Well, I set 7 professional goals for 2009 and I did okay in meeting them, but I was not successful in all and, really, that is only because I did not put in the time to get them all done. So let’s go through them and see how I did:
- Learn SQL Server 2008, particularly policy-based management, resource governor, and service broker.
- Well, I did learn some SQL Server 2008. I run it on my laptop and have spent some time with it.
- Policy-based Management – I have played with it, read about it, and attended a couple of presentations about it. I’d call this one attained
- Resource Governor – I did a little reading on it, but I did not study beyond that. I have not played with it all. I’d call this one missed.
- Service Broker – I really need to learn this one, but I have not. This a fail.
- Write 1 article per quarter for SQLServerCentral
- Man, I started out great with this one, but fell off in the second half of the year. I still have a series on Profiler to complete, but I got stuck on a problem with Replaying a trace so I flamed out. I had 2 in the first half and none in the second half. This is a major fail and I have no excuse except lack of motivation.
- Record and submit 1 video per quarter for JumpstartTV (now SQLShare).
- I did one video in January and one in December (still to be approved at SQLShare). So again, another fail because of lack of effort and planning.
- One blog post per week
- I met this one by average as there were weeks I did not have a post, but more weeks when I had multiple posts. With this post I’ll have 113 posts in 2009 which is a little more than 2 per week. I would say a large majority were technical/professional posts with a couple personal and some announcement type posts. This one is ACHIEVED!
- Become more involved in leadership in my local user group (OPASS).
- I am officially co-president and have been scheduling speakers and will be starting to work on sponsors in the coming weeks. Definitely achieved!
- Speak at 2 community events (user groups, SQLSaturday’s, etc…)
- I spoke at the Pensacola and Orlando SQLSaturday’s and the Tampa and Space Coast User Groups so this is definitely achieved.
- Attend the PASS Summit
- I made it! It was FANTASTIC! I met at least 50 people, learned a ton, and made great contacts. I can’t wait to go back in 2010. Don’t forget it is only $995 until January 15th. Believe me, it is worth it and I don’t plan on missing any in the future.
- Speak at 2 community events (user groups, SQLSaturday’s, etc…)
- I am officially co-president and have been scheduling speakers and will be starting to work on sponsors in the coming weeks. Definitely achieved!
Overall a pretty good year as I was week in my contributions to SQLServerCentral and SQLShare, but I learned a lot about SQL Server 2008 even though I didn’t meet my specific goals, and I exceeded goals 4-6, and attained goal 7.
Even though I did not meet all my goals 2009 was a great year for my professional development. I learned a lot, not just technically, but how to be a professional and how to contribute to the community, so I’ll call 2009 a success!
