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Get Your Ass to PASS!

June 20, 2012 by John Sansom 7 Comments

This year there are to be no excuses, and I mean it. You know what I’m talking about. There’s always some reason why you can’t go to the PASS Summit, why you can’t make it this time around. Maybe the timing is just not quite right, you can’t get the time off work, maybe there’s […]

Filed Under: Professional Development, SQLServerCentral Syndication, SQLServerPedia Syndication Tagged With: Career, Community, Events, SQLPass

Guest Post – The Last Starfighter

June 13, 2012 by John Sansom 7 Comments

Today I am delighted to be able to share with you a guest post from one of my all time favourite bloggers in the SQL community. Their high quality, unique and creative content regularly making the cut for a place in the SFTW post roundup. I’ve been an avid reader of theirs for a number […]

Filed Under: Professional Development, SQLServerCentral Syndication, SQLServerPedia Syndication Tagged With: Becoming a DBA, Guest Post

What’s it Like to Be a DBA?

June 10, 2012 by John Sansom 7 Comments

Absolutely fantastic of course! You regular readers know that the Becoming a DBA area of the blog is one of the most visited and talked about, with the professional development posts often proving popular. All the comments, questions and emails you guys send tells me that there’s a lot of interest in the community about […]

Filed Under: Professional Development, SQLServerCentral Syndication, SQLServerPedia Syndication Tagged With: Database Administrator, Guest Post

Where Have all the DBAs and DB DEVs Gone?

April 17, 2012 by John Sansom 6 Comments

Last week the SQL community and in particular the blogosphere, was buzzing with interest noise following the Microsoft Learning site publishing details of significant changes to SQL Server Certifications. Here We Go Again You know the drill. It’s the usual dance we go through every 5 years or so, where the Microsoft marketing machine spins […]

Filed Under: Professional Development, SQLServerCentral Syndication, SQLServerPedia Syndication Tagged With: Career, Database Administrator, Database Developer

How To Live Blog an Event

April 11, 2012 by John Sansom 1 Comment

As the euphoria of SQLBits X sadly begins to fade, I wanted to take a moment to share with you my experience of Live Blogging the keynote of Europe’s largest SQL Server conference. To be honest this was not something that I had planned to do but when I received an email from Chris Webb […]

Filed Under: Blogging, Professional Development, SQLServerCentral Syndication, SQLServerPedia Syndication Tagged With: SQLBits

Liveblog for #SQLBits X Day 1 Keynote

March 30, 2012 by John Sansom 2 Comments

Packed out at SQLBits X

Welcome to the show! I’ll be liveblogging today’s keynote here at SQLBits X in London. There’s no need to refresh your browser folks, we’re technology savy here at SQLBrit don’t you know and using a LAMP stack ;-) Send your Tweets to @SQLBrit and keep an eye on the #SQLBits hash tag. The best Tweets at […]

Filed Under: SQL Server Community, SQLServerCentral Syndication, SQLServerPedia Syndication Tagged With: SQLBits

SQL Server Crossword #4

March 21, 2012 by John Sansom Leave a Comment

To mark my 31st Birthday today(gifts are of course most welcome) here’s a SQL Server Crossword for you to enjoy. You can also find the previous crosswords here(#3), here(#2) and here(#1). Same as before, the answers are all SQL Server words that you will be familiar with from your experience of working with SQL Server. It’s not easy and […]

Filed Under: SQL Server Community, SQLServerCentral Syndication, SQLServerPedia Syndication Tagged With: Crossword

What SQL2012 Feature Are You Excited About the Most?

March 13, 2012 by John Sansom 4 Comments

SQL Server 2012

Last week the internet went crazy with the news of super cool new stuff for techies to play with. If you’re having trouble viewing this post click here to see it in all it’s intended glory. I’m currently experimenting with some snazzy blog authoring widgets that may not port nicely to RSS/Email. We had the Apple Fanboys getting all […]

Filed Under: Professional Development, SQL Server Community, SQLServerCentral Syndication, SQLServerPedia Syndication Tagged With: SQL Server 2012, Twitter

What Does a Database Administrator Actually Do?

March 5, 2012 by John Sansom 11 Comments

Most people in your organisation, never mind everyone else, have no real clue as to what it is you do. It’s not because you don’t actually do anything, at least I hope not, it’s because the domain of responsibility for a DBA is both vast and varied. Ask any two DBAs what it is they […]

Filed Under: SQL Server Community, SQLServerCentral Syndication, SQLServerPedia Syndication Tagged With: Database Administrator, DBA Responsibilities

How To Write an Interview Winning CV

February 21, 2012 by John Sansom 25 Comments

Writing a CV that rocks is not an art. It just requires some planning and an understanding of what you want your CV to achieve for you. Of course therein also lies the problem because of lot folks are not exactly sure what they want their CV to do for them. This is why you […]

Filed Under: Professional Development, SQLServerCentral Syndication, SQLServerPedia Syndication Tagged With: CV, Database Administrator, Job Interview, Resume

Your Road to Becoming a DBA: Getting Organised

February 13, 2012 by John Sansom 6 Comments

Getting Organised

Knowing precisely how to start on your next adventure is tricky. With so many options and decisions in front of you, identifying what is the best way to move forward for you is vital.

