Information Poll
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The velocity of information is increasing. Heck, the acceleration seems to be increasing in an ever connected world with mobile phones handling all kinds of information, especially media, wireless connections almost anywhere and soon the access to information from your airplane seat. And with the Blackberry settlement those folks will remain connected.
When I was first moved into the computer business as a career, I waited breathlessly for magazines to come out every month and devoured them, Byte, Foxpro Advisor, etc., looking for new information and desperate to learn things. And once a month I'd trek to a user group meeting to see what the latest speakers had to say and maybe get some questions answered for my problems.
I'd also scour the Usenet for issues with both my SunOS issues at university and Netware issues. As I moved to Windows, I also started to dig in and use Swynk and other bulletin board type forums on the Internet to get information and help others. Over the years I've visited and participated in a few forum groups until we started SQLServerCentral.com and that became my primary focus for information.
Then in 2003 we started Database Daily and I began to search the web for the weekly news and I noticed something. There is more and more information being released in blogs in addition to the traditional KB/online help, product documentation, niche web sites (like this one), user groups, etc. It seems that less and less often can you find the answer to the question somewhere.
So in that vein, I'm kind of wondering ...
Where do you go to get information or learn something these days?
It seems that more and more I pick up tidbits from blogs here and there and less and less am I reading long white papers. And is it just me or does it seem that most of the white papers on TechNet and MSDN for SQL Server 2005 have been heavily "marketized" and are lacking real information?
Steve Jones
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Where do you go to get information or learn something these Days?
You're not allone! Working at a big Company, ordering the newest SQL Server 2005 Books,... but the real practical basic problems everyone has, could just be solved only by using those tidbits.
I'm fed of with white papers on TechNet and MSDN for SQL Server 2005 ...
I just know much about it, but I've not very much time to write articles or helptext!
But I'll work on it!
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Google. If I don't find what I need in the first page of hits then I try a few variations on the search criteria. If that fails, which is rare, then I'll start searching specific sites that I like.
Interesting question this, because having thought about my approach I've realised I don't have 'go to' sites for any information.
Although, having thought a bit more, the same sites do crop up on Google time and again.
So, I guess in my mind I think Google does a better job of searching than the web sites it links to.
Hmmm.
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http://www.findarticles.com - 10,000,000 articles
http://www.vivisimo.com - Clustered Search Engine
All the best,
DaleAuthor: An Introduction to SQL Server 2005 Management Studio
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Another vote for Google!
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My top ten research tools:
10) I sacrifice goats and chickens to my druidic gods.
9) Play paper rock scissors.
8) Flip a coin.
7) Rolling down the window and asking total strangers while driving on the highway.
6) 'using the force!'
5) See what oprah thinks.
4) Ask myself, "What would Chuck Norris do?"
3) Waste 4 years of time in university to realise that the best answer is "GO" or "GOTO"
2) Googles "I'm feeling lucky", because we would rather be lucky than just correct.
and the Number tool used by me .....
1) Any local interac or ATM machine.... Everytime it say "approved" .... I run with it.
On a serious note: Building on my experiences in universtiy and I tend toward white papers, technet articles, coupled with a smallish dev area, to test out equipment, and solutions before deploying them. I take in seminars MS puts out, but i got tired of feeling like sheep. Great for networking though. I like seminars the best the free egg sandwiches are I think a nice change of pace.
We have resources here the odd black book series is generally helpful. Hardware and software review sites are good. I read about 2000 pages of white papers, tech net articles, magazines, MS pub's, and some of the 'black book' series as I've mentioned before a month.
I have a small network at home to practice and develop solutions, much more invigorating then the mental mastrubation known as sudoku.
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RSS feeds for blogs. I am following nearly 80 different feeds using bloglines. Today there where 28 new blog posts in my SQL section.
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I start with my daily e-mail from SQL Server Central, of course.
Scott
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For quick info, searches on Yahoo (used to be Google). For slightly longer research times, books, postings here, blogs. For even longer term learning, books & conferences.
Microsoft actually publishes white papers that are occasionally useful. Other than that, almost every other white paper I've read in the last few years has been an extended sales pitch with very little technical content.
I ALWAYS ask "What Would Chuck Norris Do," but I haven't tried the sacrifices to the Druidic gods yet. Does Cthulhu count?
"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
- Theodore RooseveltAuthor of:
SQL Server Execution Plans
SQL Server Query Performance Tuning -
Better than Google,... thank you for that link!
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Anything that has the words "White Paper" in it is marketing fluff.
I immediately skip them.
Shame really....
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re white papers
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/exchange/55/support/exdisrec.mspx
Is a good example of a worthwhile read in it's time. I did not view it as marketing.
Here is a more current example of one that is also worthwhile.
Don't get me wrong some articles are just gift wrapped sales pitches. But I'm in this business to make money not just to have maslow's hierarchy of needs satisfied.
I can't blame anyone else or company from trying to do the same thing.
So why not give a vendor a shot, it could improve business.
And of course SQLSC is good place to get many questions answered.
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I keep up with a couple of mailing lists and user groups. I attend as many SQL Server and IRMAP meetings as my work schedule allows.
I try to read and understand something about the business/industry that I am in. I pay for the WSJ online. I like to get into the value proposition of the customer and stakeholders.
My best resources are the people around me. I enjoy forums like SQL Server Central as well. I'll occasionally pull down entire sites to search for files on my local share. For instance, if I like one white paper on a site, I'll download the entire contents, and search the files by size. It keeps me from getting lost in a maze of links.
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IEEE RFC's are pretty good as well, if a little abstract. Alot of those consortiums give a great feel of the direction the market can go, not always bang on but generally fantastic for a more "how the watch is made" audience who appreciates that kind of technology.
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When I need proactive information (info I want before I need it), there's always the daily SQL Server Central e-mail.
When I need reactive information (got a problem, need a fix now), Google is my first choice for anything from finding directions somewhere to how to handle TEXT datatypes to obscure error resolutions.
Incidentally, when I get an error, I hit Ctrl-C, open Notepad and Ctrl-V. The entire message box contents (sans pictures) appears there. I then copy the relevant info and paste into a Google search. One of the first few links almost always presents the solution.
Seldom to I crack open a traditional book.
But boss, why must the urgent always take precedence over the important?
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