November 15, 2013 at 2:21 pm
RBarryYoung (11/15/2013)
SQLRNNR (11/15/2013)
Barry, where have you been?Mostly just working. I answer questions over at StackOverflow sometimes, but that's about it.
StackOverflow? Traitor!
Ha!
Good to see around, even if only virtually.
"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
- Theodore Roosevelt
Author of:
SQL Server Execution Plans
SQL Server Query Performance Tuning
November 16, 2013 at 3:10 pm
Stefan Krzywicki (11/13/2013)
You can't know everything. There is a hell of a lot to know in SQL Server and if the interviewers didn't set up expectations for the interview properly you probably don't want to be working there anyway. I had an interview last week that I thought I was prepared for, but the first set of questions were all about Agile management. I had no idea they were going to focus on that and I don't know if I'd have accepted the interview if they'd told me that.
My opinion - accept all interviews, even those that you know you don't want. The one thing people don't get enough practice in is interviewing, and when you know you don't want the job, it makes the interview a lot more fun for you. Think about it - you are doing something that you rarely do, and usually under a lot of pressure (I need a job, need to pay bills, etc.). Everything in this process is stacked against you. So, get all the practice you can so that when you have the interview for the position that you do want, you'll knock it out of the park.
In the last round of interviews that I did, I must have gone to 20 interviews that I knew I didn't want (most due to the location - > 1 hr commute each way, with no traffic... and these were in the downtown area where I could probably add another 1/2 hr to the commute, and the traffic stress that I don't handle too well). I had some fun interviews, several offers (all politely declined - luckily because the offered salary was too low), but most importantly became comfortable with the process. And because recruiters are blind, I didn't have to mislead any of them.
Wayne
Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server 2008
Author - SQL Server T-SQL Recipes
November 16, 2013 at 3:19 pm
Lynn Pettis (11/13/2013)
Lynn Pettis (11/13/2013)
It is 23:27 Afghan time. Three minutes until my phone interview. Wish me luck!Just finished the interview, and I feel like a Junior DBA. I have been working in to sheltered of an area far too long. I could not answer questions about SSRS, SSAS, Clustering, MS Replication. Very little was asked in areas that I feel strong in, T-SQL and tuning code.
I really need to learn more about best practices as well. Sad to be asked about them and not being able to rattle them off the top of my head. Hopefully I hit them even if inadvertently.
I feel very small at the moment.
Join the club. I wouldn't be able to answer anything other than basic questions on SSRS / SSIS. My knowledge of SSAS is limited to knowing that it is Analysis Services and that it is for doing DW. (Oh... I can use SSMS to connect to all of those... but the next steps are shaky!) Replication is my single biggest weak area in "normal" SQL. So, it seems that you almost have the reqs for that crazy acronym I have now!
They didn't ask you T-SQL and tuning questions because they have read your articles and forum posts here, and they knew that they would be wasting their time because you would blow them away. ;-):-D:-D:-D
Wayne
Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server 2008
Author - SQL Server T-SQL Recipes
November 16, 2013 at 3:23 pm
Steve Jones - SSC Editor (11/14/2013)
Greg Edwards-268690 (11/14/2013)
Show me the person who is a master of all things SQL Server.They are as rare as seeing a unicorn!
No such thing, for either. On the MVP list I'm amazed at the questions from people I think are pretty smart sometimes when they get out of their area of expertise. Sometimes they're what I'd consider 201, if not 101, questions.
Some of the MCMs, and well known "experts" in SQL Server freely admit when they're out of their league and don't know something about SQL Server.
Amen.
Know what you know, know what you don't know, and never confuse the two. (And when you don't know, don't pretend you do.)
Wayne
Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server 2008
Author - SQL Server T-SQL Recipes
November 17, 2013 at 1:15 am
WayneS (11/16/2013)
Lynn Pettis (11/13/2013)
Lynn Pettis (11/13/2013)
It is 23:27 Afghan time. Three minutes until my phone interview. Wish me luck!Just finished the interview, and I feel like a Junior DBA. I have been working in to sheltered of an area far too long. I could not answer questions about SSRS, SSAS, Clustering, MS Replication. Very little was asked in areas that I feel strong in, T-SQL and tuning code.
