If you could give a DBA just one piece of advice, what would it be?

I asked 20 successful and experienced SQL Server professionals this exact question. You can find their answers inside DBA JumpStart, a unique collection of inspiring content just for SQL Server DBAs.

Just Another Blog Post

It’s hard to believe that this SQL community project began life as just another blog post idea. Back in August I started working on a concept for a post offering advice for aspiring DBAs and Data Professionals. I wanted to create something unique and valuable to share with the SQL community.

I began by thinking about what advice I could offer to those just starting out on their DBA journey. It turned out Professional Development is something I can talk quite a bit about. There are so many things I would want to share with an aspiring DBA but what if I had to choose just one thing, what might that be? What one piece of wisdom could I share, that could have the most positive impact?

A powerful notion and one that I thought could be amplified even further if others were to follow the same formula. With this in mind I began reaching out to friends in the SQL community for their thoughts, the idea being to create a blog post containing their “one piece of advice” for DBAs.

That Idea Deserves Something Bigger

When I first contacted Brent Ozar (Blog|Twitter) if he would be so kind as to share a few words for a blog post I was working on, asking:

 “If you could give an aspiring DBA just one piece of advice what would it be?”

…….I had no idea that we would end up here. Creating a collection of inspirational writing from over 20 SQL Server experts and community champions.

That’s the great thing about our community, we bring out the best in each other. Brent could have just gone along with my original request but instead he saw the potential for something much more when he said:

“This is a great idea that deserves something bigger. I want to challenge you to build a free PDF around this.”

What started life as just another blog post idea, has grown into something much more than I could have imagined.

Created by the Community, for the Community

I want to say a humongous thank you to all of you who contributed to this project. Your generosity has created a marvelous and inspiring gift to the community. To have you take part means a great deal to me. Thank you.

DBA JumpStart is unique. There’s no other ebook for DBAs like it. You’ll absolutely want to read it cover-to-cover but you can dive right on in anywhere and be inspired.

You can get your free copy of DBA JumpStart right now. I hope you enjoy it.