQLFamily will be there for me.

I have met some of the most humble, dedicated and most professional people in the SQL community. And some of them have pretty big titles: MVPs, MCMs, Regional Mentors, and even leaders of PASS, SQLCAT members, and even PMs and Devs on the SQL Server team.

All are welcome, and that includes YOU!

I have also met some people that are rather reserved and don’t participate as much in the community, for whatever reason. Be as it may, let it be know to all that we are a very welcoming community – heck, some of my closest friends and people I can count on in the community have completely opposite political views. We share one goal: to get better and help others get better.

Even if you are a lurker – my hope is that one day you’ll decide to give back some of what you have learned.

You have to take it to the next level

On one of my previous jobs as an IT Supervisor I used to tell my team all the time about the benefits of continuous education and self-driven learning. Shortly after I left that job, the company went bankrupt and some of my staff got laid off – some without any severance pay whatsoever. I eventually found out that some of them had a really hard time finding another job, because their skills were simply outdated. They had become stale professionals. Don’t be one of them.

If you don’t take advantage of these learning resources, somebody else will – and that person has an advantage over you when applying for that awesome job position that got opened. There’s a severe shortage of good DBAs and DB Devs out there. What’s your excuse for not being excellent?

Even if your knowledge of SQL Server is at the beginner level, really – you have no excuse to get better. Just go to SQLUniversity and learn from there. Don’t get stale!

Thank You

To all of you in the SQL community who put so much time and energy into helping others, my deepest gratitude to you. I can’t wait to meet you all again at the next event and share our SQL stories over a pint of beer (or a shot of Jaeger)

Cheers!