SQL Saturday 85 for a Jr. DBA

SQL Saturday 85 is a little under 5 weeks away and it will be coming to you live in Sunny Orlando Florida on September the 24^th.  During a planning meeting my friend and the Fearless Leader of MagicPASS, Kendal Van Dyke (@SQLDBA | Blog), had suggested writing blogs aimed at a particular level of attendee.  Last week I took a swag at Why a Manager Should Care About SQL Saturday, and this week I thought we would shift gears and drop from the Manager level of the SQL Stack down to the Jr. DBA level.

“So Balls”, you say, “I’m a Jr. DBA why should I attend SQL Saturday?”

Great question Dear Reader let’s dive right in!

WHERE DO I START?

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When I was in college I went to one of my professors before I graduated and I told him I was scared.  He smiled slyly and asked me what I was scared of.  To graduate I blurted out, I told him I feel like I’m standing on the Iceberg that sank the Titanic holding a snowball. That Iceberg was all of the IT knowledge in the world, and the snowball was all that I knew.  I told him it wasn’t enough, and that I was scared of what graduation would bring.  He smiled and told me that now I was ready.

I said nothing and thanked him for his time, knowing that this was some Yoda communicating to a Young Jedi kind of moment.  However, normally the Young Jedi somehow gets the sage advice.  I didn’t, I left just as nervous and I had arrived, save for one thing.  This brilliant Professor who had run his own software company, had been out in the outside world, and was an international lecturer thought I was ready.  That helped me because either I had this guy fooled, or he saw something I hadn’t yet recognized.   I’d prefer to believe the second one, and I still feel the best is yet to come.

Everyone who is currently a DBA, accidental or otherwise, started out where you are.  We all understand some of the things you have yet to learn.  We understand and have considered ideas that you will have in a few years.  The great thing about that is the places you have to learn are Legion, and the majority cost you nothing but your time.

So if you take me back to my first SQL Saturday I remember it felt all shiny and new.  I was a kid walking into Toy’s R Us all over again, and my mind was exploding with the possibilities of just how AWESOME this would be.   Then before you know it, SQL Saturday is over, you’re at an after party with a swag bag and your mind is still reeling from the greatness of the day.  From start to finish how do you make the most of it?

PRE-CON’S

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I would suggest you start with the Pre-Con’s.  They are only $99, and that includes lunch and all the Coffee & Tea you can drink in a day.   Take a good hard look at what you business is doing and where the most growth is and plan accordingly.   At this stage in your career if you want to go the DBA path we have a great Pre-Con with Microsoft’s Buck Woody (@buckwoody | Blog ) on SQL Server Performance Tuning Using Application Analysis. Click HERE to go to Buck’s Pre-con site!

If you are curious about Business Intelligence then I would Highly Suggest going to the Pragmatic Works Business Intelligence Workshop featuring Jorge Segarra (@SQLChicken | Blog), Mike Davis (@MikeDavisSQL | Blog), Bradley Schacht (@BradleySchacht | Blog), and Kyle Walker (Blog).  Click Here to go to the Pragmatic Works Pre-Con site!

Pre-Con’s are a great way to get to know other folks that are attending as well as getting some time with the speakers as well.  There will be breaks, lunch, and plenty of other opportunity to meet people while getting some quality education from some top notch talent from the SQL Community.

THE MAIN EVENT

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So now we are here, it is SQL Saturday 85.  You’ve registered you’ve signed up for and attended the Pre-con of your choice.  Let’s get to the schedule.  The great thing is we are chocked full of DBA goodness., so let’s get straight to the selections.

Don Stevic – The Fundamentals of DBA-ism

Daniel Taylor – Useful tools for a DBA and or Database Developer

Nathan Heaivilin- Introduction to Execution Plans        

Chad Miller- Storing Powershell Output

Rob Volk- Revenge:The SQL!

Mike Davis-SQL Smackdown SSIS vs T-SQL                   

Don Stevic(@SQL_Superman | Blog) is a fabulous presenter.  This session is all about getting a good base fundamental knowledge as a DBA in the form of lessons learned from Don.  Don most recently presented at the MagicPASS, SQL Server User Group for Celebration Fl, and I had a chance to see Don in action at SQL Saturday 74 Jacksonville this year.  Don is a great guy and he uses a lot of pop-culture references to get some very technical ideas across.  To any DBA that hasn’t seen Don present, this is a MUST SEE.

Daniel Taylor (@DBABulldog | Blog) is a very good friend of mine.  It is my privilege to work with him every day.  He works hard, he’s damn smart, and I think he is quite funny.  Dan is one of those DBA’s that makes you better just by hanging around him.   He is a Sr. DBA and is extremely good at what he does and one of the great things Dan loves to do is figure out the best way to get the best answers as quick as possible.  This is a session that you should go to and soak up as much knowledge as you can.

