Me an MVP? It Really Happened

Yes, I was named a SQL Server MVP the most recent round of awards.  I honestly can’t believe it.  It is a great honor to have been recognized for the things I’ve done in the SQL Server community.  This isn’t the reason I participate, but it is exciting to have been recognized for my contributions.

I’d love to mention everyone who helped me get to this point, but there are too many to list and I know I’d leave someone out, but there is one person I have to thank specifically because I’d never have gotten involved were it not for Andy Warren (Blog | Twitter).  I probably wouldn’t have met all the rest of you without his encouragement.

I met Andy at the first SQLSaturday pre-con (Joe Celko) in 2007.  I don’t know what he saw in me back then, but he took me under his wing and encouraged me to get involved by blogging, speaking, and becoming a leader in the local community, then regionally and even nationally through PASS.  I really don’t think I’ve done anything exceptionally well, but I have been willing to volunteer and whatever I know about SQL Server I’m willing to share.

SQL Server does have a true community.  You can see it on Twitter where we are able to share personal as well as technical problems.  The SQL Server community is full of people who want to help and there are a lot more MVP’s out there that have not been officially recognized.

Have You Heard? You Can Get a Mentor

Steve Jones and Andy Warren are at it again.  The founders of SQLServerCentral, SQLShare, and SQLSaturday have started a new program, The Mentoring Experiment, to try to match professionals (SQL Server only to start), with a more experienced professional as a mentor.  One of their goals is to learn more about what makes a mentoring relationship work so that they mentor others to become better mentors.

I can’t think of more qualified people to do something like this.  Both Steve and Andy have been mentors to many people in the SQL Server community, myself included, so they have experience and a real desire to see others grow.  I don’t know who Andy and Steve have selected to be the mentors, but I’m sure that they have selected people who have been successful, and have the desire and ability to see others succeed as well.

My recent reading has included several books on leadership and mentoring so I’m very interested in seeing how this experiment works.

If you are a SQL Server professional who would like to see your career grow I highly recommend visiting thementoringexperiment.org and applying.  You only have until April 30th to get your application in.  Were I not in the midst of a job search and move, I’d apply myself, but I can’t put the time in to be a proper mentee.

Time’s Makin’ Changes

Some History

Almost exactly 7 years I ago my wife and I decided to apply to be missionaries with New Tribes Mission.  We decided at that time to pursue what NTM calls Associate missionaries which allowed us to serve with NTM for 1-4 years.  In May of 2004 our applications were accepted and we began the road to service with NTM at the US Headquarters in Sanford, FL.  Because NTM is a faith-based, non-profit organization our journey began by contacting and visiting churches in New England to raise the prayer and financial support that we would need to serve with NTM.  We finally made it to the point where we could move to Sanford in June 2007 and I started my ministry with NTM July 2nd.  All that to say that our commitment with NTM is ending this summer.  We did have the option of continuing on, but we have chosen not to pursue that option.

So What’s that Mean?

I’m looking for work starting in July of this year.  My preference is to work in northern New England (New Hampshire or southern/central Maine) or central Florida (Orlando area).  So, if you hear of anything feel free to contact me.

What Else Has Changed?

I’ve learned that I’m quite a different person than when I moved to Florida.  I’ve grown spiritually, personally, and professionally.  I’ll keep this post about some professional growth.  When I moved to Florida and began serving with NTM, I thought I knew a lot about SQL Server, but then I met Andy Warren (Blog|Twitter) and became involved in the SQL Server community.  My community involvement hasn’t just led to more knowledge about SQL Server, but also about community, communication, and leadership.  I hope and pray that this next change leads to even more growth. 

Speaking at SQLSaturday #62–Tampa

I’ll be speaking at SQLSaturday #62 – Tampa this Saturday, January 15th.  I’ll be presenting:

Why I Use Stored Procedures

With the proliferation of ORM tools like Entity Framework, nHibernate, and Linq to SQL, many projects have decided that stored procedures are not needed and slow down development. While these tools have their place and have improved greatly, stored procedures still have their place, and, in this speaker's opinion, are the best way to do data access. In this session I'll discuss my reasons for using stored procedures and hopefully stimulate some discussion of other access methods.

Session Level: Intermediate

Every SQLSaturday is a great time and great opportunity to upgrade your skills and network!  Pam Shaw and crew have done a few of these so they know what they are  doing.

I’ll also be attending Denny Cherry’s (Blog|Twitter) Day of Data seminar on Storage and Virtualization for the DBA on Friday, January 14, 2011.  You can still register and get by 2 get one free deal.

Hope to see you this weekend!

