For me, one of the most rewarding things about blogging are the conversations we have together.

The opportunity to connect, share and grow with passionate people from all over the world is a great privilege. I’ve met so many wonderful people through our community, learning something from each of you about technology and even life.

On occasion I myself have attempted to share the odd pearl of wisdom or snippet of advice. Through my blogging tenure I’ve discovered that I’m particularly fond of waxing on about Professional Development. So much so in fact, that some folks seem to consider me to be some sort of authority on the subject. Ha!

A curious side-effect to this infamy has been that people often reach out to me for advice and guidance. This is something I take very seriously indeed and I do my utmost to provide a well considered personal reply to all those who reach out, whether via email, in a blog post or in the blog comments.

This got me thinking. What if there were some way that I could create a space to bring together all this advice, experience and hot air, making it available for the benefit of everyone. Better still, what if I could somehow tap into the collective wisdom and experience of the entire community, increasing the quality of advice available to those seeking guidance. Sounds like a marvelous idea.

That’s why I started the SQL Brit Community Forum.

let’s make our community a roaring success together

I wanted to create:

• A place where we can talk about all the other, non-technical, stuff there is to be being a Data Professional.
• A friendly, open and honest community, where members support each other on their journey towards becoming the Data Professionals they want to be.
• An environment that moves beyond the limits of blog comments by providing a platform that enables passionate, vibrant and robust conversation.
• A place where members can benefit from the collective experience, knowledge and wisdom of each other.

Your Community in Action

The community forum has been open for a couple of months already, with over 180 registered members and over 1000 posts, it’s only now however that I’m choosing to blog about it.

As with all ideas I was initially unsure if it would get much traction but then once I saw the positive effect the community was having, I became convinced that I must do what I can to share it further.

You see what really surprised me was that the community had become not just a place where the experienced folks supported the new on their journey (like here, here or here) but also a place where members could refine their existing expertise further (like here and here).

Folks are using the community to bounce ideas off of one another and are taking their professional development to the next level through collaborating together. This is in a word is, fantastic!

Creating a Roaring Success Together

You see the thing about community is the more you give the more rewarding the experience becomes for everyone involved.

As Data Professionals we’re all super busy chaps that have a lot of competing priorities for our time. I would not be asking for yours if I did not believe in what we’re doing here. My will alone is unfortunately not enough and for this community to truly be successful I need your help to make it happen.

I know that you are passionate about your career and the SQL community because you’re here reading this. Whether to share your own experiences or to enjoy the opportunity to learn from others, I would be delighted for you to join our new community forum and be a part of making it a roaring success.

Thank you!