Continuous personal development is an important part of most chartered professions - Doctors, Dentists, Architects, Engineers, etc., and I can't help thinking it's a good thing - the state of knowledge within most areas is constantly expanding and the more knowledge your Doctor has, the better treatment you can get. It's a good thing that Architects can learn new things - it means that we get better buildings.
The rate that the IT field is changing is also rapid. This means that we have to continuously improve our knowledge in order simply to stand still. It's something that some employers will help with, particularly if the topic is relevant to upcoming work, but if your employer doesn't feel able to pick up all of the cost, there are lots of ways to help persuade them that it's cheaper than they think - and your showing an interest will probably tip the balance; it could also help them perceive you as a more enthusiastic and valuable employee.
However, not all conferences need cost you lots of money, if you can get yourself there and make the time.
As you may know, I am a regular attendee at the SQL South West User Group, and the group organisers, FatherJack and Mrs_Fatherjack are putting on the latest SQL Saturday event in Exeter (UK) on the 8th and 9th of March. The Friday is a paid day of deep-dive sessions (with a discount of 19% if you register by 31st January) and Saturday the 9th is a day of 1 hour long sessions on a variety of topics. These are usually long enough to cover a subject, without being too detailed. That means they're suitable for a variety of levels of knowledge.
The SQL Bits team are again putting on a conference on the first weekend in May (a bank holiday weekend), this time in Nottingham. I've written about my experiences attending an earlier SQL Bits conference and I'd highly recommend it.
If you can't free up the weekend of a conference, your local user group can be a gentler introduction, and you will find a list of UK SQL learning opportunities here.You can also see recordings of past sessions from most conferences online at your convenience, but of course that does mean you miss the networking opportunities that attendance at the event brings.
If you've been to conferences in the past, why not contribute back to the community, and submit a session for a conference, or speak at a user group? SQL Saturday 194 is accepting sessions until Monday 8th January 2013, and SQL Bits session submission is also open. Both events welcome submissions from new speakers.
Wherever you are in your career, I hope that you embrace the challenge of learning something new this year.
Showing posts with label SQLBits. Show all posts
Showing posts with label SQLBits. Show all posts
Saturday, 5 January 2013
Monday, 3 October 2011
My first SQLBits - how I got on, and why you should give it a go
I'm a Database Developer (primarily using Microsoft SQL) in my day job, and have been going along to the SQL South West User Group since it was formed back in April. Following some gentle encouragement from a colleague, and a discussion at the group, I thought that this "SQLBits" stuff seemed like something worth investigating - as previously I'd thought (wrongly) that SQL Conferences were all held in America, which is a bit far for me to go for a day trip.
Going to the SQL Bits website, I looked at some of the previous sessions (which are available as videos online - a great training resource in themselves), and the Saturday was listed as a "Community Day" (i.e. free!), I thought I would give it a try. I have to say my employer was very supportive - and even helped with my costs in terms of accommodation etc.
So it was that when the Friday before the conference rolled round, I found myself driving up from the west country to Liverpool, with a mounting sense of anticipation about the conference, and a mounting sense of frustration at Friday afternoon traffic. I don't think this was helped by the forecast of the hottest October day on record for the Saturday, with the accompanying rush to "get away for the weekend"!
I was pleasantly surprised by how many SQL Server users there are who will get up and be at a conference by 8am on a Saturday. Apparently, it simply requires the offer of a good breakfast - and an urn of coffee. It was great to see people engaging and chatting as they awoke - and the speakers and helpers engaging with the rest of us in a helpful and friendly manner.
So on to the sessions. With six sessions running concurrently, spread over 7 time slots, there was a lot of option as to what to see. Clearly, as these were spread over 5 subject areas (BI, DBA, Denali, Dev, and Sponsor), there were going to be clashes of what people wanted to see - in my case I'll be watching at least two sessions (which I couldn't attend due to a clash) on the SQLBits website as soon as the videos go up. I may also "revise" some of the bits where I can't quite read my notes from the sessions!
The sessions are all listed with a "difficulty rating" which follows the same pattern as the standard levels that Microsoft uses for training sessions (100 being not very technical, up to 400 which is really very detailed) - so you can pick a more or less technical session depending upon your ability and awakeness levels. The agenda is published online before you sign up, so you know what you are going to attend, and can discuss with colleagues before you go. I chose to start with a level 200 session on Database Unit Testing in Visual Studio 2010. The talk was very helpful and identified several areas where I can incorporate changes into my daily work. It's worth noting that whilst this was a level 200 session, there was a question from the audience which highlighted a feature which couldn't be used via the default use of the tool, but another audience member was able to identify how the problem could be solved - at a slightly more technical content level. This shows that the speakers aren't afraid to tailor the sessions should the audience be interested in knowing a bit more detail.
The breaks gave me an opportunity (after a quick coffee) to engage with some of the events sponsors. It's great to put a face to the names of the organisations upon whose tools you rely every day, and to find others who you can use in the future. Of course, there were a number of times that specific tools were mentioned in the sessions - but this was always on merit, and often were completely unrelated to the sponsors.