Reviewing My 2010 Goals

You can go over my goals here.  I’ve really hesitated to do this post because, in my opinion, I did so poorly.  Here’s what I did:

Community

1. Write 1 article per quarter for SQLServerCentral. – Fail.  I don’t think I wrote one article this year.  Sorry, Steve.
2. Submit 1 video per quarter to SQLShare  - Fail.  I think I did one last January.  Sorry, Andy.
3. Grow OPASS from 15-20 attendees to 25+ per meeting – Fail.  We tried several new things including Live Meeting and meeting monthly instead of every other month, but we never really got any traction for growth.  With some new help, Karla and Rodney Landrum, in town we’ll be trying again this year.  There will be a blog post coming about OPASS changes for 2011.
4. Speak at 4 events this year (user groups, SQLSaturday’s, PASS Summit?) – SUCCESS. I spoke at SQLSaturday #32 – Tampa, SQLSaturday #41 – Atlanta, Seacost SQL Server Users Group on June 8th, SQL Server Society of Las Vegas on July 8th (Remote), SQLSaturday #40 – South Florida, Space Coast User Group on September 9th, SQLSaturday #52 – Colorado, and SQLSaturday #49 – Orlando.  I definitely made that goal with room to spare.  I really enjoy speaking and eventually would like to make it up to a national conference like the PASS Summit.
5. Present for 1 PASS Virtual Chapter – SUCCESS. I presented for the DBA Virtual Chapter in July.

Professional Development

1. 2 blog posts per week with at least 3 scheduled. - Close.  I had 98 posts in 2010 (not counting this one).  I did really well until November, although I never got a consistent set of 3 scheduled.  Most of the year I had none scheduled.
2. Read 2 technical and 2 professional development books. -   SUCCESS.  I read the MVP Deep Dives book and MCTS Self-Pace Training Kit (Exam 70-432): Microsoft SQL Server 2008-Implementation and Maintenance.  For Professional Development I read: Tribes, Crunch Time: 8 Steps to Making the Right Life Decisions at the Right Times, and Visioneering.
3. Get MCITP: Database Administrator 2008.  - SUCCESS.  I passed both tests on the first try with good scores.  You can see my thoughts on this process here and here.

Technical (Can I skip this one?)

1. Develop an application (C# or PowerShell) to automate testing of backups. – Fail. I never even worked on this one.  I’d still like to do it, but can’t seem to get a test environment setup at home. 
2. Learn how to and do a page restore. - Fail. Haven’t had to do it in real life and probably never will, so little motivation
3. Develop an application (C#) that uses SQL Compact Edition for offline access and uses SQL Azure for storage. – Fail. I actually started this one, but couldn’t find good documentation on how to sync an existing compact database to Azure.  I’d still like to do this one.

Personal

1. Lose 25 lbs. – Fail.  I hadn’t done anything until I ended up in the hospital with a heart scare (false alarm) just before Thanksgiving.  Since then I’ve made lifestyle changes and lost 15+ lbs and I’d like to lost about another 15.
2. Play my bass guitar 10 minutes a day to finish the book my wife got for me. – Fail.  Did well on and off on this one.  I definitely see improvement when I do this, but life gets in the way too easily.
3. Study my Bible every day. - Fail.  I definitely did better than ever before, but I didn’t even read my Bible every day, much less study it.  I did do some study every week.

Not a great year for meeting my goals.  No excuses, I didn’t get it done this year.  Here’s hoping for a more productive 2011, at least as far as goals go.

Worn Out and Maybe Burned Out

Ever feel worn out and/or burned out?  Don’t worry you aren’t alone.  As a matter of fact most people have this happen to them and I have it happening right now.  I even started a this thread on SQLServerCentral to get some advice about it.  This is why my blogging has been limited recently, I just don’t want to be on my computer once I get home from work.  I’ve basically been just keeping up with email via my phone. 

So what started it?

Really, I can’t point to one thing that started it, but I can say that between some bad lifestyle choices and a confluence of life events probably led to it. 

First the bad lifestyle choices:

1. Bad diet.  I was munching on junk food all the time, particularly at night, the worst time to do that.
2. No exercise.  I used to at least play basketball on a regular basis, but I let that fall off and never replaced it with anything.
3. Not enough sleep.  I wasn’t doing anything, but I wasn’t sleeping well either.

Now the life events:

1. Potential work change.  I don’t know if I’m mentioned this before, but my current position at New Tribes Mission is a 4 year commitment that ends at the end of June 2011.  I know it seems far away but my wife and I believe we need to make a decision by the end of January so both NTM and we can make the necessary plans.  You can read more about this on our ministry blog here & here.  This could also lead to a change in fields.  I still enjoy working with SQL Server and doing development work, but not like I used to when I‘d dream in code.
2. Alice’s Dad, my father-in-law, being diagnosed and having surgery for stomach cancer, subsequently entering a nursing home, and being told he is terminal.  You can follow this here.
3. Our middle child, Evan (9), breaking his left arm at school, a “nasty” break according to the orthopedic surgeon.  He required a plate and 6 screws.
4. Semi-crunch time on the never ending project at the office.

All this led to my ending up in the ER the Sunday before Thanksgiving because I had chest pains.  I ended up spending the night in the hospital for observation.  Praise the Lord, I hadn’t had a heart attack, but I am dealing with some kind of digestive issue still to be determined and high cholesterol. 

So how do I get out of it?