Nathan Heaivilin is doing a presentation that I saw last year at SQL Saturday 49 in Orlando.  It was the second session of the day and it was great.  The last time Nathan gave this talk his wife and young child were sick and he had been up all night with them.  He walked in tired and apologized to the audience and gave what was still one of the top 3 sessions I’ve ever seen.  If you want to understand what an execution plan is, and how it can help you optimize your Database’s performance then go see Nathan!

Chad Miller (@cmille19|Blog) is a SQL Server MVP and a recipient of the Microsoft Community Contributor Award for 2011.  Chad Maintains the SQLPSX project on Codeplex.  If you are not familiar with Powershell or Chad then you should be.  Chad is a very impressive man, and he is covering how to store the output from a Powershell Script.  The formats you can store the output in, and how you get that output are things you need to know.  Powershell is only going to become more important as you become a more Senior DBA, so go get your Powershell on with Chad!

Rob Volk (@sql_r | Blog) is doing a Session called Revenge: The SQL!  This is all about how you can do cool things in SQL that will make the lives of your problematic users a proverbial hell.  You do not actually want to do these things as they could/will get you fired.  However T-SQL as a language has a lot of little tricks with it.  So go see a really awesome DBA teach you all the things you could do in SQL if you ever really wanted to mess with your users.

Mike Davis (@MikeDavisSQL | Blog), is closing out the show with SQL Smackdown SSIS vs T-SQL.  By this time in the day your head is spinning with all of your new SQL Knowledge.  Let’s toss in a little more by showing the sheer power of SSIS and T-SQL going head to head.  If you have never seen the this presentation you are in for a treat, Mike is an expert showman and this Session promises to launch itself off the top rope with all the power of a 450 Slam.  It should be a good old fashioned slobber knocker, T-SQL should get whipped harder than a government mule.  Come for the knowledge stay for the show, this session will be a treat!

There are 7 tracks going on so if what I pick doesn’t match what your interest is then take your choice over mine, and trust your gut.  So what are you waiting for Click HERE to Register for SQL Saturday 85 and I hope to see you there!

Thanks,

Brad

I’m A Manager Why Should I Care About SQL Saturday 85

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Hello Dear Reader SQL Saturday 85 is just 5 weeks away!  And while we were doing all of the preparations I came across a really great blog by Karla Landrum (@KarlaKay22 | Blog)  Who’s Attending Your SQL Saturdays?.    In conjunction with this I had a great conversation with Kendal Van Dyke (@SQLDBA | Blog) about writing suggestions for what to attend at a SQL Saturday.

“So Balls”, you say, “You get to pick a job to blog about and the first one you pick is Managers? Lame.”

Not so fast Dear Reader.  In most cases when you have IT management they are one of three types A. non-technical and just a manager, or B. Used to be Technical and are now a manager, and very rarely you find type C. a manager and still heavily technical.

In each case this matters because you need to have a manager onboard with learning.  Bottom line.  If your manager doesn’t want people to better themselves, run and get a new job, then you end up in a spot where people are spinning their wheels.  When your manager is supportive of training opportunities then it makes all the world in advancing your career.

So let’s start out discussing why a manager should care about SQL Saturday and then I’ll propose a schedule of what they could attend.

I’M JUST A MANAGER WHY SHOULD I CARE

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Should I have a conversation with a manager that has never heard of SQL Saturday, and let’s say they are being difficult I would assume the conversation would be something like this. 

If you are asking “Why you should care?”  I’ve got two big words for you, FREE TRAINING. 

Their next question should be “If it’s free is it any good?”  “Yes,” I would say,” it is you have people from Microsoft coming, SQL Server MVP’s, and speakers that will be at this year’s PASS Summit that others will pay thousands to see as well.”

Okay so back to the questions, They ask “If it’s so freaking good why is it FREE?”

 “Great question!”, I reply, “The answer is it is not.”

“AH HA!”, They exclaim, “There’s a catch, it’s not free, you want something from me!”

“There is, I need your time as an attendee.  And as a non-profit we have Sponsors, in some cases paying thousands of dollars, so you can have a quality experience.  We have a staff that volunteers and works really tirelessly raising sponsorship money, contracting a venue, contacting & scheduling speakers, setting up schedules, and generally spreading the word about this event.”

“So this isn’t a second rate freebie, this is organized, it has the sponsorship of a Internationally known group that is purely for the sharing, education, and networking of SQL Server Professionals.  The group PASS, The Professional Association for SQL Server.”

At this point if they should be paying attention.  Even if they don’t like you and they are not letting on that they care about this, trust me they are probably trying to figure out how to repackage this and sell it as their idea paying attention .

So Dear Manager I would say this is an event that is Free to attendees, but it is not free.  They are nationally know, and Orlando, Tampa, and South Florida is where they originated from.  So you are getting one of the most established as well.  If you have people that work for you that are SQL Server Professionals you should encourage them to attend.  I would then encourage you to have a short meeting on Monday to get everyone’s thoughts and see what you all go out of it.

