Becoming a Master

Being a Speaker – PASS Summit 2022 (yay!)

Michael Wall October 10, 2022 0 Comments

I was once again honored by the session evaluation team for PASS Summit to be chosen to speak this year at Seattle. I'm super excited as I will be doing my Professional Development presentation on Becoming a Master! There's still plenty of time to sign up for Summit, but hurry up as it's only going to get more expensive and harder to find lodging. You can sign up right here: PASS Data Community...

The need for User Groups

Michael Wall September 25, 2022 2 Comments

I remember Paul Turley saying a few years ago at a Speaker Dinner, "We're literally aging out". I am almost done with my European Tour, and it is obvious that a number of things are the same across the pond: The need for cloud migration. Like it or not the cloud is here to stay in all of its weird and wonderful permutations. Whether you choose Azure or AWS or other competitors, the migration...

The Azure “secret”

Michael Wall July 12, 2021 0 Comments

I'm a big believer in doing research and practicing processes and procedures until they don't break anymore. In my job, breaking things means downtimes and unhappy customers. Because of this, I like to put a lot of time in documentation, trials, practice, etc to make sure everything works the way it should be. I might even say I'm a little bit obsessive. Human beings change, systems rarely do....

Sponsorship and giving back

Michael Wall August 06, 2020 0 Comments

I'm lucky to be in a good area with a lot of data professionals merely a drive away. I've made some good friends and really improved my knowledge just by having them available. Sadly, a number have also moved away like Alicia Moniz and Brandon Leach, but they still left their mark upon me (in a good way). But, Kellyn Pot'vin-Gorman just moved into the area, literally a bike ride away (a long...

Speaking at PASS Summit 2020

Michael Wall August 03, 2020 0 Comments

First of all, thank you for picking me to speak at PASS Summit again. I am honored and grateful and very appreciative of the chance to pass on knowledge to all my many peers out there in the world. And this time, it really will be out there in the world with the event going virtual!! I will be speaking on Polybase, which is a really fascinating tool for SQL Server that could use a little more...

Happy DBA Day!

Michael Wall July 03, 2020 0 Comments

Today is International DBA Appreciation Day! Go hug your local DBA (if they'll let you!) There have been many articles about the death of the DBA, the evolution of the DBA, how to feed a DBA, etc. Rob Sewell has posted on the many meanings of the DBA acronym, and let us not forget that it also means "Doing Business As" to the greater population! So what kind of a business are we doing? In my...

Polybase – It’s what’s for dinner

Michael Wall July 01, 2020 0 Comments

Polybase is a pretty cool technology that was debuted in SQL Server 2016 as part of the Big Data (Clusters) initiative. It got a bit of a facelift in SQL Server 2019 and now is really cool. I've been testing and breaking it in the past few months just for fun, but it got kind of exciting when I applied the SQL Server 2019 CU5 patch on my test cluster. I'll post about these findings as I am able...

PASS – Show us the numbers (you need)!!!

Michael Wall July 01, 2020 0 Comments

Let's face it, we're all data geeks. We love numbers, we love visualizations, we love dashboards (or at least know how to make them!). The PASS board said that they need a "certain amount of registrations to break even and a certain amount to make sure they keep the coffers full for next year". (paraphrased). In fact, an email even came out last week promising some numbers. Great! What are those...

Planning for your own in-person data conference – Pt 2 – Location

Michael Wall December 10, 2023 0 Comments

Oregon Data Community/Oregon SQL has had their conference at many sites in both Portland and Vancouver. My first SQL Saturday was back in 2011 at the appropriately named Climb Center in Portland. There was an elevator, but it was small and slow, so it was faster to carry things up and down the four flights of stairs. This brings forth a number of good points in location selection Ease of Access...

Planning for your own in-person Data Conference – Pt 1

Michael Wall November 30, 2023 0 Comments

SQL Saturday Oregon and SW Washington 2023 is in the books and I hope everyone had a good time. As always, it was fantastic to see many people from the #SQLFamily. As always, I was running around like a chicken with my head cutoff due to many issues including coffee.... I expect that. It's hard to manage any size of group, and there will always be issues, especially when people are involved. We...

Maintaining a Balance

Michael Wall August 13, 2023 0 Comments

I'm not sure how some people manage to do it. It's been a stressful year between balancing my job, my family obligations, my health, my Lodge, my Data User Group, and having a little bit of fun for myself. Luckily I work with some really good people who are more than capable of getting things done. That being said, there are also a lot of people who just don't do anything unless pressed! But...I...

#NewStarNovember – Being a Mentor

Michael Wall December 01, 2022 0 Comments

As always, thank you to Ben for his continued positive influence on the data community and the world at large. Let's hope he likes my post! What got you into Speaking? I was fortunate enough to be near an active UG, originally the Oregon SQL UG based in Portland, OR. After discovering my first SQL Saturday in 2011, I became an active volunteer in 2015 and slowly started speaking. I had no idea...

SQL Saturday Oregon and SW Washington

Michael Wall November 03, 2022 0 Comments

I know, it's a little confusing. This event, one of the oldest SQL Saturdays, is going to once again be held in Vancouver, WA. Why? Portland, in the kindest way I can phrase, has become a challenging place to find meeting spots. Three of the Leadership members of Oregon Data Community live in Vancouver, all of us have an association with our site, Clark College, and Vancouver is just a fun city...

The Power of Networking

Michael Wall September 18, 2022 0 Comments

Here I am, finally fulfilling a dream started back when I was 14 to see Europe. In my Freshman German class, I paid a small amount of money to have some penpals around the world. I remember I had a German girl, a French girl, and an Australian girl that lived in Adelaide. She and I kept in touch through college and I still have a cassette tape she sent me. I've described this trip as being a...

Taking Count

Michael Wall July 08, 2021 0 Comments

I'm not sure, but maybe the pandemic has finally caught up with me, but when I go to bed at night, I'm tired! At the beginning of the pandemic, I was fortunate enough to have been hired on by Pragmatic Works, and then my department was sold to 3Cloud! All of the excitement of working for two great companies plus normal life activities really insulated me from dealing with the pandemic. Sure,...