Well, oddly enough I started coming out of it the week before I ended up in the hospital.  I spoke with my boss about the potential work change and started walking before work and at lunch.  Of course, being in the hospital tends to send you back into a funk.  Added to that I found out my father has cancer in the lymph nodes on the left side of his neck…

Here’s what I’m trying to help me get re-motivated and help me avoid it in the future:

1. Exercise.  I had started before I went to the hospital and it was helping, now with high cholesterol I need to do it even more.  Still keeping at a walk until I finish some follow-up doctor visits, but it IS making a difference in my energy level and ability to focus.
2. Diet.  Again this is partly due to medical issues, but I’m on a low fat diet and eating more fruits and vegetables.  I’m hungry a lot because of reduced portions and not as much snacking, but it is helping as well.
3. Sleep.   Getting enough rest is definitely important for anyone to function at an optimal level.  The amount of sleep each person needs will vary, but if you are struggling every day, it is probably time to get some rest.
4. Priorities.  Just getting one thing accomplished each day is a motivator.  I need to do a better job of setting tasks so I can check something off each day.
5. Friends.  Just getting advice on the thread I started on SSC and talking with friends and family has made a big difference.  Talking about problems is hard, but it is necessary.
6. Perspective.  In the grand scheme of things my life is pretty good.  I have a job where I can take a week off to help care for my children without issues, who else can say that?  See my What I’m Thankful For post for other things.
7. Faith.  This is part of who I am and really does help me get through some tough times.  Knowing that God has a plan helps me to relax and not worry. 

What about you?  Have you been there?  What have you done to overcome it?

SQLSaturday #52 – Colorado Recap

I had the good fortune of being able to travel to Denver for SQLSaturday #52 the weekend of September 25, 2010.  I was able to go because my wife, Alice, had connected with Steve Jones’ wife, Tia, because of their mutual interest in horses.  So Alice was able to head out to the Jones’ ranch on Saturday to spend some time with Tia and the horses.  This worked out well as this trip was close enough to Alice’s birthday to double as a birthday present.

We flew out to Denver on Friday afternoon and had a good flight.  Our hotel was only about 1/2 mile from the speaker dinner at Great Northern Tavern, so after settling in at the hotel we walked to the dinner.  We had a GREAT time at the dinner.  I was able to reconnect with many people I already knew: Steve, Tim Mitchell, Jen McCown & daughter, Dean Richards, Nadine (from Confio), and Jason Strate.  There were also many new people to meet as well like: Meredith Ryan-Smith, Marc Beacom, another Steve, Rob, Jeff, Tom, Todd, Jason, Brandon, Michelle (from SQL Mag), Paul, Patrice, and Kate.  I’m sure I’m leaving someone out, but I feel pretty good that I remembered that many names, which is 19 out of about 25 attendees.

On Saturday Alice and I headed to the event at about 7:15am since the first session was at 8am.  The event was at the Cherry Creek Presbyterian Church, which was a beautiful facility, and worked out well.  The gym was used as the lunch room and there were 4 session rooms in the main church building and 2 session rooms in the same building as the gym.  Registration was going smoothly when I arrived, and, since I was presenting in the first session, I headed to my session room.  The only problem I saw with the setup was that there were not enough signs, a common issue, especially when hosting your first event.  They could have used a large sign by the church entrance, more signs directing people to the correct rooms (they get some slack here, as there were last minute room changes), and signs on each room door with the sessions schedule for that room.

My first session was at 8am, not the best time for me, and was my presentation, Why I Use Stored Procedures, which covers why I prefer using stored procedures for data access over other methods, specifically the Microsoft ORM tools, Linq to SQL and Entity Framework.  I had between 15-20 people in the session and had some good discussion.  The interesting thing about this session was that most of the attendees had no experience with ORM tools.  I’ve given this presentation a few times and this is the first time that there has been a majority of attendees without some exposure to ORM tools.  I had made the mistake of reworking my demos on Thursday night and, as expected, one did not work.  I demonstrate the use of Linq to SQL and Entity Framework in .NET 4 and 3.5, and by changing my demos I had broken my Entity Framework demo when using .NET 3.5.  Other than that the session went very well.  I consider any session where I get questions and stimulate some discussion to be a success and there were plenty of questions and discussion with this group.

My second session was from 10:30-11:30, just before lunch, and was my Introduction to Triggers session and was the 3rd time I’ve done this session.  This session was a little different because the hookup for the projector was towards the back and side of the room so I had to present from the side of the attendees when I was doing demos.  This session is mostly demos so it was a bit awkward, but worked.  Again, there were a lot of good comments and questions which made the time go quickly.  I really like doing this session as it gives people something to think about and take back to work to use, whether it is using DDL triggers or improving DML trigger code.

Lunch was nice sack lunch with a sandwich, chips, pasta salad, and piece of fruit.  They did 2 different things at lunch.  The first was to have Steve Jones give a short talk, like a keynote, and the second was raffling off some of the swag during lunch.  I really liked having a raffle at lunch as it gives everyone a chance to win something, even if they don’t stay for the whole event.

In the afternoon I attended 3 sessions: Glenn Berry’s session on Azure, Jen McCown’s T-SQL Code Sins, and Tim Mitchell’s session on Programming the SSIS API.  All three sessions were well-attended and informative.

The day ended with a raffle, and once again I didn’t win the iPad that FusionIO was giving away.  This went smoothly and when it was finished there was a good crew who helped clean up and put away chairs and tables so the church would be ready for Sunday services.

Because my wife had our rental car out at the ranch I hitched a ride to the after party with Lynn Pettis, a good friend from SQLServerCentral, who I met in person for the first time at the event.  The after party was at the Baker Street Pub, where we had a small section just for SQLSaturday attendees.  There was a great turnout of between 50-60 attendees out of about 160 total event attendees.  They had a nice little bingo card that attendees could fill out by talking to other attendees and you could win a gift card.  I managed to get the first bingo and win a $20 Micro Center gift card which I used to get a small PowerShell book and an older DNN book, so I can do a better job on the OPASS web site.

