I hear from a lot of database administrators who are worried about being automated out of a job. These kinds of worries are not new. Over the course of my career, I’ve seen CTOs outsource large groups of IT jobs to different regions around the world to save money. IT has long been regarded as … Read more
In the past, I was very proud that I’d meticulously defended my projects against scope creep, but I was missing the point. The real reason organizations should undertake projects is to achieve value. What should be the priority, then, defending against scope creep or value-based delivery? The agile movement fundamentally understands this. Its core principles … Read more
If only there were a ‘single version of the truth’ in data and data analytics. Unfortunately, data and everything that derives from it is subjective: it cannot be disentangled from our cultural biases. We can only find the version of the truth that fits the evidence and our cognitive map of the world we live … Read more
Delta Airlines recently announced that they have implemented the first fully biometric terminal in the US, at Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport F Terminal with plans for Detroit late 2019. This means that, instead of scanning boarding passes and looking at passports for international flights at the checkpoints, the airline can just scan each passenger’s face … Read more
Data science is so hip today that everyone is doing it. Everyone is showing off their ‘data science muscles’ by how much data they can lift and in what amazing ways the lifting is done. However, only some are showing that they can work in a smart way, and even fewer are showing common sense. … Read more
In September, thousands of IT professionals, developers, and trainers descended on Orlando, FL, for Microsoft’s Ignite conference. This was Microsoft’s chance to make big announcements about artificial intelligence, Azure, SQL Server 2019, DevOps, and much more. The keynotes were live-streamed, and all the sessions are available for streaming on demand. From a distance, there was … Read more
In my view, data security is an abstract concept, just as abstract as money, religion and fascination – all devised by humans. And anything that is human-made can be human-destroyed. When it comes to IT and data security, history has proven that pretty much anything can be cracked, taken, reshuffled, altered, refurbished, reheated and re-served. … Read more
Recently, I thought about the difference between a career and a job. Technically, a job is one employment agreement out of many that span a career. A career could be database administration, while a job could be the time employed at one company. The difference between these could be considered in another way, however. If … Read more
Being an entrepreneur isn’t for everyone; by the same token, being an employee is not either. There are serious pros and cons to each side that affect one’s stress level, work/life balance, and personal fulfillment. People don’t so much choose to be an entrepreneur as they are called to be one. Entrepreneurs generally know from … Read more
I was recently asked if I thought getting a Microsoft certification was valuable. I see quite a few benefits. Certifications might help your company become a Microsoft Gold Partner, and certification may be a selling point when assigning consultants to engagements. For me, the big benefits have been about learning new features and getting to … Read more
Security, compliance, and data ethics are related concepts that everyone who works with software should know about, from the help desk to the C-level office… but almost everyone thinks that worrying about these things is someone else’s problem. As data breaches become increasingly common and data privacy regulations pass in more regions, there are increasing … Read more
Most of us haven’t learned everything we know about technology from books or classes. Instead, when things go wrong, a quick search on Google or Bing typically brings up possible solutions from others who have experienced the same problem. I often wonder about that unfortunate guy who is the first to tackle a difficult issue. … Read more
Just recently, my local .NET user group asked me to present at their meeting on the topic of graphical execution plans. I love presenting for developers on SQL Server topics. I’m often describing something well known by database administrators, but completely new to the devs. I think the group learned a lot from me that … Read more
I recently took two of my grandchildren to a McDonald’s restaurant for some lunch. We were greeted by a young woman with a big smile on her face asking if she could show us how to use the new kiosk to place our order. My first thought is that she must have been instructed by … Read more
St. Louis, MO, has a wonderful museum called The St. Louis Science Center. If you are ever in the area, it’s worth a visit. I’m lucky enough to live less than an hour’s drive away and visit once a month or so. My favourite event at the Science Center is called First Friday, an evening … Read more
As I write this, my mind is focused on my big holiday trip, just two days away. It’s a trip I’ve been planning for five years, and it includes our children, their spouses, and our grandchildren – eleven people in all. I’m still debating on whether to take a laptop along, but I’m leaning towards … Read more
At the center of all businesses is a company culture. This culture exists whether the leaders created it or not. If the leaders did not create the culture, then the loudest voices at the company define the culture. Business leaders need to stand up, define, implement and live their company culture. Some view company culture … Read more
You may have noticed a recent flurry of activity in your email inbox as many companies sent out new privacy policies and, in some cases, asked you to opt-in to continue to receive communications from them. This coincides with the deadline to comply with the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation). This regulation is meant to … Read more
Typewriters have become rare over the past twenty years or so as we began to use computers more often at home and in the workplace. Correction tape, whiteout, and those typing erasers with a brush on the end have been replaced by the backspace and delete keys. Most people welcome this progress or have never … Read more
I was recently asked about which tools I used back when I was a full-time SQL Server database administrator. I had a tool to compress backups and a monitoring tool with licenses for just a fraction of the servers I was responsible for. Over time, I figured out ways to gather information or automate processes … Read more
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