I really need to learn more about best practices as well. Sad to be asked about them and not being able to rattle them off the top of my head. Hopefully I hit them even if inadvertently.
I feel very small at the moment.
Join the club. I wouldn't be able to answer anything other than basic questions on SSRS / SSIS. My knowledge of SSAS is limited to knowing that it is Analysis Services and that it is for doing DW. (Oh... I can use SSMS to connect to all of those... but the next steps are shaky!) Replication is my single biggest weak area in "normal" SQL. So, it seems that you almost have the reqs for that crazy acronym I have now!
They didn't ask you T-SQL and tuning questions because they have read your articles and forum posts here, and they knew that they would be wasting their time because you would blow them away. ;-):-D:-D:-D
Maybe they have, but I'm not too sure. One of the interviewers had never heard of a tally (or numbers) table. I sent him, through the HR recruiter, Jeff's Tally Oh article. He had no idea how a tally table could be used to split delimited strings.
And there are so many other things that tally tables can be used to accomplish: Gaps and Islands, eliminating cursors/while loops to name a couple.
November 17, 2013 at 4:27 pm
WayneS (11/16/2013)
My opinion - accept all interviews, even those that you know you don't want. The one thing people don't get enough practice in is interviewing...
+1000 to that. And, who knows... that job with the hour drive might just turn out to have some hidden benefits they didn't advertise like working remotely 3 or 4 days out of the week or a huge freakin' salary because it's one of the few ways a company can attract really good talent. Of course, they might not advertise that, either.
--Jeff Moden
Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.
November 17, 2013 at 4:28 pm
Grant Fritchey (11/15/2013)
RBarryYoung (11/15/2013)
SQLRNNR (11/15/2013)
Barry, where have you been?Mostly just working. I answer questions over at StackOverflow sometimes, but that's about it.
StackOverflow? Traitor!
Ha!
Good to see around, even if only virtually.
BWAAA-HAAAA! I was thinking the same things but didn't say them because I'm not speaking with Barry due to his traitorous acts. :-):-D:-P;-)
--Jeff Moden
Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.
November 17, 2013 at 6:54 pm
Speaking of Tally / Numbers tables - does anyone have a tally-table based query that you wish would run even faster? I'm going to be doing a test of the tally table in SQL 2014 with the new in-memory dataset and in-memory compiled procedures to see if this good-ole standby can be made even faster. Please send me your examples to test out (test data appreciated but not required).
Thanks!
Wayne
Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server 2008
Author - SQL Server T-SQL Recipes
November 17, 2013 at 7:26 pm
WayneS (11/17/2013)
Speaking of Tally / Numbers tables - does anyone have a tally-table based query that you wish would run even faster? I'm going to be doing a test of the tally table in SQL 2014 with the new in-memory dataset and in-memory compiled procedures to see if this good-ole standby can be made even faster. Please send me your examples to test out (test data appreciated but not required).Thanks!
I'm not sure I understand the question. Are you going to be comparing the various types of Tally tables (e.g., user-defined table, Itzik Ben-Gan style in-line, in-line via table row constructor) or trying to optimize the type of Tally to use for a specific query?
My thought question: Have you ever been told that your query runs too fast?
My advice:
INDEXing a poor-performing query is like putting sugar on cat food. Yeah, it probably tastes better but are you sure you want to eat it?
The path of least resistance can be a slippery slope. Take care that fixing your fixes of fixes doesn't snowball and end up costing you more than fixing the root cause would have in the first place.