Sunday we went up to Boulder on the recommendation of Paul Paiva and rented bikes to ride around town.   We spent the afternoon biking on the Boulder Creek Path.  We got to see some beautiful mountain scenery, some of deer, and a bunch of prairie dogs (neither Alice or I had seen these anywhere before).

  

It was a great trip.  Actually the best SQLSaturday I’ve attended so far.  I think it was for 2 reasons: Alice traveled with me and the people at the event, speakers, organizers, and attendees, were very friendly and made me feel very comfortable.

Great job by Marc, Chris, Patrice, and crew!  I hope we do as well with SQLSaturday #49 – Orlando.

SQLSaturday #49 – Orlando is Closing In

We are less than an month from SQLSaturday #49 – Orlando at Seminole State College – Sanford/Lake Mary campus on October 16th.  Our preparations are going well, we have a good sponsor base, a great schedule, and several volunteers.  We can always use more sponsors (plan|sign up) and volunteers.  Our registrations are bit lower than we’d like at this point, but we normally see a spike in the last few weeks.  If you have registered please invite your friends and co-workers, our best advertisement is satisfied customer base, and if you have not registered, what are you waiting for (register).  If you need a reason to sign up check out Arie Jones’ take:

Why #SQLSaturday Matters

and for any Oracle folks, here’s a post for you:

SQLSaturday for an Oracle Guy

I’ve been trying to woo some more sponsors.  I’m a bit disappointed we don’t have more local companies as sponsors.  I love to have the software companies as sponsors as they bring some great value and expertise to the event, but I also think that the local companies would benefit and add value as well.  At our most recent OPASS meeting, we had several people who are looking for work, but only one recruiter in attendance that we could connect these people with.  We only have one recruiting company signed up as a SQLSaturday sponsor, yet I’d have to imagine that there will be many people looking for work out of the 250 that we anticipate attending.  I know if I’m looking, the first companies I’d contact are the ones I’ve seen at events.

I’ve also spent time on the event guide.  Graphic design and layout are not strengths, but I think I have something acceptable.  It’s hard as I try to keep the length down so that we don’t have a huge expense for the event guide.

We are trying a some new things this year.  First we have a new sponsorship type for personal bloggers.  For $5 you can be a SQL Blogger sponsor and have your logo on the site and in the event guide.  See Andy Warren’s post for details.  We currently have 7 bloggers signed up.

Next we have a volunteer, Bob Blaydes, who has a popcorn machine, so we will be having fresh popcorn in the afternoon.  In relation to this we have offered our currently signed up sponsors the opportunity to become the official popcorn sponsor by bidding on the sponsorship (min. bid $100).  If you are signed up as a sponsor send your bid to sqlsaturday49@sqlsaturday.com by September 30th.

We also are asking each speaker to take the first 2 minutes of their session to ask the attendees to introduce themselves to the people next to them.  We want to encourage people to get to know each other and do some networking.

Overall the event is looking pretty good.  If you haven’t registered yet, register now!

SQLSaturday #52 – Colorado Here I Come!

Well, I’ve been waiting to book hotel and rental car for SQLSaturday #52 – Colorado because I wasn’t sure if my father-in-law’s health issues were going to cause us to cancel the trip, but fortunately his health is looking up, so we booked our hotel last night and our rental car this morning.

This trip is a short getaway for my wife, Alice, and I and her birthday present.  Alice has connected on-line with Steve Jones’ wife, Tia, as Alice loves horse and Tia has them and trains them.  So while I’m at SQLSaturday soaking up knowledge and networking, Alice will be heading out to the ranch to hang with Tia.  We really appreciate Steve and Tia opening their home for the day.  Alice and I aren’t sure what we’ll be doing on Sunday (we’ll be attending church in the AM) and Monday (flight is in the evening), but I’m sure we’ll find something. 

I’m scheduled to give two sessions at SQLSaturday:

Why I Use Stored Procedures

With the proliferation of ORM tools like Entity Framework, nHibernate, and Linq to SQL, many projects have decided that stored procedures are not needed and slow down development. While these tools have their place and have improved greatly, stored procedures still have their place, and, in this speaker's opinion, are the best way to do data access. In this session I'll discuss my reasons for using stored procedures and hopefully stimulate some discussion of other access methods.

Session Level: Intermediate

Introduction to Triggers

This session will give a brief overview of the different types of triggers available in SQL Server (DDL & DML) and then go into more detail on how and when to use DML triggers. This session will cover misconceptions about how triggers work, when triggers shoul d and shouldn't be used (we will discuss options), common mistakes, and how to fix the most common mistakes. After attending this session a person will: 1. Identify different types of triggers and when to use them. 2. Be able to identify when a trigger is the right solution 3. Be able to write triggers that perform well

Session Level: Beginner

Finally, the organizers are doing some good work on this event by with a food drive:

Giving Back - Help local food banks and the Boulder fire victims!

In spirit of this community event and giving back to the community, we have decided to run a food drive to help out others in our area.  Attendees that bring in can goods or provide a financial donation, all of which will be going to local food banks and help out the Boulder fire victims, you will be entered into a special drawing.  This drawing, for a special prize, will be held during lunch at SQL Saturday #52 – Colorado.

