Memories, not being alone in the moonlight
Kevin Kline (blog|twitter) is our host for this month’s episode of the amazingly long running blog party T-SQL Tuesday! This month he wants to talk about attending an IT conference or event that changed things for you for the better. This was a fantastic topic for me because it got me thinking about all of the times I’ve gotten to spend time with my SQL friends which always gives me a big serotonin boost. The big conferences are frequently talked about as a family reunion and they certainly are. Once you get to a certain point. My first few conferences were exciting and tons of fun, but they weren’t a reunion because I didn’t really know anyone. I met people, and would have gotten there eventually, but when I look back, one event really turned the corner for me.
I’m going to start by pointing out that my memory is not good. I mean really not good. I know I’d been on twitter for a while at this point, I’d met a bunch of people, made a bunch of friends, etc. So while I remember this as a turning point, it’s entirely possible it was just a step in my relationships and not the start I remember it as. That said, the way I remember it this is when I became friends with a couple of my favorite people in the SQL community. Sean (blog|twitter) and Jen (blog|twitter) McCown. Years ago they had a webshow they did called DBAs@Midnight. It was a webshow where they would talk about DBA stuff, not just the technical but the social, and the soft skills of the job. Hiring, firing, and working well with others. Then on top of that we all visited together. I made friends with a number of people on that webshow, including Sean and Jen. And a number of those friends have introduced me to more friends, and so on. Some we’ve lost, and one in particular we lost recently (if you know, you know), which to be fair may be part of why I’ve been thinking about it.
Since that time I’ve been to quite a few (to me) conferences. Both SQL Saturday and Pass Summits, and Jen and Sean were frequently constants and the show a commonality I had with a fairly large group of people. I was part of something. I mean I was part of the SQL Community which is important, but it’s also kind of large, and this was something I could be a part of within it. And then when Minionware started their booth at Summit was a touchpoint for me. Which if you are not a particularly social person you’ll understand just how important that can be. It was a calm point in a sea of exciting, but somewhat exhausting, experiences going on all around me. I mean if you’ve ever been to one of those big conferences there is a LOT going on. It can be nice to just sit somewhere calm and watch it all go by.
So I guess what I’m saying is that it doesn’t have to be the big conferences or events that make a difference. And to Jen and Sean, thanks. That little webshow you did had a big impact on me.