I read a post on Brent Ozar’s blog last week that discussed employers’ expectations when hiring new team members. Though the story was specific to database professionals, the same principles apply to almost any hiring situation. The moral of Brent’s story is that when hiring, just like in real life, you have to compromise what you may really want to stay within…
Have you ever noticed unexpected gaps in sequences in SQL Server identity columns? Even though you’ve got transactions set up for your inserts and a no-deletion policy, you find that there are missing values in what should be an unbroken sequence of numbers. The problem could be partially related to transaction rollbacks. Conventional wisdom would lead one to believe that…
Should you ever delete data? Data quality is important, and completeness is a measure of the quality of data. Whether you refer to it as data integrity, permanent retention, or simply maintaining a complete audit trail, it can be effectively argued that purging old data clouds the big picture that the data presents. After all, any data that is worthy…
When I talk to other SQL Server professionals, I’m often surprised at how many do not have any involvement in their local SQL Server user group. As best I can tell, the problem is not limited to SQL Server types – many technical pros do not even know that there are user groups in their area, much less participate in…
I’ve seen a good deal of coverage recently that is geared toward those who have recently begun a career as a database professional. Brad McGehee posted this week about some potential topics for a book for new SQL Server developers, and Craig Outcalt is publishing a series of articles on SQLServerCentral.com aimed at new DBAs. Brent Ozar also has a…