Last year, I tried to attend one of Paul Randal’s and Kimberly Tripp’s SQL Immersion Events, but it conflicted with other travel, and I couldn’t attend. Now I am glad I waited. For 2011, the training has been redesigned, and now offers four in-depth sessions.

• Master Immersion Event on Internals and Performance (5 days)
• Master Immersion Event on Performance Tuning (5 days)
• Master Immersion Event on High Availability and Disaster Recovery (4 days)
• Master Immersion Event on Security, PowerShell, and Development Support (5 days)

Once the 2011 schedule was announced, I jumped at the opportunity to attend the Master Immersion Event on Internals and Performance to be held in Dallas from February 21-25, and registered as soon as I could. I am also hoping to attend more of the sessions later this year.

Although I have 16 years experience working with SQL Server, and I am fortunate to attend many SQL Server events and conferences, I still find it hard to keep up with everything. In addition, I have gaps in my knowledge and experience because the organizations I have worked for have not used all the features in SQL Server, so while I may have great knowledge and experience in some areas, in other areas I am weak. By attending this advanced training, I am hoping to fill in those missing gaps so that I am a much better rounded DBA.

The Master Immersion training is great because it servers dual purposes. First, it offers advanced training that any DBA can attend and learn from. In addition, if you attend all of the sessions, it is a great foundation for preparing for the Microsoft Certified Masters certification in Microsoft SQL Server 2008. I still have not decided if I want to take the MCM certification tests or not, but if I do, the training I get will definitely help me out.

Of course, quality training is not cheap, and I am fortunate that my employer will cover my training costs. If you can’t get your organization to cover the costs of training, you might want to consider entering a contest sponsored by SQLskills, that is giving away a free seat at the 5-day Internals and Performance class to be held in Dallas, February 21-25. To find out more about how to enter this contest, click here. Hurry, as you must enter the contest by Tuesday, January 25.

By the way, if you want some great free, online training from Paul and Kimberly, courtesy of Microsoft, check out the SQLskills free online MCM training videos, which includes 40 hours of advanced training. I am working through these myself, and hopefully will view them all soon. Another great source of advanced SQL Server training is the MCM Pre-Reading list. While these videos and reading list are focused on preparing for the MCM exam, don’t let that frighten you away, as it is great training for all DBAs.