I drove over to Melbourne last night to the new home of Space Coast SQL at the Harris Institute for Assured Information, located on the Florida Institute of Technology Campus. Not hard to find, good parking, great building, great room for the group – modern classroom with nice furniture and plenty of room. It’s nice to have a nice room to meet in.

I was catching up with group leader Bonnie Allard before the meeting and she has an awesome arrangement for the group:

• First class space
• A deal with students there to set up the room each month
• Pizza ordered from the cafeteria and delivered to the room

It was the third anniversary of the group, something that I think came as a surprise to them. They started, kept going, and suddenly it’s three years! Congratulations to the group, takes perseverance to keep a group going in a small town.

I gave my presentation about professional development plans and had the luxury of about 1.5 hours to talk, allowing me to spend some extra time on a few portions. One of the things we talked about during the presentation was certifications – are they worth doing? My standard answer is that they are superb for driving learning, especially in the MS world, but rarely make the difference when it comes to getting a job. Bonnie had an example of a time when it did make the difference for her,interesting to hear. It hasn’t changed my mind on certs,but it’s a good reminder that when you interview you accentuate what you have – never know what will resonate with the interviewer.

Two of the attendees came to this presentation almost a year ago in Tampa and in both cases they said taking time to think through their goals and build a rough plan made a difference. One comment was that “it helped me decide what to spend time on”. Good stuff!

It was a nice evening. Low key group, good conversation, good to see old friends.