Where’s Drew, August 2018 Edition

Things got a little hectic there towards the end of last month: some SQL Saturday events back-to-back weekends and also squeezing in a two-day training class with Brent Ozar Unlimited. And here comes August. Here’s where I’ll be and what I’m up to:

  • First up: SQL Saturday Indianapolis is on August 11th, and holy cow, it’s going to be huge. 400 (!) attendees will be there this year, which is even bigger than the previous year (which was already well into the 300’s). I’ll be there and so will the HASSP module where I’ll be talking about the project. If you’ve ever wanted to see it up close and attend a huge SQL Saturday, this is a great chance. Hope to see you there!
  • I was also asked to speak on August 23rd 6pm to the Central Ohio .Net Developers Group. Honestly, I wish I spoke at more user groups than just SQL Server related ones, and I’m glad I’m getting the opportunity. I’ll be talking about SQL Server execution plans; what they are, how they work, and why they’re vitally important to understanding query performance (or lack thereof). You can get more details about the group, and where they meet, from the link above.
  • And finally, in other travel related news, it’s time for my most anticipated trip of the year: Oslo, Norway. I’m coming back to SQL Saturday Oslo after a year hiatus and I couldn’t possibly be more excited. This time, instead of embarking on a larger trip afterwards, I’m sticking around Oslo itself for most it. I’ll be teaching a pre-con (my first) with the incredible Rob Sewell. Both the pre-con and my session will be about PowerShell and SQL Server. Speaking internationally is something I try to do once a year (with last year being Cambridge and the year before that Oslo) and even as much as I hate flying, I’m super excited to be back. Norway is such a great country, and I’ve made some really good friends along the way.

So that’s in-person stuff. What else is going on?

  • Lately, I’ve had to work on some data delivery problems. I’ve been experimenting with Kafka for coming up with some data pipelines, so once I get something up and working more than just a POC, I’d like to share what I have. It’s complex, but even after playing with it just a little I see the value and possibilities with it. I did a blog post a while back about using RabbitMQ to transfer messages between SQL Server and other systems, and this isn’t too different… except it scales way differently.
  • I’ve also continued my journey with Chef. Chef is a nice framework for automation and has different pieces that can help with things like compliance, too. Like the Kafka stuff above, once I have something worth showing, I’ll do so, but I’m not quite there yet (but it’s coming).

Just like everything else, I’ll do as much as I can when I can. Hope to run into you all somewhere this month!