Tag Archives: #SQLPASS

Interview with Warwick Rudd

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Part of traveling to various events and being a part of the SQL Community means one can meet some pretty awesome professionals. I was fortunate enough to run into Warwick Rudd (B|T) at one of the PASS Summit events held in Seattle, and he definitely lives up to all the hype.

Warwick is a SQL Server MVP, Microsoft Certified Master – SQL 2008, MCT, Founder and Principal Consultant at SQL Masters Consulting. He’s definitely an avid blogger, talented speaker, and a leader in our SQL Community.

After PASS Summit 2015 we kicked an idea around about getting something like this going where we could share a few questions and answers; the timing finally aligned right and well, without further ado:

  • How did  you get your start in working with SQL Server?

I was working as a UNIX scripting developer on an in house created scripting language. The company had a couple of web developers who had installed SQL Server 6.5 and the company needed someone to look after the SQL server environment. I moved in with the oracle DBA’s as there were no SQL server DBA’s and my first training course was delivered by Greg Low. Look where things have led me to now?

  • If there was another occupation you could see yourself doing what would it be and why?

Physiotherapy – I have played  a lot of sports and some to a very high level. Sports and sports remediation I find interesting and just naturally enjoy learning about it.

  • Being in technology we do play some pranks on our fellow colleagues. What is one that you are willing to share, that you have done in your past?

I was working in a bank and at the time we actually did not have pc’s but dumb terminals. We disconnected the keyboard and put sticky tape over the connection before seating the connection back just enough to make it look as though it was plugged in to pass initial inspection of why the keyboard was not working.

  • Where is one place that you would love to speak at someday (conference, SQL Saturday, event, etc.)?

Ha-ha this is a tough one as there are so many different things to take into consideration. But I guess I would love to speak at SQL Saturday in Colorado if it was ever available in winter as I love being in the snow and snowboarding – I would then get to do 2 things I enjoy. There are some bigger events, if I ever got the opportunity to speak at, that would be so humbling to be selected for, but I will keep those close to my chest so as to not jinx myself 🙂

  • For those out there that have not heard of SQL Community, what would you say in 3 words describes SQL Community?

Friendly, Supportive, Intelligent

Big thanks to Warwick for allowing us to take a glimpse into some of his thoughts. If you are ever at an event make sure you stop by and say hi to him; just a stellar individual.

HADR Virtual Chapter Involvement

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I am always looking for ways to get involved within the PASS community. One such way that has become available is the opportunity to get to work with two stellar individuals, one of whom was part of why I became involved within the SQL Community.

John Sterrett (b|t) and I have been speaking some time in various forms or ways that I could help, and this past PASS Summit I was able to sit down with both John and David Klee (b|t). From that meeting I am pleased to announce that I will begin helping with the HADR Virtual Chapter specifically around marketing.

What is the HADR Virtual Chapter?

The High Availability & Disaster Recovery Virtual Chapter focuses on one of the most important aspects of a business – data availability. The goal of the HA&DR Virtual Chapter is to provide a PASS community for Microsoft SQL Server professionals to learn more about how to protect their data and minimize the risk to a business. Join us in our monthly webinar series to learn more about the numerous tools and techniques for SQL Server business continuity.

Speaking Opportunities

If you are interested in speaking at the HADR Virtual Chapter than we would love to hear from you. Please reach out to the various forms provided for John or David as noted above, or feel free to reach out to me. We are always looking for past, present, and future speakers.

Wrap Up

Please check out the HADR home page here and let me know if there are any questions; I would welcome the opportunity to speak with you.

I look forward to teaming up with these two outstanding individuals, and will work extremely hard at continuing their efforts to keep moving this community forward one day at a time.

T-SQL Tuesday #36 SQL Community / What Does the Community Mean To You?

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What? Tuesday already? Is it me or is time really flying by?

Well, I’m fortunate enough this month to host Adam Machanic’s (B|T) concept of T-SQLTuesday #36. I’ve found the previous T-SQLTuesday hosts topics to be very interesting and I hope that I can do it some justice.

Over the course of the last few weeks I’ve gone through some health concerns, a World Series has taken place, Sandy has occurred up North of me, Nascar is ending it’s season, College football is ending, spoke to a group of DBA’s last weekend, attended various webex sessions, etc. One common thread that kept coming to my mind is Community, team work, team effort.

Ironically enough, this week is the PASS Summit 2012. It’s killing me not to be in attendance but I am thankful for PASSTV and for co-workers of mine who are getting to attend for the first time (5 total).

Merriam-Webster defines Community as “a unified body of individuals”. For me the SQL Community is something that has helped me in my career; whether it is questions that I’ve had along the way where I was stuck, helping other DBA’s with issues they were having, networking with other DBA’s or making contacts for the future. The SQL Community is just that; we are a team. All on the same team; if one falls we pick each other up. I’ve never been part of a group of people who want to help each other more so than the SQL Community.

One of the best conferences I’ve been to is the PASS Summit. I was fortunate enough to attend last year and this years will provide new attendees the same fortune and opportunities that I have had. Sitting and seeing some of the top DBA’s in the industry learning in sessions along with me…..yeah I was floored.

So my question today is a simple one; I had several topics to choose from technically but I’m curious as to what others think about our SQL Community. Not just some off the cuff answer but really what do you think about it and how has it helped you?

Below are some thoughts I had in creating this topic:

  • How has the community helped me in my career
  • How can I better the community
  • How can I preserve what we already have
  • How can I help other people in the community

With that said there will be some first timers and there are rules to follow:

  1. Your blog post must be published between Tuesday, November 13th 2012 00:00:00 GMT and Wednesday, November 14th 2012 00:00:00 GMT
  2. Include the T-SQL Tuesday logo (above) and hyperlink it back to this post.
  3. If you don’t see your post in trackbacks, add the link to the comments below.
  4. If you are on Twitter please tweet your blog using the #TSQL2sDay hashtag. I can be contacted there as @YatesSQL, in case you have questions or problems with comments/trackback

Many thanks again to Adam Machanic; if you’d like to host a TSQL Tuesday please give him a shout!