This should be slightly more interesting than “Hello Google!”

I am starting this very blog as a direct result of my experience on SQL Cruise. No joke. Two pertinent facts:

1. I’ve been a SQL Server DBA for the better part of two decades.
2. I’ve been writing about Indycar racing at my own blogs and others, including one sponsored by the series, for nearly a dozen years.

And yet, I’ve never put SQL Server and blog together and written about being a DBA. Go figure.

Here’s why I’ve changed my mind. TL;DR – a week last year with some incredibly gracious folks on SQL Cruise. But in case you want a little longer version, here goes.

At the beginning of 2017 I was fortunate enough to be offered a position with a major company in the waste management industry. Stop laughing. Seriously, it’s a great position for two reasons. First, they have hundreds of SQL Server instances, which means hundreds of possible places for improvement. If I can’t make a positive impact here then I’m useless. Second, I get to work with a great DBA team, which I learned all too late in life is key to growing skills. Iron sharpens iron, as the Proverb goes, and when you’re on a team of people you trust you’re going to keep learning from each other with every experience.

Which brings me to something Allan White, one of the presenters on the SQL Cruise Alaska 2017 that I attended, says a lot: “Everyone has a story to tell”. What he means is: everyone has spent their time learning something, so make it a point to teach that something to others.

Which brings me to a corollary point from Andy Yun, a fellow SQL Cruise attendee: “Everyone has their own way of telling a story”. Which is to say that you can teach the same things that others are teaching, but you will have your own way of speaking and your own style of teaching.

A week with these two and many other really smart and encouraging SQL Server folks made me consider that maybe I have learned a thing or two all my years as a DBA. And more importantly, maybe I should be giving back instead of hording whatever knowledge I have in my head.

In the months since then I’ve been trying think about the best ways I can share what I have learned and continue to learn. I’ve decided to light the candle on this site, and also to begin creating some presentations for possible training sessions. And I’m doing this under the guidance of the phrase “tell a story”.

So these are my stories, and this is my way of passing along notes that hopefully will benefit others. I’ll try to mind the typos.