Need to UNPIVOT? Why not CROSS APPLY VALUES instead?[/url]
Since random numbers are too important to be left to chance, let's generate some![/url]
Learn to understand recursive CTEs by example.[/url]
[url url=http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/St
November 17, 2013 at 10:36 pm
WayneS (11/17/2013)
Speaking of Tally / Numbers tables - does anyone have a tally-table based query that you wish would run even faster? I'm going to be doing a test of the tally table in SQL 2014 with the new in-memory dataset and in-memory compiled procedures to see if this good-ole standby can be made even faster. Please send me your examples to test out (test data appreciated but not required).Thanks!
Yep... DelimitedSplit8K and maybe migrate that to a DelimitedSplitMAX.
--Jeff Moden
Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.
November 17, 2013 at 11:00 pm
Jeff Moden (11/17/2013)
WayneS (11/17/2013)
Speaking of Tally / Numbers tables - does anyone have a tally-table based query that you wish would run even faster? I'm going to be doing a test of the tally table in SQL 2014 with the new in-memory dataset and in-memory compiled procedures to see if this good-ole standby can be made even faster. Please send me your examples to test out (test data appreciated but not required).Thanks!
Yep... DelimitedSplit8K and maybe migrate that to a DelimitedSplitMAX.
Now I get it! What was I thinking? Brain dead on a Monday morning I guess.
How about PatternSplitCM from the 4th article in my signature links?
My thought question: Have you ever been told that your query runs too fast?
My advice:
INDEXing a poor-performing query is like putting sugar on cat food. Yeah, it probably tastes better but are you sure you want to eat it?
The path of least resistance can be a slippery slope. Take care that fixing your fixes of fixes doesn't snowball and end up costing you more than fixing the root cause would have in the first place.
Need to UNPIVOT? Why not CROSS APPLY VALUES instead?[/url]
Since random numbers are too important to be left to chance, let's generate some![/url]
Learn to understand recursive CTEs by example.[/url]
[url url=http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/St
November 18, 2013 at 5:45 am
dwain.c (11/17/2013)
Jeff Moden (11/17/2013)
WayneS (11/17/2013)
Speaking of Tally / Numbers tables - does anyone have a tally-table based query that you wish would run even faster? I'm going to be doing a test of the tally table in SQL 2014 with the new in-memory dataset and in-memory compiled procedures to see if this good-ole standby can be made even faster. Please send me your examples to test out (test data appreciated but not required).Thanks!
Yep... DelimitedSplit8K and maybe migrate that to a DelimitedSplitMAX.
Now I get it! What was I thinking? Brain dead on a Monday morning I guess.
How about PatternSplitCM from the 4th article in my signature links?
I know it completely throws a money wrench into things, but my wish list would have to include DelimitedSplitMAX with a delimiter longer than 1 character. I had tried a couple of things a while back and taking that constant to a variable really throws things off.
November 18, 2013 at 6:39 am
Went over 11,000 points a while back and I also managed to wringle myself into the top 10 (sorry Paul).
😎 :w00t:
Need an answer? No, you need a question
My blog at https://sqlkover.com.
MCSE Business Intelligence - Microsoft Data Platform MVP
November 18, 2013 at 7:21 am
Koen Verbeeck (11/18/2013)
Went over 11,000 points a while back and I also managed to wringle myself into the top 10 (sorry Paul).😎 :w00t:
Well done Koen 🙂
Don't think I'll ever reach that high, I seem to be dropping into the realms of obscurity 🙁
Far away is close at hand in the images of elsewhere.
Anon.
November 18, 2013 at 7:52 am
Has anyone heard anything about partitioning in 2014 making drastic performance improvements? I was at a presentation on SQL Server 2014 recently and the presenter, a Microsoft guy, told the audience that a way to get huge performance improvements on large tables was to use partitioning. He went so far as to say "you should all be partitioning your tables."
From what I know, that's just not true. Partitioning is a tricky, time consuming thing to set up properly and has other effects on your tables and indexes. It can be very useful in archiving, but doesn't improve performance by itself. I didn't know how to bring this up during the presentation though and was hesitant in contradicting someone who works for Microsoft.
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What’s so unpleasant about being drunk?
You ask a glass of water. -- Douglas Adams
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