This is a great idea especially as we close in on the holiday season.  We need to remember that most of us in the technology field are blessed with good salaries where out needs are met, and we often have more that we can give back.  Take the time to help out those less fortunate than us by bring something for the food drive.

Can’t wait to get there!

Space Coast User Group Recap

I had the pleasure of making my second annual September visit to the Space Coast SQL Server User Group in Melbourne, FL, last Thursday, September 9, 2010, to present, Introduction to Triggers.  This is small user group, but they are a lot of fun and ask good questions.  Because of the small size it is a very informal group so I took some time to talk about SQLSaturday #49 – Orlando, the pre-con on Database Design with Louis Davidson, and SQLRally before getting on with my presentation. 

The presentation went well and they caught me on one of my demos.  The demo in question demonstrates a common mistake I see in triggers and mention before doing the demos.  So, when I get to it I ask, “Can anyone see the problem with this trigger?”, and in this  case someone noticed I had left out the code, “SET NOCOUNT ON;”, at the start of the trigger body.  This was right after I had mentioned that you should always include this statement, unfortunately, this was not the problem I was trying to point out.  And, no, I’m not going to tell you what the answer I was looking for was.  If you want to get that, you’ll need to come see me present at SQLSaturday #52 – Colorado on September 25th.  Other than that, all the demos went well and the attendees learned a few new things.

Afterwards we went out to socialize at the restaurant at the local Holiday Inn where we talked SQLSaturday, football, and paper mills.  Why paper mills?  Well, it turns out that one attendee worked for the paper company that used own the mill I used to work at, and we had mutual friends in the company, and another attendee used to work for the company that wrote the truck scale software that we used at the paper mill I worked at.  It’s amazing how small the world is!

I’m tentatively scheduled to return next September, as we might as well make this an annual event!  Topic to be announced.

Upcoming Engagements

I haven’t been speaking a lot lately as I’ve been busy working, planning SQLSaturday #49 – Orlando, and planning PASS SQLRally, but I do have some upcoming engagements that I hope to see some of you at.

Introduction to Triggers on Thursday, September 9th 6:30pm, Space Coast SQL Users Group.

This session will give a brief overview of the different types of triggers available in SQL Server (DDL & DML) and then go into more detail on how and when to use DML triggers. This session will cover misconceptions about how triggers work, when triggers shoul d and shouldn't be used (we will discuss options), common mistakes, and how to fix the most common mistakes. After attending this session a person will: 1. Identify different types of triggers and when to use them. 2. Be able to identify when a trigger is the right solution 3. Be able to write triggers that perform well

SQLSaturday #52 – Colorado on Saturday September 25th

I’m scheduled for 2 sessions at this event.  I’m attending this event for 2 reasons:

1. My wife has connected with Steve Jones’ wife, Tia, online and they both love horses.  Tia has horses, so my wife, Alice, will be spending the Saturday at the ranch with Tia and the horses.
2. An opportunity to go to a part of the country I haven’t been to and to connect with some new people.  There are several people I know from SQLServerCentral and Twitter that I have not meet in person yet, and this will be a great opportunity to do that.

Why I Use Stored Procedures

With the proliferation of ORM tools like Entity Framework, nHibernate, and Linq to SQL, many projects have decided that stored procedures are not needed and slow down development. While these tools have their place and have improved greatly, stored procedures still have their place, and, in this speaker's opinion, are the best way to do data access. In this session I'll discuss my reasons for using stored procedures and hopefully stimulate some discussion of other access methods.

Introduction to Triggers

This session will give a brief overview of the different types of triggers available in SQL Server (DDL & DML) and then go into more detail on how and when to use DML triggers. This session will cover misconceptions about how triggers work, when triggers shoul d and shouldn't be used (we will discuss options), common mistakes, and how to fix the most common mistakes. After attending this session a person will: 1. Identify different types of triggers and when to use them. 2. Be able to identify when a trigger is the right solution 3. Be able to write triggers that perform well

SQLSaturday #49 – Orlando on Saturday, October 16th

In addition to planning and and running this event I’ll be presenting one session.

Profiling: It's Okay in SQL Server

Learn how to use SQL Server Profiler/Trace to troubleshoot SQL Server performance and errors. This session will cover how to use Profiler to capture SQL Server events, creating server-side traces, creating custom templates, saving trace data, and interpreting trace data.

I hope to see you at one of these events.  Please come up and talk to me, share your business card, and ask questions.  My favorite part of these events is meeting new people and re-connecting with people I haven’t seen recently.

Book Review: Crunch Time

About a month ago I went to Barnes & Noble to pick up a copy of Seth Godin’s book, Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us and, having some extra time, I was browsing the discount areas and I came upon Crunch Time: 8 Steps to Making the Right Life Decisions at the Right Times by Ken Lindner.  Since I’m in a time where I have some decisions to make and I’m also focusing on reading books about leadership I thought this might be an interesting read, especially at 50% off.

The book is broken down into 3 sections:

1. Exploring Your Decision-making Foundation

   The author uses this section to talk about the first 2 steps. Identifying when you need to make a decision and "clearly and concisely stating what the issue is". For instance, you are in the store and you pass an end aisle display with Double-stuff Oreos and there is a big sign that says, "Special Offer". Do you buy the cookies? Now there are many things that go into making the decision, but that is the core issue.

