If you’ve spent much time at all reading Steve Jones’s blog posts and SSC editorials, you quickly glean that he finds working in solitude to be an interesting challenge. I’m sure that others could tell a similar story, but I had not experienced this for myself until recently. An upcoming renovation has forced me out of my permanent office and…
It’s been quite a week at the Gartner Application Development and Integration conference here in Nashville. I’ve never been to a development-focused event that was so abstract and theoretical; in fact, I don’t think I saw a single line of code during the entire conference. My time here started on Sunday afternoon; my flight arrived nearly on time at just…
A few weeks ago I was engaged in a useful discussion about the merits of getting certified on Microsoft SQL Server. A number of people I’ve talked with about the MCDBA certification share my opinion that these tests were too easy and therefore held limited value to one’s career. After all, what does it matter if you have a mess…
Having cut my teeth on SQL Server 2000, I had some (but not a lot) of DTS experience. Recently I found myself presented with a massive ETL project, and found a perfect opportunity to get started with SQL Server Integration Services. With the help of a couple of great books and one magazine (I’ll mention those shortly), I have spent…
One of the highlights of my weekday mornings is reading the editorial by Steve Jones of SQLServerCentral.com. However, this past Tuesday’s newsletter was particularly newsworthy: Steve announced the sale of the SQLServerCentral.com site to Red Gate software, a UK-based manufacturer of SQL Server tools. Though the timing came as a surprise, I have to say that the sale did not. …
For your listening enjoyment, I have compiled a list off essential audio for .NET developers and SQL DBAs. This list is far from comprehensive, but it represents my must-hear list each week. Hanselminutes (http://www.hanselminutes.com) – This is a (mostly) weekly show that focuses on the expertise of Scott Hanselman. The tagline of the show calls Scott a ‘technologist’, which is…
For some reason, today I came across at least a half-dozen blog posts and articles about how to avoid SQL injection attacks. It had been a while since I had read about SQL injections, and an odd thought comes to mind: Why is SQL injection still an issue? This is such an easy problem to get around. The use of…
Generally I don’t look forward to giving up an entire Saturday at work. However, today’s Dallas Code Camp was an exception. I had been looking forward to this event all week long, and was not disappointed. I arrived a bit early and expected to be one of only a few people there. However, I was surprised to find people already…
I’ve come to learn that there are some really flaky systems out there. Not just a few quirks here and there, but significant problems that someone should have caught. For example, I spent some time earlier this week consolidating two SQL Server machines into one. Through this process, I had to evaluate the vendor app that interfaced with one of…
I would love to find out the statistics about the number of people who blog on or just after New Year’s Day. I’m willing to wager that blogging websites, like health clubs and churches, see a surge of new activity on the first of January. Bloggers, like health club members, sometimes fall into a rut of inactivity, and the new…