Kathi Kellenberger

Kathi Kellenberger is the Editor of Simple Talk and a Microsoft Data Platform MVP. She has worked with SQL Server for over 20 years and has authored, co-authored, or tech edited more than 20 technical books. Kathi is a volunteer at LaunchCode, the St. Louis based organization providing free training and paid apprenticeships in technology. When Kathi isn’t working she enjoys spending time with family and friends, cycling, singing, and climbing the stairs of tall buildings. Be sure to check out her courses on Pluralsight.

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Kathi Kellenberger 10 May 2022

Buying an SSD card for a grandchild

Editorials

We recently ordered a tablet for our 8-year-old grandson. We ensured that it would support a decent-sized SSD card, 128 GB, for storing all the photos and videos he will likely take. He’ll mostly play games or watch videos on the tablet, and his favorite video is Dragon’s Doom. Purchasing this gift made me think … Read more

Editorials

Kathi Kellenberger 20 April 2022

A day without meetings

Editorials

Back when it was more difficult to work from home due to bandwidth, I would often head into the office to work for several hours on some weekends and bank holidays like President’s Day. I was a database administrator and was always involved with many projects, but what would make me give up my well-deserved … Read more

Editorials

Kathi Kellenberger 31 March 2022

Wanted: Simple Talk Editor

Editorials

Almost five years ago, one of my local SQL Server community friends sent me a text message about an opening at Redgate, editor of Simple Talk. I applied for the position within the hour and told my family that “No one is more qualified than I am to be editor of Simple Talk!” After a … Read more

Editorials

Kathi Kellenberger 02 March 2022

Supporting Women in Technology

Editorials

We make a special effort in March to acknowledge the accomplishments of women. Women have been making gains in many professions over the past several decades but are still underrepresented in technology. There are several hypotheses about why this is the case, but often women find they are not welcome in the “brogrammer” cultures of … Read more

Editorials

Kathi Kellenberger 23 February 2022

What do employees want?

Editorials

The “great resignation” is one of today’s most popular news topics. It’s an employee’s market as companies have difficulty keeping and attracting talent. Folks across the spectrum of careers give varied reasons for leaving, from seeking better benefits and pay to launching a small business they’ve always dreamed about. However, instead of blaming employees, organizations … Read more

Editorials

Kathi Kellenberger 26 January 2022

DBAs and DevOps

Lately, you’ve heard about DevOps. Is it just another buzzword, or is it something you should investigate? DevOps emerged over ten years ago to solve the problems of the Agile methodology. Not that Agile is bad, but there were often disconnects between developers and the operation teams who had to deploy the software. Software that … Read more

Kathi Kellenberger 11 January 2022

English language confusion

Editorials

The technology books I’ve written go through a couple of edits, first by someone knowledgeable in the subject area and then by a copy editor. The copy editor will fix misspellings, awkward sentence structure, and grammar. The occasional modification alters the meaning of a sentence, but overall, I’m happy with the updates. I’ve worked on … Read more

Editorials

Kathi Kellenberger 28 December 2021

Making predictions

Editorials

Steve Jones (@way0utwest), Grant Fritchey (@GFritchey), and I are often asked to predict trends in technology, especially at the end of the year. This year we were asked about the kinds of challenges and trends, especially for monitoring and DevOps, that will be seen for database professionals in the near future. Just like the answer … Read more

Editorials

Kathi Kellenberger 15 December 2021

A momentous year for Redgate Software

Editorials

December is often a time of reflection, and this year has been more unusual than most. It’s been another year of Zoom calls, still, there have also been signs of recovery and getting back to normal with increased travel, family reunions, the reopening of pubs and restaurants, and some in-person events. This year will also … Read more

Editorials

Kathi Kellenberger 30 November 2021

Revisiting SQL Server certification

Editorials

I first touched a SQL Server instance back in 1998 during a SQL Server 6.5 course. I hadn’t planned to take the class except that the small company I worked for had a remaining credit with one of the local training organizations. My manager thought it might be a good fit for me, but I … Read more

Editorials

Kathi Kellenberger 03 November 2021

SQL Server 2022 is a game changer

Editorials

Microsoft announced at the Ignite conference that SQL Server 2022 is on the way, and several significant new features should convince many organizations to upgrade soon after it’s available. It’s been three long years since SQL Server 2019 arrived, so these announcements are exciting to hear. Microsoft will announce details and additional features over the … Read more

Editorials

Kathi Kellenberger 20 October 2021

Back in the office

Editorials

Last week, Steve Jones (@way0utwest), Grant Fritchey (@GFritchey), and I spent a few days at the Redgate Headquarters in Cambridge. Meeting at the office would not be unusual except for the times that we live in right now, as we typically get there about once a quarter. This is the first time that we’ve all … Read more

Editorials

Kathi Kellenberger 21 September 2021

The challenges of ever-growing estates

Editorials

Each year Redgate runs a survey to determine the state of database monitoring. This year, instead of one large report, we are publishing four insight reports, each on a different topic. The first came out this month: The real-world challenges of growing server estates. The respondents reported several trends: DBAs are managing more instances than … Read more

Editorials

Kathi Kellenberger 07 September 2021

How LAG compares to other techniques

T-SQL Programming

LAG pulls a column from another row without a self-join. In this article, Kathi Kellenberger shows how LAG compares to other techniques… Read more

T-SQL Programming

Kathi Kellenberger 25 August 2021

Machine learning, both exciting and scary

Editorials

The 2002 movie Minority Report is about a police unit called PreCrime, which can predict when people will commit a crime so they can be arrested before it happens. Things go awry when a team member played by Tom Cruise is himself “pre-accused.” To make predictions, they use technology and the special abilities of the … Read more

Editorials

Kathi Kellenberger 09 July 2021

How to learn about Azure SQL

It was always important to me to keep up with the latest versions of SQL Server, but especially so when I was a database administrator or consultant. I wasn’t always able to work with the new versions right away in production, but at least I had an idea about features, capabilities, and benefits. Fifteen years … Read more

Kathi Kellenberger 29 June 2021

DevOps is more than continuous integration and delivery

Editorials

I recently presented a session about DevOps for DBAs, explaining what it is and why DBAs should care. One of the comments I received was “I thought I knew what DevOps was. Thanks to your session, now I know better.” Here’s one definition of DevOps: The union of people, process, and products to enable continuous … Read more

Editorials

Kathi Kellenberger 15 June 2021

Introducing the PASS Data Community Summit Program

Editorials

Many of you know that Redgate purchased some of the assets of PASS, namely session recordings, domain names, and trademarks. Shortly after that purchase, we began talking about what it would take to put on an event to revive PASS Summit. The first step was to survey to find out what people liked and wanted … Read more

Editorials

Kathi Kellenberger 13 May 2021

PASS Data Community Summit 2021

Editorials

I began attending PASS Summit in 2003. I had no idea that it would change the course of my career and, well, life. Becoming part of the community I found through PASS inspired me to take my career to the next level by presenting and writing. It also led to some wonderful friendships and lots … Read more

Editorials

Kathi Kellenberger 04 May 2021

What is an ad hoc query?

Someone recently asked me which queries are ad hoc in SQL Server. An ad hoc query is a single query not included in a stored procedure and not parameterized or prepared. Depending on the server settings, SQL Server can parameterize some statements initially written as ad hoc queries. Ad hoc doesn’t mean dynamic. Here’s a … Read more

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