2. The Crunch Time Strategies

   Here the author uses most of the book to explain Step 3, Identify, Explore, and then Apply the Appropriate Crunch Time Strategies.  This has 24 sub-steps that I won’t list here.  To sum it up, be constructive, be disciplined, be objective, and evaluate decisions based on your long-term goals.

3. Completing the Process

   This breaks down the final 5 steps in about 30 pages. To sum it up, make sure your decisions are based on accurate information, what you value, and what you really want.

I honestly had a hard time getting into the book because it has a "touchy-feely" tone. The author talks a lot about making "self-enhancing" decisions and decisions that take you where you want to go in your "heart of hearts". That's not to say that the author doesn't give you some good ideas and a framework to build on, it's just that he worded it in a way that is more self-help than professional development. 

What did I learn from this book?  First, have goals, have a decision-making process (he provides his in this book), and evaluate every decision using the process and make decisions that lead to the fulfillment of your goals.

Would I recommend that you buy this book?  Not if you had to pay full –price, but for $5.00 it wasn’t a bad read once you get past the writing style.  I did learn some things and it dove tails pretty well with Tribes and the book I’m currently reading, Visioneering by Andy Stanley

Personal or Professional Ethics

Steve Jones had an interesting blog post the other day, Do as I Say, Not as I Do, and I as I read it I thought about the situation I am in now and a situation I went through just over 4 years ago.

Steve talks about how he recommends checking/updating your resume quarterly in his presentation, The Modern Resume, but then mentions on how it doesn’t do that because he has an employment contract so he couldn’t take an offer, at least not easily, without breaking that contract.  I commented on his post about how I am in a similar situation.  I currently serve as a faith-supported missionary with New Tribes Mission (you can read more about what that means on the NTM web site and my ministry blog or contact me via Twitter or email).  My wife and I made a commitment to serve with NTM for four years, and while we don’t have a written contract, we made that commitment and are honoring it.  We are just over three years into that commitment and over that time I have not touched my resume.  Why would I?  Even if the greatest job in the world came along, I’d have to say, “No thanks, unless you can wait a year.”  What are the odds of that being acceptable?  Could I take another job?  Sure, like I said, I don’t have formal contract, but I have my word and keeping that is more important to me than money or having the best job in the world (color commentator for all Red Sox home games, I don’t want to be on the road).

The second situation that came to mind happened about a year before we started out time with NTM.  We had been accepted by NTM and were in the process of raising funds to begin serving with NTM.  In March of 2006, I was informed that my job was being eliminated and that I was fortunate because I was being allowed to continue working through May.  As I said, my wife and I were already working towards a goal of moving to Florida to serve with NTM, but that was still looking like it was at least a year in the future, so I needed to find a way to provide for my family.  So I dusted off my resume and started sending it off to advertised positions and let some recruiters know I was available (I didn’t have much of a professional network at that time).  I ended up getting an interview at a college in southern New Hampshire.  The interview went very well, and I was VERY interested in the position.  The work would have been challenging as I would have been THE SQL Server guy and the main programmer (.NET) as well, with some VERY interesting integration projects on-going between SQL Server systems, Active Directory, and some legacy systems.  Not only that, but they had a Master’s program in Computer Information Systems that I could have taken for free, and really improved my earning potential especially when put along side the experience I would have gained.  Also the boss seemed great, I asked about taking an afternoon off a week to golf with my brother during golf season, and he said, “I don’t care when you work as long as your work gets done on time.”, so I was looking at a great job.  Not great pay, but a step up from where I was, and better then unemployed.  I got called back for a second interview, and I told everyone that I was taking this job if the offer was x dollars or better.  The second interview was more informal and went well, then the question came, “What salary do you want?”.  Well, I tried to play the game, “I’m sure you’ll pay a fair wage”, “Let’s talk total compensation”, and the like.  The manager just said, “I’ve read all the same books and I’m not going to name a number, you have to”, so I caved and gave a number, and he countered with the exact number I had told everyone I’d take, but he also said this, “We are looking for the person who takes this job to be here for 3 to 4 years”.  I was taken aback by that statement because I knew I was planning the move to Florida as soon as we had enough money coming in.  I told him I had to think about it and made a long 2.5 hour drive home.  On the way I decided I couldn’t take the job, as badly as I wanted it.  I couldn’t tell them that I’d be there for 3-4 years.  When I called the next day to turn down the job, he asked if I could give them 2 years, and I had to tell him I couldn’t.  I told him I was sorry for wasting his time, but that if he hadn’t mentioned the commitment they were looking for I would have taken the job, but my conscience wouldn’t let me take it knowing their expectations.  It was a hard decision to make because it was a really good job, especially for that time in my career.  But once again my reputation and word meant more than the job.  We did end up moving to Florida about 14 months after I got this job offer, which meant I would have only worked there for about a year. 

I’m sure that there are people out there that would have taken the job in 2006 and others that would take a job now, since I have no contract.  I’m not going to tell them that they’d be wrong, but I know that if I were to do either of those things, I’d be wrong.   My personal value system wouldn’t allow it. 

