Monday morning and it’s time for weekly round-up.  This edition makes number #48.  As a change to this week’s post, I’m adding some links on the recent MCM changes that I didn’t send out last week, I haven’t really shared my thoughts on the subject yet but plan to this week.

As an introduction, if you follow me on twitter (@StrateSQL), you’ll know that throughout the day I tweet out some links of things I find interesting.  While these links aren’t the answer to life, the universe, and everything, they do share a few things about SQL Server and other topics that people that follow me may find useful. The links included in this summary are those prefixed with ”Reading” and are items I’ve read over the past few days, usually after hours when sharing would be less than useful, and spaced out to avoid spamming.  The content of the links usually pertain to SQL Server, technology, and career topics; which I think others would find useful.  This post is a summary of all of those links.

Third Most Popular Link

The most popular link last week has falls into the realm of politics and religion.  And since that isn’t really the focus of this blog, I’m going to instead jump to the third most popular link.  That link comes from Brent Ozar (Blog | @BrentO) and his thoughts on the MCM/MCSM changes.

Reading: "The #SQLMCM is Dead, but the Experiments Go On | Brent Ozar" http://t.co/GvSazMLaUQ #sqlserver

— Jason Strate (@StrateSQL) September 4, 2013

Along with Brent’s post, here are some others I think are worthwhile to read:

• Rare Species, Extinction and the MCM by Jason Brimhall (Blog | @sqlrnnr)
• Microsoft Learning kills MCM and MCA accreditations by Tony Redmon (Blog)
• MICROSOFT CERTIFIED MASTERS: WHAT PROBLEM WERE THEY TRYING TO SOLVE? by Thomas LaRock (Blog | @SQLRockstar)
• Microsoft abruptly pulls ‘masters’ certification; hints a replacement may come – Mary Jo Foley (Blog | @maryjofoley)

There had been a Connect item that Jen Stirrup (Blog | @jenstirrup) had opened but that’s been closed as she explains here - Why I asked Microsoft to close the MCM Connect case.

Last week’s top 21 “Reading” Links

Along with the top link, here are the top twenty(-one) items relating to SQL Server, technology and careers that were sent out last week.  If you missed them throughout the week, here’s the opportunity to get caught up on some items that other’s read after I linked them out.  The last item was too important to me not to include.

1. The #SQLMCM is Dead, but the Experiments Go On | Brent Ozar [73 clicks]
2. Amazon hiring ‘top secret’ IT staff to bag CIA contract [28 clicks]
3. Why should we upgrade off of SQL Server 2000? [21 clicks]
4. 17 Unspoken Rules of LinkedIn Etiquette [19 clicks]
5. An Open Letter to HR Departments | Development content from Dev Pro [18 clicks]
6. A new Q & A site, with plan uploads directly from Plan Explorer! [18 clicks]
7. Interviews–Don’t do these [17 clicks]
8. From Hairdresser to DBA – How to start a career in IT [15 clicks]
9. Discover, Diagnose, and Document ALL Your SQL Servers On Your Coffee Break [14 clicks]
10. The Accidental DBA (Day 29 of 30): Troubleshooting Deadlocks [12 clicks]
11. My Perspective: The Top 5 Most Common Windows Problems That Might Prevent Monitoring SQL Server [10 clicks]< /a>
12. Wait Stats – sys.dm_os_wait_stats – Monitoring and Using [10 clicks]
13. Does my SQL Server Database Support Compression? [9 clicks]
14. File Format Versioning [7 clicks]
15. Powershell Portscanner [7 clicks]
16. Microsoft Azure Sales Top $1 Billion Challenging Amazon [6 clicks]
17. Plan Operator Tuesday round-up [5 clicks]
18. Day 25 of 31 Days of Disaster Recovery: Improving Performance of Backups and Restores [5 clicks]
19. The Accidental DBA (Day 22 of 30): Determining a High-Availability Strategy [3 clicks]
20. State of the Cloud [3 clicks]
21. The Accidental DBA (Day 6 of 30): Backups: Understanding RTO and RPO [2 clicks]

Other Stuff Shared

Of course, no week would be complete without a few off-topic links.  These have nothing to do with technology or your career, but they are interesting and worth a second look.

1. A Pastor Asks A Politician Why He Supports Gay Marriage. It Seems He Wasn’t Prepared For His Reply [126 clicks]
2. Two Guys You’ve Never Heard Of Just Released the Song of the Summer [75 clicks]
3. “Weird Al” Yankovic – Stop Forwarding That Crap To Me [27 clicks]
4. A 4yr-old invents the ultimate breakfast cereal [21 clicks]
5. A Tale of Two Hotels [13 clicks]
6. What Kind of Nerd Are You? Stand and Be Recognized. [11 clicks]
7. Check Out This Epic Bat Cave Made Entirely of LEGO [9 clicks]
8. 10 Small Ways to Make This The Happiest Summer of Your Life [9 clicks]
9. Stop Worrying, Your Internet Past Is Not Embarrassing [8 clicks]
10. Bacon Fantasy #15 [6 clicks]
11. “Weird Al” Yankovic – Living With A Hernia [3 clicks]
12. Multi Touch Light Table: GERGWERK [2 clicks]
13. Swedish House Mafia – Don’t You Worry Child ft. John Martin [2 clicks]

Got something you think I should read and share, leave a comment below.  Also, if you want to see all of the links that were tweeted out last week?  Then follow the links on my tumblr blog or subscribe to it’s RSS feed. https://twitter.com/StrateSQL/status/369250373820637185