Allen Kinsel - SQL DBA

SQL Server, PASS, and other data mishaps

PASS Program Update #2

By Allen Kinsel, 5 months and 30 days ago

Here comes High Gear

Things have really started to move lately, We've officially started the Program Committee for 2010.Things are changing

We received 53 applications this year from members hoping to help out on the program committee.  That's a huge number for us, When I joined in 2007 I think I was accepted by default because we didn't have enough volunteers.  in 2008 there were approximately 20, last year we had 23.  Obviously we're gaining some attention in the process of making the education program at the annual pass summit the best year after year.

Selecting the abstract review teams

With so many applicants, selecting the teams was quite a chore this year.  Its like interviewing for an open position at your company but instead of having 1 position, you have 17 open and instead of a hand-full of qualified applicants, you get a boatload.  That pretty much sums up the experience every year but, this year it was twice as bad as I remember it being in the past (possibly because of the doubling in applicants).  In the end, the quest to fill these teams took quite a bit of time, unfortunately just like selecting employees for your day job, there is really no best way to make the selections.  I should have probably just used a dartboard for the selections but, I didn't want to disservice those that had taken the time to apply.  After quite a few iterations of making sure everyone was in the team that best leverages their skill sets, the new volunteers were notified.

Keep reading →

Your relationship with your professional organization

By Allen Kinsel, 7 months and 1 day ago

Do you have a relationship with your professional organization?

What is your professional organization?  is it in technology?  Something like Ineta, PASS, ISUG, IDUG, IOUG or one of the other various technology groups that exist.  Or maybe your preferred group is more in the business side of things like ASPA LOMA or AICPA.  If you dont know your desired professional organization, take a second and plug in your favorite search terms + professional organization into «binoogle» and see if the results lead you to a new beginning.

Expectations

If you already know your professional organization, what do you expect of your relationship with your organization?  Is it a two way street?  Do you give as well as receive?  Would you like the relationship between you and that organization to be stronger or weaker?  Do they do enough to help you succeed, do they provide value?  Do you do what you can to enable their success?  A little overly rhetorical probably, but you get the point.

Keep reading →

How did I get here?

By Allen Kinsel, 7 months and 13 days ago

There's a meme going around that I thought I'd take my turn at answering.

Better late than never I suppose, Work always seems to have a way of getting in the way of posts like this!

Keep reading →

SQL Karaoke, Volunteering and SQLPASS

By Allen Kinsel, 9 months and 21 days ago

Why do I volunteer for PASS?

 

Ive been asked more times than I can count why I spend so many hours working for an organization that doesnt pay anything other than thanks and smiles. 

I work for a large company, and have a very small team of people.  As such, it is often very helpful to have a sounding board outside of your sphere of influence to talk to people about ideas, issues and bacon, mostly bacon.  Sure there has always been newsgroups and forums and they certainly have their place for this type of information exchange.  However, when you know someone and have shared a dinner, a beer, a session, or even just a 5 minute hall discussion, they are more vested in you're outcome than some random stranger on an internet forum.   The overall quality of the conversations and of the information that is exchanged in these groups is higher than the average internet sql community, if only by a little bit.  

Keep reading →

A new blog is born

By Allen Kinsel, 9 months and 21 days ago

A new take on an old idea

As if there aren't already enough blogs around about SQL server I've decided to start and build my own.  For those of you tortured lucky enough to know me you'll know exactly how hard the decision has been to start this blog.

I hope this blog will become a place that I can throw random thoughts about with almost reckless abandon.  I plan on using this place as a sounding board for ideas as well as a place to store my ideas for use at a later time.

I will likely be focusing more on SQLPASS than on SQL Server troubleshooting itself so, this is where this blog will be different from most.  I think SQLPASS could be so much more than it currently is and I intend to do my level best to make that happen

Keep reading →

← Previous 01 02 Next →