User Groups

Steel City SQL Users Group–March 18, 2014– @SteelCitySQL

Next Tuesday, I’m loading up Big Blue, and driving over to Birmingham to present at the Steel City SQL Users Group.  I’ll be talking about the Agile DBA.  Should be fun!

http://www.steelcitysql.org/

Featured Presentation

The Agile DBA: Managing your To-Do List

Speaker: Stuart Ainsworth

Summary: Agile development is all the rage, but how do the principles apply to database administrators? This presentation will introduce the basics of the Agile Manifesto, and explain how they can be applied to non-development IT work, such as database administration, maintenance, and support. We’ll cover scrum (one of the most popular development methodologies) and kanban, and identify some of the common struggles with implementing them in an organization. This is an interactive discussion; please bring your tales of success and your horror stories.

About Stuart: Stuart Ainsworth (MA, MEd) is a manager working in the realm of financial information security. Over the past 15 years, he’s worked as a research analyst, a report writer, a DBA, a programmer, and a public speaking professor. In his current role, he’s responsible for the maintenance of a data analysis operation that processes several hundred million rows of data per day.

2014-03-14 by Conferences Professional Development SQL SQLServerPedia Syndication User Groups 0

Back in the saddle….

It’s been a while since I’ve last posted anything; I blame it on a strange blend of workaholism and laziness. However, before I drifted off to sleep tonight, I did want to mention that I would be presenting a topic at SQL Saturday 167 in Columbus, GA on September 9.  On September 11, in Columbia, SC, I’ll be presenting the same topic at the Midlands PASS Chapter.  If you’re around either one of those meetings, please feel free to stop by and say hello!

The Agile DBA: Managing your To-Do List

Agile development is all the rage, but how do the principles apply to database administrators? This presentation will introduce the basics of the Agile Manifesto, and explain how they can be applied to non-development IT work, such as database administration, maintenance, and support. We’ll cover scrum (one of the most popular development methodologies) and kanban, and identify some of the common struggles with implementing them in an organization. This is an interactive discussion; please bring your tales of success and your horror stories.

2012-08-30 by Blogging is FUN! Conferences User Groups 0

Presenting at Greenville SSIG on Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Just a quick note: I’m presenting next Tuesday at the Greenville SSIG. Kind of a last minute deal, I’m still writing the presentation in fact. Details below:

Please register at http://ssig201203.eventbrite.com/ . If you forget to register, and want to come to the meeting, please do.

6:00 – 6:30 Food and Networking Sponsored by FGP
6:30 – 6:45 Announcements
6:45 – 8:15 Stuart R Ainsworth: Agile Database Administration
8:15 – 8:30 Closing remarks and give-a-ways.

Agile Database Administration
Agile development is all the rage, but how do the principles apply to database administrators? This presentation will introduce the basics of the Agile Manifesto, and explain how they can be applied to non-development IT work, such as database administration, maintenance, and support. We’ll cover scrum (one of the most popular development methodologies) and kanban, and identify some of the common struggles with implementing them in an organization. This is an interactive discussion; please bring your tales of success and your horror stories.

Stuart R. Ainsworth is a database architect and a manager of database administration for a financial security company. He’s also a chapter leader for AtlantaMDF (the Atlanta SQL Server User Group), and blogs (infrequently, but hopes to do better) at http://codegumbo.com/.

2012-03-02 by Education SQLServerPedia Syndication User Groups 0

Upcoming presentations…

So, if you’ve been wondering where I’ve been, the answer is “too frikkin’ busy to write”.  Settling in to a new marriage, changes at my job(s), and volunteer work have been a little more  time-consuming than I originally planned.  I’m hoping that’s gonna change in the near future, cause I’ve some great ideas for posts brewing in the background.

One idea that I’m really excited about is a change in the monthly meetings for AtlantaMDF (our SQL Server User Group); like most user groups, we have a meet-and-greet followed by a presentation (or two).  The presentations usually cover some mid-level to advanced topic, and usually assume that the attendees have some knowledge with SQL Server.  We’re going to tackle that assumption.

Starting at our next meeting (Monday, September 12), we’re going to present short presentations before the main one that are targeted to new users of SQL Server; the goal is to a) build up our new members, and b) help grow our speaker pool.  I’m excited to present the first topic “Stuff in the FROM clause” on Monday, so if you’re in the Alpharetta area Monday night, come by and see me.

