1. Educating yourself will make a SQL career more fulfilling
Chris Wood

2. OregonSQL User Group www.OregonSQL.org
Meetings Every 2nd Wednesday, 6:00PM – 9:00PM
1515 SW 5th Ave, Suite 900, Portland

3. Support Our Sponsors

4. Agenda Who is Chris Wood? Why Educate Yourself Daily Feeds Twitter
Lets Look at Bloggers
Lets Look at PASS
Local User Groups
YouTube Feeds
SQL Saturday
Roadshows
Microsoft Labs
Virtual Conferences
Online Paid training
MOOC’s
Books
SQL Training companies
Conferences
PASS Summit
How to get value for your money
Please look after yourself
Questions

5. Why am I doing this?
I hear people say they cannot pursue training because of the expense.
Professional training can be expensive but there are ways to make it happen.
With help from Andy Yun (SentryOne)
“Everybody has a story to tell.” Just about everything in SQL Server has been discussed from dozens of angles and perspectives. But each one of us will have a different way of talking about it and teaching it. (

6. Who is Chris Wood?

7. Who is Chris Wood - contd?
I am an Englishman who emigrated to Canada in 1982.
I started my DBA career on CA-IDMS in 1989 and in 1997 on SQL 6.5 .
I have been to 12 PASS Summits, 2 DevConnections and a three-time Tech Outbounder.
Helped organize 3 SQL Saturday’s and presented at 4.
– 160+ followers

8. Why Educate Yourself
We are in a rapidly changing IT world. What may have been a lifelong career could be replaced in a short period of time.
Not many people would have heard of me. Some SQL MVPs know me
Why shouldn’t that be you?

9. Examples
Jes Borland (
Tim Mitchell asked me an interesting question: “What should you do if your employer won’t support your career development?” It’s a question I had to answer early in my career, and I am going to share my challenges and solutions. Make time for learning, and put a priority on it.
I am lucky to know Mala Mahadevan – look at her story ( This is a story of my 11-year association with PASS, and the many ways it helped me grow as a person and in my career. And the many ways I saw other people grow.

10. Examples
Eugene Meidinger (
I often ask people with more experience than me “How do you stay relevant in our field?”. I joke that I live in perennial fear of being replaced someday, by a 22 year-old with no family commitments. Really, it’s a joke. Really, it’s a fear.

11. Daily Feeds Brent Ozar Unlimited SQLServerCentral MSSQLTips SSWUG
SQLServerCentral
MSSQLTips
SSWUG
Kendra Little

12. Twitter Lots of SQL experts and bloggers use Twitter.
Great way to find out about blog articles and new products/features.
Use #sqlhelp hashtag. Rivals StackOverflow and Microsoft Forums for getting SQL Help
See #sqlfamily hashtag

13. Let’s Look at Bloggers Brent Ozar SentryOne https://www.brentozar.com/
SQLSkills – Insider Newsletters
Brent Ozar
Microsoft SQL blogs

14. Let’s Look at Bloggers (Continued)
Microsoft SQL Server Version List
Ola Hallengren
SQLHandle
Voice of the DBA
Niko Neugebauer
Hugo Kornelis
Feedly - For aggregation

15. PASS

16. Join PASS to Grow Your Career
Connect with a global network of 250,000+ data professionals
Become a member and gain free access to:
Online educational content
Live webinars
In-person meetups, events, and conferences
Networking, volunteering, and speaking opportunities
The Community
The Benefits
… Join Today!
PASS is a global, not-for-profit association where data professionals Connect, Share and Learn.
Joining PASS is free, and gives you access to hundreds of hours of free online content, live virtual and in-person events, the ability to join Local Groups in your area, and an annual conference, PASS Summit.
PASS is a great way to connect with like-minded professionals, increase your technical expertise, and grow your career.

17. Let’s Look at PASS
(P)rofessional (A)ssociation for (S)QL (S)erver has existed since 1999
Best known for PASS Summit
Offers many virtual user groups that hold a number of webinars
Regular News Letters
Now offers a Career Center
24 Hours of PASS & PASS Marathon

18. Origins of PASS
Kevin Kline, currently of SentryOne and one of the founders of PASS, told us a story about the founding of the PASS organization that I had never heard before. When they first started organizing PASS, 20 years ago, they had almost no funding. They wanted to put on an event, the first PASS Summit, but they had no idea how they were going to compete with much better funded events. Kevin then said that, while they can’t necessarily put on a better event, they can be better people. They would create a culture based on the concept of being aggressively friendly. (

19. PASS Local Groups 300+ PASS Local Groups
I belong to EDMPASS that has existed since 2009.
Most groups have regular meetings with local or remote presentations.
SQLSkills offer presenters.
A good chance to meet with other Data Professionals in your area.
Microsoft offer speakers.
Good opportunity to start speaking.

