Last week’s resolutions post reminded me that it’s time for another status check on the goals I set for myself back in July.  Two introspective posts in a row is a bit tiresome, I know, but bear with me and this will be the last bit of navel-gazing for a while.  Promise.

Certification

Yeah, about that.  I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about this one over the past couple of weeks.  First of all, I said I would do it.  And then I said I would stick by it.  And there’s a big part of me that, once I’ve committed to something, has to follow through.  It weighs on me if I don’t;  I feel guilty.

But here’s the thing.  I have this blog, which I love working on and I want to grow.  I want to present more, and that means working on my existing presentations, as well as developing new ones.  I’d like to try my hand at writing articles.  I want to be more involved in the SQL community.  And then there’s, y’know, my job, where I also have projects I’ve initiated or want to initiate.  So while there’s obviously a value in certification, these other things are simply more important to me right now.  I’m not saying I’m never going to get my certification.  I’m just saying it’s not a priority at this point in time, and I’m allowing myself to shelve it until I’m ready to focus on it again.

Present at a SQL Saturday

Now this goal I’m excited about.  My assignment for this last three months was to flesh out my DDL Auditing presentation and submit it for a SQL Saturday.  I’m pleased to say that I have submitted not only that presentation, but another one as well to SQL Saturday #119 in Chicago.  I’ve also done a little work on the DDL Audit, I’ve found a third party solution to include and I’ve explored using Extended Events in SQL 2012, so I’ll be able to add those 2 solutions, which should round it out perfectly.  My assignment for the next 3 months:  Polish up the DDL Audit presentation and get to work on the new one.

Increase my readership

Progress has been made on this front as well.  I’m now syndicated on SQL Server Central.  And I’ve received some good feedback on my SQL Server A to Z series.  For the most part I’ve done pretty well at posting regularly, averaging 2 posts a week.  I’m thinking of taking a different tack however and focus on quality vs quantity.  That’s not to say I’ve been throwing up garbage to this point, at least I don’t think I have.  I’d just like to produce more polished, professional, article-quality content.