I was pleasantly surprised that I found myself talking to all sorts of people - some of which I'd heard of from blogs and community websites, and some of whom were first time attendees like myself. It's great to get a sense of involvement in the community, and to realise that these people are so down to earth. It also means that you worry less about asking "silly" questions online if you've at least met the people who answer you!
I saw a selection of talks from across the variety of "specialisms" - it was great to be able to pick on a talk-by-talk basis which I was attending next. Generally the rooms were sufficiently sized that there was enough space to go round - although some of the sessions clearly appealed to more people than the organisers expected. I only missed one session - I'd gotten talking to a vendor, and quite forgotten the time - which was unfortunate, but resulted in a somewhat longer lunch break than expected! This wasn't a problem, and it was actually nice to be able to take a bit of a break as the day can get quite intense if you engage in as much as you can.
The only slight niggle came from the skies - the aforementioned weather. Whilst most rooms were well ventilated, there were a couple of rooms which were quite warm - those of you who attended the sessions in the "boardroom" will know what I mean! Unfortunately there's little which the organisers could have done to foresee this - and I really don't regard this as a problem.
All in all, I really enjoyed my first SQLBits conference, and I'll be looking forward to the next one. In the mean time, I'm going to continue to engage with my local User Group - you can find yours at http://www.sqlserverfaq.com/.
If you're thinking of attending your first SQLBits conference, and you have any questions, do get in touch - either with me or the SQLBits organisers directly - they're very friendly!
Dave.
Going to the SQL Bits website, I looked at some of the previous sessions (which are available as videos online - a great training resource in themselves), and the Saturday was listed as a "Community Day" (i.e. free!), I thought I would give it a try. I have to say my employer was very supportive - and even helped with my costs in terms of accommodation etc.
So it was that when the Friday before the conference rolled round, I found myself driving up from the west country to Liverpool, with a mounting sense of anticipation about the conference, and a mounting sense of frustration at Friday afternoon traffic. I don't think this was helped by the forecast of the hottest October day on record for the Saturday, with the accompanying rush to "get away for the weekend"!
I was pleasantly surprised by how many SQL Server users there are who will get up and be at a conference by 8am on a Saturday. Apparently, it simply requires the offer of a good breakfast - and an urn of coffee. It was great to see people engaging and chatting as they awoke - and the speakers and helpers engaging with the rest of us in a helpful and friendly manner.
So on to the sessions. With six sessions running concurrently, spread over 7 time slots, there was a lot of option as to what to see. Clearly, as these were spread over 5 subject areas (BI, DBA, Denali, Dev, and Sponsor), there were going to be clashes of what people wanted to see - in my case I'll be watching at least two sessions (which I couldn't attend due to a clash) on the SQLBits website as soon as the videos go up. I may also "revise" some of the bits where I can't quite read my notes from the sessions!
The sessions are all listed with a "difficulty rating" which follows the same pattern as the standard levels that Microsoft uses for training sessions (100 being not very technical, up to 400 which is really very detailed) - so you can pick a more or less technical session depending upon your ability and awakeness levels. The agenda is published online before you sign up, so you know what you are going to attend, and can discuss with colleagues before you go. I chose to start with a level 200 session on Database Unit Testing in Visual Studio 2010. The talk was very helpful and identified several areas where I can incorporate changes into my daily work. It's worth noting that whilst this was a level 200 session, there was a question from the audience which highlighted a feature which couldn't be used via the default use of the tool, but another audience member was able to identify how the problem could be solved - at a slightly more technical content level. This shows that the speakers aren't afraid to tailor the sessions should the audience be interested in knowing a bit more detail.
The breaks gave me an opportunity (after a quick coffee) to engage with some of the events sponsors. It's great to put a face to the names of the organisations upon whose tools you rely every day, and to find others who you can use in the future. Of course, there were a number of times that specific tools were mentioned in the sessions - but this was always on merit, and often were completely unrelated to the sponsors.
I was pleasantly surprised that I found myself talking to all sorts of people - some of which I'd heard of from blogs and community websites, and some of whom were first time attendees like myself. It's great to get a sense of involvement in the community, and to realise that these people are so down to earth. It also means that you worry less about asking "silly" questions online if you've at least met the people who answer you!
I saw a selection of talks from across the variety of "specialisms" - it was great to be able to pick on a talk-by-talk basis which I was attending next. Generally the rooms were sufficiently sized that there was enough space to go round - although some of the sessions clearly appealed to more people than the organisers expected. I only missed one session - I'd gotten talking to a vendor, and quite forgotten the time - which was unfortunate, but resulted in a somewhat longer lunch break than expected! This wasn't a problem, and it was actually nice to be able to take a bit of a break as the day can get quite intense if you engage in as much as you can.
The only slight niggle came from the skies - the aforementioned weather. Whilst most rooms were well ventilated, there were a couple of rooms which were quite warm - those of you who attended the sessions in the "boardroom" will know what I mean! Unfortunately there's little which the organisers could have done to foresee this - and I really don't regard this as a problem.
All in all, I really enjoyed my first SQLBits conference, and I'll be looking forward to the next one. In the mean time, I'm going to continue to engage with my local User Group - you can find yours at http://www.sqlserverfaq.com/.
If you're thinking of attending your first SQLBits conference, and you have any questions, do get in touch - either with me or the SQLBits organisers directly - they're very friendly!
Dave.
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