This community is amazing. Across two decades in my career I have seen it grow, and grow, and now explode. It's been exciting to me, and it continues to be exciting every day.

The community is you. Each of you out there, each person that visits a site like this, or attends a user group, a SQL Saturday, posts a blog, or even asks a question. You are the greatest part of this community. It's the involvement of people that is the most important part of this community, and I hope that more of you will continue to actively work in the community over time.

I don't have to attend SQL Saturdays. It's a pain to travel. It's slightly annoying to my wife when I'm gone as it cuts into her horse time. My kids miss me on the weekends. It jams up my work schedule and results in some late nights for me. I don't typically represent Red Gate, though I'll likely do a bit more in the future as they are paying for my trips. I don't even get a resume bullet out of it at this point in my life.

So why do I go? I go because of this community. I go because I get to talk to people and get excited by listening to them. I get inspired to see people giving up time out of their lives to try and learn something. And I feel I should be doing more when I hear some people tell me how far they've driven to a SQL Saturday. I go because the it's least I can do to give back to a community that has helped me over the years.

The community is bigger than any site, bigger than any event, bigger than any organization. There is so much to appreciate in this community, and I look forward to finding new ways to speak to you, engage with you, interact with you, and learn from you. It is a privilege and honor to exchange emails on a regular basis with so many of you, and shake the few hands at events.

I look forward to catching up with old friends and meeting new ones in the future. Please feel free to say hi, ask me a question, give me your opinion on anything SQL Server, or just share a cup of coffee at SQL Connections this fall, or any of the SQL Saturday events we attend together.

Steve Jones

The Voice of the DBA Podcasts

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Today's podcast features music by Everyday Jones. No relation, but I stumbled on to them and really like the music. Support this great duo at www.everydayjones.com.

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