It’s about time I got back into participating in the T-SQL Tuesday block parties that are hosted by community members each month. First, let’s take care of some house keeping rules.

Who Is Hosting?

This month Andy Mallon (b|t) is hosting and has chosen a topic of We’re still dealing with the same problems. This topic can have very many avenues to go down; with that said Andy….great topic sir. I suggest you stop by Andy’s blog when you get a chance; he has some great posts along with Shortcut’s Cheat Sheet that I ran across the other day.

So what are some of the same problems?

Again, we can take this path down several different roads. We can get extremely technical or we can get extremely general. For the sake of time and having you in mind as I type I may sprinkle a little of both into this post.

Professional Level

From all different levels of a database professional’s life one can see repetitive things being done:

• Resume fluff – by this I mean interviewees having a little to much fluff on the resume that has to be weeded out.
• Dev/DBA/Infrastructure – do I need to expound? The age old silos that are often built with blame moving to and from each unit.
• Overworked personnel – being in management my team is key. It’s time to look at the people as that, people, and not just a number.
• Routines – we all get stuck in a routine at times; how do we get ourselves out of so called “ruts” and light the fire that we once had?
• Meetings – this topic can have its own blog and how to handle them. These are important in some cases and in some cases they aren’t, but the fact remains I still see a lot of shops with an endless supply of meetings.

SQL Level

Up next are the SQL scenarios I still see as ongoing battles:

• Max Memory Setting – when installing SQL please check this setting.
• SA – every vendor wants SA for their app; it’s how the world goes round.
• Backups – yes I take backups….that is great news; have you ever restored any? Nope…..you see where I’m going with this.
• Trace Flags – I see a lot of people not taking advantages of these across all SQL platforms.
• SQL Versions – a lot of shops are not keeping up to date with their SQL versioning as often as they should.

Automation

You may ask why I put this topic in a section all by itself? I learned earlier on from John Sansom (b|t) that automation is key to becoming a successful DBA. I don’t see enough of it really? There are a lot of new tools and methods that are available to data professionals that, if taken the time, can be set up to automate a lot of the mundane tasks I see small to medium shops experiencing. Heck, even some bigger shops still struggle with the art of automation.

Professional Development

Anyone who knows me knows I like to challenge myself. Each and every person has their own set of goals and desires as they move through life and no one else can define that. I see over and over again where we tell people that they need to do this and need to do that. No, I’m not talking about mentoring or leadership. Those are separate entities; this section is meant to encourage the readers of this post that you control where you want to go in your career and not the other way around. Some knew technology comes out and you want to learn it then go for it.

What Is T-SQL Tuesday Anyway?

Well, I’m glad you asked. Adam Machanic (b|t) started this party about (I’m approximating here) 7-8 yrs ago. Each month a new blogger is chosen to host the party and they in turn get to pick the topic. If you blog about SQL and have been keeping up to date with it for a while now then drop Adam a line and let him know you are interested.

Conclusion

As you can see there are still items that occur all around us on a daily basis in the same manner. I challenge you to see, if what, can be changed. Where can you make a difference? Time to get after it ~ Let’s Roll.

Thanks Andy for taking the time out of your day to host this month.