In this third instalment I’m going to be talking about everything else that I wanted to cover in reply to the readers email, which is kind of ironic really because the first point I want to make next is about being organised.

Filed Under: Professional Development, SQLServerCentral Syndication, SQLServerPedia Syndication Tagged With: Becoming a DBA, CV Witting, DBA Books, Goal Setting, Organisation, Planning

Why Every DBA is a Clown

February 6, 2012 by John Sansom 4 Comments

It’s late, really late and you’ve got a mountain of work to get through to meet the deadline. To add to it, you also have numerous other urgent items and they’re all high priority of course. You feel panicked because you cannot possibly get it all done, you know that you are going to fail. […]

Filed Under: Professional Development, SQLServerCentral Syndication, SQLServerPedia Syndication Tagged With: Database Administrator, mememonday, Multi-Tasking, Time Management

Your Road to Becoming a DBA: Acquiring Experience is Key

February 1, 2012 by John Sansom 23 Comments

Knowing precisely how to start on your next adventure is tricky. With so many options and decisions in front of you, identifying what is the best way to move forward for you is vital. This post is part two of the series Your Road to Becoming a DBA, where I talk about how you can […]

Filed Under: Professional Development, SQLServerCentral Syndication, SQLServerPedia Syndication Tagged With: Career Progression, Database Administrator, Getting Experience

Your Road to Becoming a DBA: Laying a Strong Foundation

January 31, 2012 by John Sansom 19 Comments

Knowing precisely how to start on your next adventure is tricky. With so many options and decisions in front of you, identifying what is the best way to move forward for you is vital. Last week I received an email from a reader who was looking for some advice on how to start their own […]

Filed Under: Professional Development, SQLServerCentral Syndication, SQLServerPedia Syndication Tagged With: Becoming a DBA, Career Progression, Database Administrator

What I Will Do For You in 2012

January 9, 2012 by John Sansom Leave a Comment

Many of you have first hand experience of our phenomenal sql community (affectionately labelled the #sqlfamily). Your first encounter with it may have been quite subtle. Perhaps you were surprised by the generosity and willingness with which help can be found? Maybe it was that first SQL Saturday you attended? However you first experienced the […]

Filed Under: SQL Server Community, SQLServerCentral Syndication, SQLServerPedia Syndication Tagged With: Community, Goals

Start 2012 with Your Best of 2011

January 3, 2012 by John Sansom 2 Comments

The first week following on from the Christmas break is a very hectic one for us Data Professionals. Your customers are keen to get straight back to business immediately and get the year off to the best possible start, meaning your skills and services will be in high demand. To help ensure you get your […]

Filed Under: Blogging, Professional Development, SQL Server Community, SQLServerCentral Syndication, SQLServerPedia Syndication

Why Did You Start Blogging?

December 15, 2011 by John Sansom 8 Comments

That’s easy, because Brent Ozar (Blog|Twitter) challenged me to…… It all started back in the good ole days. A time when there was a Blogging revolution brewing within the SQL community. Tired of the dry and dull technical content that was being shared at the time, a few brave bloggers were daring to do things […]

Filed Under: Blogging, Professional Development, SQLServerCentral Syndication, SQLServerPedia Syndication

SQL Server MVP Deep Dives Volume 2 – My Review

December 13, 2011 by John Sansom 4 Comments

Volume 1 was packed full of knowledge and a very welcome edition to my bookshelf! With the bar already set high, how then would SQL Server MVP Deep Dives Volume 2 fair? Finding time to keep up with awesome blog content can be tough. Let me make it easy for you! Join over 400 SQL […]

Filed Under: Reviews, SQL Server Community, SQLServerCentral Syndication, SQLServerPedia Syndication

What Makes The Perfect DBA Role?

December 7, 2011 by John Sansom 3 Comments

What is it that makes the perfect role for a Database Administrator? Well I can’t tell you that because you and I may not be looking for the same things in a role. What I can tell you though is what I look for, what it is that makes my ideal DBA role. Last week […]

Filed Under: Professional Development, SQLServerCentral Syndication, SQLServerPedia Syndication

What Every DBA Should Get For Christmas

December 5, 2011 by John Sansom 2 Comments

What is a brilliant gift at Christmas for a DBA? I mean apart from having the day off….. For those new to the event, #mememonday is the community creation of Thomas LaRock (Blog|Twitter), the driving force of which is to encourage the SQL community to put virtual pen to paper. This months theme “What gift […]

Filed Under: SQLServerCentral Syndication, SQLServerPedia Syndication

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