So there you have it, my personal/professional ethics on display.  I’m not perfect and I’m sure that there are other areas where people have a higher standard than I do, but I value my word and my reputation. 

Speaking at SQLSaturday #40 – South Florida

I finally get to head down to Miramar to speak at SQLSaturday #40 – South Florida.  I really wanted to go last year, but I was in New England at the time, so I couldn’t make it.  So this weekend, July 30-31, I’ll be making the drive down to attend the speaker dinner and the event on Saturday.  I have one session titled:

Don’t Be Trigger Happy:  Safe Use of Triggers

This is a beginner level session that will give an overview of the different types of triggers available in SQL Server and then will focus on specifically on the safe use of DML triggers. We will talk about when to use triggers and touch on other options. I will demonstrate of both safe and unsafe triggers

If you didn’t notice already, I do struggle with titles and abstracts although my abstract writing has improved since I wrote this one because I read over 150 as part of the 2010 PASS Summit Program Committee.  You can’t help but get better when you read that many abstracts.

I hope to see you there.  If we haven’t met and you read this blog, be sure to find me and introduce yourself.  If we have met, you hopefully won’t have to introduce yourself again.

How I Prepared to Run for the PASS Board

The Boy Scouts have “Be Prepared” as their motto and, while I was never a scout, I think it’s always a good idea.  So when I started thinking about running for the PASS Board, I decided to find out what being on the board entails and what characteristics make a good board member. Well, the only way to find out is to ask.  So I put together an set of questions that I asked several past and present board members.  Here are the questions I asked and common answers:

1. How long did you serve and it what capacities? – Most served for multiple terms and had opportunities to serve beyond being a director-at-large
2. How much time did you spend on PASS tasks (use whatever interval you want)? – It depended upon the portfolio or position they were in.  During slow times about 4 hours per week and busy times up to 20 hours per week.
3. What did you like about serving on the board? – There were 2 themes in the answers I got.  The first was that you get to work with intelligent and passionate people.  The second was the feeling of accomplishment when something you worked on happened.
4. What did you find to be the most challenging part of being on the board? – The theme here was about how there were so many good ideas and so little time and resources. 
5. What would you recommend a prospective/new board member do to prepare for serving on the board? – 2 themes emerged here.  The first was make sure you work on your soft skills (communication, cooperation, collaboration) and the second was to get as much experience and knowledge of PASS as possible.
6. What type of personality do you think is needed to be a successful board member? - The common themes in the answers I got to this question were:  passionate, team player, collaborative, knowing when to hold firm to your principles and ideas and when to compromise.
7. What was/is the process for determining priorities?  Then ways you think it could be improved. – Answers were really varied on this one depending on when you were on the board.  A general theme is that the Executive Committee sets the guidelines for discussion and priorities are managed by the board within the confines of the budget.  Most were happy with the way it worked.
8. If you could make one change to the operation/structure of the board based on your experience what would it be and why? – A common theme here was that the board is currently too involved in the implementation details and not doing enough strategic planning.   Essentially the board should be setting strategy and goals and HQ should be implementing the strategies and goals determined by the board.

In addition to these questions I also am good friends with Andy Warren who is completing his first term on the board, so we have talked extensively about what it takes to be on the board and I’ve seen first hand the time he puts into the board.  I did not want to just jump into running for the board without knowing what it took in terms of time and effort.  So I made the effort to understand what the board is involved in, how much time it takes, and how much work it is.  After all this research, much thought, prayer, discussion with my wife, and discussion with my boss, I decided that I have the qualities it takes to be a good board member and that PASS is important enough to me to make the time to do it. 

If I’m make the slate and am elected, do I expect it to always go smoothly?  Of course not, but I’m going in with my eyes wide open because I’ve done the research to know what it’s like.

I’m All In – Running for the PASS Board

Yes, I’m going to run for the PASS Board of Directors.  I have my application and will be sending it out to the nominating committee today.

Why?

My reasons are very similar to Steve Jones’ reasons for running.  I have not been involved with PASS as long as Steve, but the SQL Server Community, including PASS, is where my passion lies.  I love to attend my local PASS Chapter (OPASS) and being a leader of the chapter.  You can see how my involvement with PASS has grown over the last three years in my blog post, Being Involved in the Community.  I have also been outspoken when the PASS Board has made decisions that I disagree with.  Here are a few of my posts where I either talk about what PASS should do or criticizing what they have done:

1. PASS Summit 2010 Content Survey
2. Growing PASS Step One – Communication
3. PASS, Microsoft, and Certification
4. PASS Releases Survey Results & Summit Location – Reactions
5. A Swing and a Miss by PASS
6. SQLSaturday Acquired by PASS – Reactions
7. What Should PASS Strive to Be?

I was taught that you are either part of the solution or part of the problem, well, I want to be part of the solution.  I also believe that if you are going to publicly criticize volunteers, you need to be willing to be one of the volunteers.  Finally, I think the SQL Server community is great and that the community deserves a great professional organization and, while PASS has a great conference in the Summit and is moving in the right direction, I don’t think it is there yet and  I think that my ideas can help get PASS there sooner.

I’m excited to take this next step in my involvement in the SQL Server Community and in my personal and professional growth.  Keep reading this blog to see more about what I think PASS should do and become.  I’ll also post a longer post about how I came to my final decision.

