Community – Page 3 – Becoming a Master

On PASS and what it means to me

Michael Wall June 20, 2020 0 Comments

I admit that I haven't been to many PASS Summits (two!), and most of my involvement with PASS has been on the sidelines, but my experiences with the SQL (ne Data now) Community have been almost without exception positive. I have been to many many SQL Saturdays and user group meetings and met so many quality, passionate, and kind people it's amazing. But, what has brought all of these people...

User Groups – pt 2

Michael Wall June 11, 2020 0 Comments

Last night was another successful meeting of the Oregon Data Community, virtually of course! We were thrilled to have two of our leaders speak, Jessica Aguilar, and Paul Turley, both on that Power BI thing that seems to be pretty popular... Jessica is our newest member to the leadership group and she's very excited about it. She's had a busy month with starting work at Pragmatic Works with me...

Becoming a Master

Michael Wall June 10, 2020 0 Comments

I miss working with Kat. She was the one that gave me the tagline that caused me to write the above titled presentation which caused me to move forward with my life. "Novices absorb knowledge like a sponge, intermediates hoard it for themselves, and masters just give it away" (accompanied by the appropriate hand gestures). Kat told me that she was taught that phrase by a former boss of hers. I...

User Groups

Michael Wall June 10, 2020 0 Comments

When I decided that I wanted to get into the "speaker" gig, I went straight for the SQL Saturdays. I wasn't surprised when I was rejected the first time, but the second time I was a little disappointed. At that point, Arnie Rowland, suggested that I start by supporting the local user groups. I took his advice to heart and contacted the Eugene UG as you can see from the top post. It took three...

Helping Out

Michael Wall May 31, 2020 0 Comments

Last night I had the pleasure of moderating at #SQLSatBrisbane and helped out Mr. Warwick Rudd (@warwick_rudd) and his hard-working crew make their first virtual SQL Saturday a real success. I'm sure it wasn't easy. I've been on multiple planning teams for SQL Saturdays and I know exactly how hard it is to pull one off. I also have some ideas on how hard it is to make a virtual event work for...

Being a DBA – the long and the short of it

Michael Wall May 26, 2020 0 Comments

Over the years, I've realized that being a DBA is more than just a set of skills. Sure, one needs to have experience in many different specialities, but it's also a mindset, a passion, and a willingness to listen. DBAs are the communicators. No longer are they the ones that hide in the back room waiting for food and requests to be slipped under the door. They have to understand the OS platform...

Es Beginnt mit mir. Es Beginnt mit dir.

admin May 24, 2020 0 Comments

Welcome to my blog. I've only been threatening to write this for at least five years and I've finally pulled the trigger. No, my German is certainly not good enough anymore to write a blog, but I still enjoy keeping some words fresh in my mind. It truly does begin with you (and me). We need to move ourselves forward in order to enjoy our lives. In my "Becoming a Master" presentation, I hammer...