Also coming up is our fourth SQL Saturday (#89); although I haven’t been as involved with the planning on this one as I have in years past, it’s been exciting to see it unfold.  I’m looking forward to presenting a session on XQuery, and hanging out by the user group booth. If you’re gonna be there, stop by and say Hi!

2011-09-10 by Conferences SQLServerPedia Syndication User Groups 0

Wrapup: Columbus, GA SQL Server User Group, August 25, 2009

Tuesday, I drove to Columbus,GA to speak at the Columbus GA SQL Server User Group; I had first met Ken Simmons at the Birmingham SQL Saturday, and had promised him that I would drive down there to present.  Ken’s done a great job of organizing a PASS chapter in a small-town setting; Columbus doesn’t have a lot of technical employers, so founding a specialized user group requires a lot of work and input from the few large employers in town.   There were about 14 people in attendance, and 10 of them worked for the same company (although in different divisions).

Just as a side note; the group is meeting at the Columbus Public Library, which is a BEAUTIFUL facility.  The staff was very nice and accommodating.  The only limitation to meeting there is that they have to shut down by 8 PM.

My talk went OK; I’m always critical of my own work, and I realized that it’s a bit esoteric for some people.  One thing that I have learned (but haven’t really applied) is that many people who attend user group sessions and SQLSaturday’s don’t always have the same experiences that I do.  For example, I briefly discussed indexes in this presentation (Confessions of a Data Integrator; look for the upcoming blog posts), and I was a little surprised that there were so many questions about indexing strategies.  I was glad I was able to discuss it, but if I’d known that was still a hot topic, I would have prepared more.

So here’s the lesson learned: if you’re a beginning speaker, or even an advanced speaker, don’t assume that fundemental topics are overdone.  There’s still a great demand for people who can take an important concept (like index strategies, or disk I/O) and explain it in a simple fashion.  Even people who have been DBA’s for years may still have a question about something that you assume is too basic to focus on.

Speaking of basics, just a quick reminder that the Gainesville GA SQLSaturday (#25) is coming up in October; we’re still looking for speakers and attendees.  If you’re in the Atlanta area, Gainesville is only a half-hour away up I-85 and I-985.

2009-08-29 by Conferences SQL Server SQLServerPedia Syndication User Groups 0

Columbus, GA SQL Server Users Group – August 25th

Just confirmed today with Ken Simmons that I’ll be presenting at the Columbus GA SQL Server Users Group on August 25th at 6 pm at the Columbus Public library; if you’re in mid-west Georgia (and a data geek), come join us, and stop by and say “hi!”

I’ll be re-hashing a talk I gave at the Birmingham SQLSaturday regarding dealing with “somebody else’s bad data”; this is always a fun subject, and it’s great for interactive discussions (because every database professional deals with somebody else’s problem).

See you there!

2009-08-02 by SQL Server SQLServerPedia Syndication User Groups 0

AtlantaMDF meeting 2009-01-12

Wanted to drop a quick post wrapping up tonight’s usergroup meeting for AtlantaMDF.  Tonight was the first chance I’ve had to pitch SQLSaturday #13 to a larger audience, and I got a lot of positive feedback.  I had several people volunteer to help, and even had two or three people volunteer to present (not including those who were interested in presenting in my two super-short sessions).  I’m hoping this is going to be killer; I’ve got a lot of legwork to do to get sponsors lined up, but we’re on our way!

There were a lot of new faces tonight; the cynical side of me wants to point to the economy.  A lot of people are either looking for work, or want to make sure that they still have work in the next year.  User groups provide both free education, and free contacts, and you can’t fault someone for doing what they can to improve themselves and make sure that their opportunites are lined up.  However, I think a lot of people are finally starting to realize that SQL Server is a great platform for database development, and the best way they can learn about the technology is to participate in the user group.

Tonight, Eric Melcher of Intellinet gave a great presentation on End-To-End BI.  If you weren’t there, you may want to download it from the AtlantaMDF site when he publishes it; I think the title was a little misleading, but the content was great.  Eric really focused on the client tools available for analysis, including everything from Excel to Performance Point, touching on Excel Web Services, Proclarity, and Reporting Services along the way.  If you’re like me, and you feel overwhelmed by what BI is, and what options are available to display data, this was a great presentation to get your feet wet.

2009-01-13 by Conferences User Groups 1