SO I’M OFF TO SQL SATURDAY WHAT SHOULD I SEE

“So Balls,” you say, “You’ve sold me!  I’m off to SQL Saturday what should I see?”

First I would say go take a look at our Schedule by clicking HERE and see what we have to offer.  But here are my recommendations.

Today I want you to focus on being a Manager, and that doesn’t mean that you have to do techie Deep Dives, you can, we’ve got them if you’d like to.  But there is a lot you can learn just by still being true to the job you do every day.

Here’s the lineup

Andy Warren – Building a Professional Development Plan

Janis Griffin- Performance Management-2008 MDW- How & Why

Rob Collie- PowerPivot: BI & Massive Data Analysis for Humans

Norm Bowen- Data Conversions Steps, Tips, and Best Practices

William E. Pearson III- Becoming DAX: An Introduction…

Jorge Segarra- Policy-Based Management in a Nutshell

Andy Warren is one of the co-founders of SQLServerCentral.com, don’t know what that is?  Just ask your DBA’s.  He founded the concept of SQL Saturday’s, he is on the PASS Board of Directors.  If you where ever going to gleam insights of how to manage SQL Server DBA’s and how to encourage their career growth this is the man you would get that from.

Janis Griffin will be presenting on a topic called MDW or Management Data Warehouse.  This is a FREE, included feature if you are already paying for an Enterprise level license.   If you aren’t already paying for a 3^rd party software product to do this same task, this will help you get a better understanding of how SQL Server can be leveraged to manage itself.

Rob Collie will be talking about Power Pivot and it is a very hot topic right now.   If you aren’t using this already you will be.  If your business users aren’t already clamoring for this they will be.  Go sit in his session.

Norm Bowen is covering Best Practices for upgrades and conversions.  Something every Manager of a DBA team should be concerned about.  Go get some great tips based off of personal experience.

Bill Pearson is presenting on DAX, and it may sound funny but it is all about the language that is used in side of SQL Server Analysis Services to ask the really detailed questions.  You don’t need to be a guru, but when you are Interviewing for that BI position this could give you some good questions to ask.

Jorge Segarra co-wrote the book on Policy Based Management.  As a manager you look for quicker and easier ways to do thing.  PRESTO!  Policy Based Management.  Jorge will show you how you can literally manage hundreds of servers with this tool.  It was rolled out in SQL 2008 and every DBA should be using this.

Well Dear Reader as always Thanks Again for Reading!

Thanks,

Brad

MagicPASS This Week!

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Hello Dear Reader, it is the Time of the Month once again for MagicPASS.  This month Kendal Van Dyke (@SQLDBA | Blog ) has lined up two absolutely Awesome presentations for us.  Fresh of off a successful presentation down at SQL Saturday 79 we have Don Stevic (@SQL_Superman | Blog).

I met Don over Twitter several months ago and hit it off with him right away.  He is a great guy, and at SQL Saturday 74 up in Jacksonville I was able to see him present.  Don has a background in theater and it translates to a smooth easy style in his presenting.  He is funny, engaging, and as always very informative.  If you get a chance to stop by you are in for a treat!  Speaking of Chances if you like Don and would like to see him present again, he'll be presenting at SQL Saturday 85 in Orlando on Saturday September 24th!

So Don what do you have planned for us?

Featured Presentation

The Art of the Trace

Speaker: Don Stevic

Summary: Have you ever been asked to troubleshoot an issue and then learned it happened a few days ago, and they wanted an root cause by 5PM? Have users complained that the "Slowness" has been plaguing them all day, but by the time you are told, you can't find a bottleneck? If you have and couldn't find answers, you need Server Side Traces. In this session, I will take you through the creation of a process to setup server side trances, and how to use them to baseline and protect your servers.

About Don: Born in New Jersey, moved to South Florida in 1980 been working my way north slowly. It has taken me 30 years to get to Orlando. I have been a mild-mannered DBA for about 6 years now, and I was an accidental DBA for 4 years prior to that. I am married to a wonderful woman, with three Super kids. When Im not out saving the world one stored proc at a time, I co-own a comic book store.

Pre-Meeting Presentation

You're Not Attractive - But Your Presentations Can Be 

(Video replay from 2010 PASS Summit DVDs)

Summary:  Come hear Buck Woody (Microsoft's Real World DBA) and Brent Ozar (SQL Server Certified Master) explain how they make high scores at presentations. It's not luck, charm or (surprisingly) good looks - there are tips and tricks you can use to make your own presentations rock. With Buck and Brent in the same room it's much like Forest's Box of Chocolates, but you're sure to learn more about presentation techniques that you can extract into your own style.

I’ve listened to the Buck Woody (@buckwoody | Blog) and Brent Ozar (@BrentO | Blog) presentation several times.  If you are a presenter, or are considering starting to present this is a MUST listen to presentation, that will make you better  at what we do right away.

So head over to Stetson University in beautiful Celebration FL, and have an incredible time with two great presentations.

Hope to see you there Dear Reader!

Thanks,

Brad