Can You Ask for a Raise?
Asking for a raise is a scary event for many employees. Today Steve gives you a few things to think about and some advice on how to go about changing your job.
2025-08-20
98 reads
Editorials
The Next Great Thing
Is AI going to kill off a lot of data professional jobs? Steve doesn't think so, but judge for yourself.
2025-08-18
126 reads
Using Ollama on Windows 11 as an Alternative to Public LLMs
In my ongoing war against shadow AI, I’ve been testing out alternatives that most everyone can use, no matter what your technical expertise. Although somewhat limited depending on your resources available, (laptop CPU/GPU, memory, etc.) If you want to try the newest open models without sending your prompts to the cloud, or you just want […]
2025-08-16
394 reads
Who is Using Standard Edition?
Today Steve is asking if any of you use Standard Edition with the coming of a developer edition that matches it.
2025-08-15
116 reads
2025-08-13
95 reads
Everyone Wants a Piece of the AI Pie
Swiping through LinkedIn feels like watching a campsite suddenly flooded with s’mores. Every other ad, i.e. post, promises the next miracle AI service, platform, or “AI-powered” widget. It’s a frenzy that says: “If buzzwords paid the bills, we’d all be billionaires already.” I can’t fault the reasoning, there’s a lot of buzz out there telling […]
2025-08-09
102 reads
Critical Data and Insomnia
Most evenings I spend some time soaking in the tub and reading articles/watching videos on InfoSec, Data Protection and AI. It may sound like a terrible way to spend some time, but I always find it educational and I’m in shock by the lack of concern around data security, and yet….I’m not. For decades, the […]
2025-08-07
130 reads
The Double-Edged Sword of AI and Data Democratization
Agentic AI is often hailed as a game-changer by organizations, bringing autonomous decision-making, intelligent automation, and powerful predictive capabilities. However, as organizations rush to leverage these technologies, those dealing with critical data in relational databases, documents and datasets, especially personally identifiable information (PII) face a harsh reality: moving AI projects from proof-of-concept to production is […]
2025-08-06
155 reads
The Problem with AI Job Loss Headlines?
Every few weeks, headlines scream about how artificial intelligence is coming for our jobs. The narrative is often the same: white-collar professions are at risk, automation is taking over, and we’re all doomed to obsolescence.
2025-08-05
178 reads
Hack Your Brain
Now, let's be really clear up front, I don't mean getting a surgically implanted chip in your head, done on your kitchen table. Brain hacks are generally either, forming habits that are good for learning and concentration, changing how you do things to help enhance your brains function, eating differently in support of brain health, […]
2025-08-02
120 reads
Blogs
RANK() vs DENSE_RANK(): #SQLNewBlogger
By Steve Jones
I haven’t done one of these in awhile, but I saw an article recently...
Using CAT for Testing of Data Agents
In last months one of the scenarios where you can use AI has been...
Forums
Missing the Jaro Winkler Distance
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Missing the Jaro Winkler Distance
25 Years Later: What SQLServerCentral Meant to Me
Comments posted to this topic are about the item 25 Years Later: What SQLServerCentral...
Doing Good at SQL Server Central
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Doing Good at SQL Server...
Question of the Day
Missing the Jaro Winkler Distance
I upgraded a SQL Server 2019 instance to SQL Server 2025. I wanted to test the fuzzy string search functions. I run this code:
SELECT JARO_WINKLER_DISTANCE('tim', 'tom')
I get this error message:Msg 195, Level 15, State 10, Line 1 'JARO_WINKLER_DISTANCE' is not a recognized built-in function name.What is wrong? See possible answers