Article Featured on SQLServerCentral

My article, ANSI Padding, Trailing Whitespace, and Variable Length Character Columns, is featured in today’s SQLServerCentral newsletter.  Check it out!

PASS Spring Event in Orlando

It’s official!  There will be a PASS Conference in the late April or early May in Orlando.  Andy Warren (@sqlandy) blogged about it in his PASS Update #34 post and Kendal Van Dyke (@sqldba) blogged about it in his post, PASS 2011 Spring Event in Orlando.  I’ve mentioned it before as well, but now it is officially going to happen.

I’m excited about it for several personal reasons:

1. It gives me another opportunity to contribute to the SQL Server community while also gaining great experience in planning and organizing an event. 
2. I get to work with other great people in the community including Andy, Kendal, the PASS board, and PASS HQ.
3. I get to have some great SQL Server training right in my backyard.

The SQL Server community should be excited for several reasons as well:

1. Another opportunity to get great SQL Server training, and it’s inexpensive.
2. Another opportunity for professional development through presenting that will be a step up from SQLSaturday.  There’s now a path from speaking at a user group all the way up to speaking at the Summit, the premiere SQL Server conference.
3. Another opportunity to practice and use your networking skills.  You never know when someone you meet will be the person that solves your next problem or provides you your next job (see this posts, 1 & 2, by Tom LaRock (@sqlrockstar)).

Details, like an official name, are still being worked out, but it won’t cost more than $400 (we’re trying to do it for $299), it will involve volunteers (probably from several Florida user groups), it will be in Orlando, and it will be a great time. 

Stay tuned for the official announcement and keep late April/early May free!

Time to Stop Settling

“...And the world is filled with people who can't go to high school, never mind college, and who certainly can't spend their time focused on whether or not they get the good parking space at work.

And so, the obligation: don't settle.
To have all these advantages, all this momentum, all these opportunities and then settle for mediocre and then defend the status quo and then worry about corporate politics--what a waste.”

This quote is on page 135 of Seth Godin’s book, Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us and it hit me like a ton of bricks.  Since last fall I’ve thought I should be doing more, but I had my excuses so I didn’t.  I’ve been settling for the status quo, and complaining about it when what I should be doing is working to change it.  My excuse has always been that I wasn’t in a position to make changes, but this book rips that excuse away as well, as Seth points out that you can lead no matter what your position you are in.  Sure, it may be hard, but if you really believe in it, isn’t worth some hard work and maybe some resistance?  Reading this book had really challenged me to step up, forget about excuses, stop settling for the status quo, and lead.

My high school principal and Pastor used to say:

“If you aren’t part of the solution, you are part of the problem”

It’s time to be part of the solution.  This doesn’t just apply to the work place, it applies to church, family, user groups, and PASS.

Thanks to Joe Webb (@JoeWebb) for recommending this book to me and now I’m recommending it to you.

SQLSaturday #41 - Atlanta Session Recap

Last Saturday, April 24, I presented my session, Why I Use Stored Procedures and You Should Too, at SQLSaturday #41-Atlanta, see my event summary here.  My session was in the last block of the day, which at this event was at 4:45PM, so it was a long day for attendees, thus I was very happy to have 20 attendees in my session.  At the end of the day, especiallyafter attending 6 other sessions, it can be hard to hang around for that extra hour, so I appreciate everyone who toughed it out.

I started out by encouraging the attendees to become involved in their local user group, about 50% said that they had attended a user group at least 4 times in the last year, and in PASS. 

In this session I give the reasons I believe that stored procedures are the best way to access data in SQL Server and I encourage discussion of other access methods (Linq to SQL, Entity Framework, nHibernate, etc...).  I have 3 main points that I cover:

1. Security
2. Maintenance
3. Performance

I finish the session, as time allows, by demonstrating different methods of data access in a .NET application.  I show the difference between Linq to SQL, Entity Framework, and the various ADO.NET methods (string concatenation, SQL Command using parameters, and Stored Procedure calls).  I also run Profiler to show the SQL generated by the tools, and the impact on the procedure cache.  Prior to .NET 4.0 both Linq to SQL and Entity Framework could cause cache bloat/pollution when using string parameters, but this has been improved in .NET 4.0.

I had some good interaction, but, as you would expect at a SQL Server event, it was hard to find a proponent of ORM tools so I had a friendly crowd.  Prior to my session I had a good discussion with Chris Eargle (@KodeFuGuru) who does a presentation on RESTful Data that uses an ORM layer for data access.  He was in a tough spot in the speaker room with multiple DBA's present, but was a good discussion.  I need more of that.

Based on the speaker/session evaluation I did a good job in communicating what the session was and covered the material as expected.  Here are the numbers (I had 2 blank evals):

Expectations:

• Did Not Meet - 0
• Met - 10
• Exceeded - 8

Overall quality of presentation (1-5 with 5 being the best):

• 1 - 0
• 2 - 0
• 3 - 1
• 4 - 8
• 5 - 9

There were no comments on the evals, but I'd like to know why I someone rated the presentation at 3, but overall I have to be pleased that I graded out above average, well based on these numbers.

I always enjoy attending these events and presenting just adds to the enjoyment.  Thanks again to Stuart (@StuartA) and  crew for putting on a great event.