20. YouTube Feeds
SQL Snacks -
SQL Meals -
Data Science Central =
KDNuggets -
EDureka =

21. Roadshows
SentryOne SQL Vacation -
Redgate – SQL in the City

22. SQLSaturdays
A local event that was created to give attendees an idea of what PASS Summit was about.
Many of the #sqlfamily make an effort to present in the smaller locations.
Some have become big, regular events (Louisville, Madison and Oregon).

23. Free Microsoft Labs Microsoft Self Paced Labs Learn
Learn

24. Virtual Conferences Redgate – SQL in the City
Brent Ozar Unlimited – GroupBy

25. Online Paid Training PluralSight Global Knowledge Pragmatic Works
Global Knowledge
Pragmatic Works

26. MOOCs - Massive Open Online Course
Coursera
Khan Academy
edX
Udemy
SQL School

27. Books Mostly at a cost – could be free as a PDF.
Fairly new book on SQL 2017 Admin.

28. Books - contd
Downloadable - Kindle
Not always completely technical

29. SQL Training Companies
SQLskills
Brent Ozar Unlimited

30. Conferences SQLConnections SQLIntersection MSIgnite Tech Outbound
SQLIntersection
MSIgnite
Tech Outbound

31. Conferences (Continued)
Connections and Intersection are multi product conferences.
The SQL section can be just a part of the conference.
Usually held once or twice a year in places like Orlando, Las Vegas, Dallas, San Francisco.

32. Conferences (Continued)
MSIgnite seems to be the big Microsoft Conference that has all the announcements

33. How to get value for your money?
There are three components to a conference
Registration fees
Travel
Accommodation

34. How do I plan if I want to attend?
Content
Location
Value – opportunity and contacts
Can this be a vacation?
Would my wife want to go?
How can I afford this?
How easy is it to get time off?

35. Please look after yourself
Lots of SQL Saturday’s now having mental health sessions and even tracks – Denver #774
This is a sedentary job – easy to gain weight 10 to 20 lbs in the first year
I’m seeing lots in #sqlfamily trying to loose weight
This job can be very stressful – with long hours outside of normal office hours
You need other interests and be able to take a break
I have a love affair with SQL but it can also be like a cancer
Balance your life – work mostly certainly isn’t everything

36. PASS Summit

37. Attend PASS Summit to Grow Your Career
Connect with a global network of data professionals
PASS Summit is the largest conference for technical professionals who leverage the Microsoft Data Platform. Immerse yourself in deep-dive technical sessions, learn best practices, and discover new tips and tricks.
November 6-9 | Seattle, WA
PASSsummit.com
Over 200 sessions

38. Attend PASS Summit to Grow Your Career
November 6-9 | Seattle, WA | PASSsummit.com

39. Attend PASS Summit to Grow Your Career
November 6-9 | Seattle, WA | PASSsummit.com

40. Attend PASS Summit to Grow Your Career
November 6-9 | Seattle, WA | PASSsummit.com

41. PASS Summit 2018 Registration Offer
Save $150 USD
Register for PASS Summit as a SQLSaturday Oregon attendee and save $150 USD off your conference registration price.
To access your exclusive discount, use code* xxxxxxxx when you register and your savings will calculate at time of registration.
*Unique discount code cannot be applied retroactively and cannot be combined with any other offers

42. Tech Outbound – was SQL Cruise
Currently happens on a cruise ship – will change to other locations
Needs cruise ship booking before registering with Tech Outbound
Classroom sessions mostly when sailing
Includes dinner meetings and photo shoots
Likes students to bring family – learning plus vacation
Supported by RedGate and SentryOne

43. Tech Outbound Instructors
Tim Ford
Grant Fritchey
RedGate

44. Support Our Sponsors

45. Questions?

46. Learn more from Chris Wood
@Chrisavwood