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How Do You Act When You Need to Learn New Technology?

Today we have a guest editorial from Ben Kubicek as Steve is on holiday. This editorial was originally published on 7 Nov 2016.

I think most of us would agree we all need to continue to improve and build upon our skill set. As technology continues to change, if we don't keep up and learn new things, we run the risk of being left behind and perhaps out of a job. Still, a lot of you are experts in your field, or at least you are the person that knows the most about certain technologies in your department or company. How do you act when trying to learn something new? How do you act towards others that are trying to learn a technology you already know?

I know some of you pretend like you already have some knowledge, when you don't. You act or talk in a conversation like you understand what is being discussed. Then later you privately google the topic and try to get up to speed. I know I have done this before. Why are we so concerned about appearance? Why does it bother us to be seen as someone who doesn't know everything? Wait, did I just say that? That doesn't even make sense. Nobody knows everything. Nobody expects you to know everything. If they do then, that is pure foolishness.

How many opportunities have we missed, not getting up to speed on new technology quicker because we were too proud to admit we had no idea what someone was talking about? Why not be more forthcoming and just ask questions and learn from other people? Sometimes it is hard to honor other people and humble ourselves.

You know the interesting thing about all of this? I have never met anyone who disliked another person who is truly humble. I am not talking about false humility here. People with false humility say bad and untrue things about themselves so others will contradict them and give them complements. A truly humble person can just admit when they don't know something or when they need help. Those people tend to be held in high regard. So, why is it so hard to be humble?

C.S. Lewis has a quote I like, 'True humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less.' If we thought about ourselves less and weren't as worried about how we appear to others, then it wouldn't be a big deal to ask questions about something new or to ask someone for help.

I know that a work environment can also play a part in all of this. If coworkers are hostile toward each other, the environment will not encourage questions. If co-workers are talked down to or belittled because of their lack of knowledge, I can see why no one would risk revealing their shortcomings. Let's make sure then, when we know new technology that we are helpful to others that show an interesting in learning it.

If we can think of ourselves less and foster an environment that encourages learning and the sharing of knowledge, then I think we will all find ourselves getting up to speed quicker as we help each other learn new technologies.

Share a new tidbit of technology you learned recently.

bkubicek

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 Question of the Day

Today's question (by Steve Jones - SSC Editor):

 

Sorting the Data Frame

I have this data frame in R:
> passing.2019
    Player Yards TD INT
1   Rivers  2609 12   7
2    Brady  2535 14   5
3   Wilson  2505 22   1
4 Stafford  2499 19   5
5  Rodgers  2585 17   2
I have the TDs also stored in a variable:
> TD.2019 <- c(12,14,22,19,17)
How do I sort the data frame by the number of TDs in a descending order?

Think you know the answer? Click here, and find out if you are right.

 

 

 Yesterday's Question of the Day (by Steve Jones - SSC Editor)

Querying for Table Allocated Pages

I am working in a SQL Server 2017 database and am trying to determine how large a table is. This is an unpartitioned table, and I want to know where I can get a count of the pages used by my table. What DMV should I query?

Answer: sys.allocation_units

Explanation: The data is stored in sys.allocation units. All the other DMVs listed as answers likely need to be joined to get this information. Ref: sys.allocation_units - https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/relational-databases/system-catalog-views/sys-allocation-units-transact-sql?view=sql-server-ver15

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Database Pros Who Need Your Help

Here's a few of the new posts today on the forums. To see more, visit the forums.


SQL Server 2017 - Administration
Unable to Join Databases to AG - I have a stand alone SQL 2008 R2 SQL Server that I'm migrating to a 3 node AG. At various times during the testing of the restore process to get the databases onto the new SQL Server 2017 servers that are on CU16  I run into a scenario where one or more databases will join […]
Using Storage DeDupe for AlwaysOn Availability Groups - I have a Sr. Sysadmin here who wants to turn on storage dedupe for the three nodes that will be host AG's because he really wants space savings.  The setup is that I actually have 3 sets of 3 nodes.  Each set of three nodes will be hosting databases from what is now a single […]
SQL Server 2017 - Development
sqlcmd - Unable to pass in exact file path as an input variable to :out - Hi there I have a routine which outputs an ID generated from a stored procedure into a text file as follows: :!!if exist \\LONDEVSQL01\Staging\SEG_DEV_H01\Import\SupplementaryImport\StoredProcedureRunTrackerID.txt  del \\LONDEVSQL01\Staging\SEG_DEV_H01\Import\SupplementaryImport\StoredProcedureRunTrackerID.txt --:connect localhost\SQL2008R2 :out \\LONDEVSQL01\Staging\SEG_DEV_H01\Import\SupplementaryImport\StoredProcedureRunTrackerID.txt select Ltrim(Rtrim(@StoredProcedureRunTrackerID)) Now i wanted to change this , so that the path for :out is not hardcoded and passed in as a variable, ie […]
SQL Server 2016 - Administration
Package error - when i ran the package through sql agent job  it got failed but i did not find any information in job history Executed as user: . Started: 11:59:55 AM Finished: 12:00:43 PM Elapsed: 47.281 seconds. The package execution failed. The step failed. How can we trouble shoot
Extended events - MY EXTENDED EVENT SCRIPT: CREATE EVENT SESSION [CLogins] ON SERVER ADD EVENT sqlserver.sql_statement_completed(SET collect_statement=(1) ACTION(sqlserver.database_name,sqlserver.nt_username,sqlserver.session_nt_username,sqlserver.sql_text,sqlserver.username) WHERE (([sqlserver].[like_i_sql_unicode_string]([sqlserver].[sql_text],N'%SELECT%') OR [sqlserver].[like_i_sql_unicode_string]([sqlserver].[sql_text],N'%ALTER%') OR [sqlserver].[like_i_sql_unicode_string]([sqlserver].[sql_text],N'%DELETE%') OR [sqlserver].[like_i_sql_unicode_string]([sqlserver].[sql_text],N'%UPDATE%') OR [sqlserver].[like_i_sql_unicode_string]([sqlserver].[sql_text],N'%INSERT%') OR [sqlserver].[like_i_sql_unicode_string]([sqlserver].[sql_text],N'%CREATE%') OR [sqlserver].[like_i_sql_unicode_string]([sqlserver].[sql_text],N'%DROP%') OR [sqlserver].[like_i_sql_unicode_string]([sqlserver].[sql_text],N'%RENAME%') OR [sqlserver].[like_i_sql_unicode_string]([sqlserver].[sql_text],N'%TRUNCATE%') OR [sqlserver].[like_i_sql_unicode_string]([sqlserver].[sql_text],N'%COMMENT%') OR [sqlserver].[like_i_sql_unicode_string]([sqlserver].[sql_text],N'%MERGE%') OR [sqlserver].[like_i_sql_unicode_string]([sqlserver].[sql_text],N'%CALL%') OR [sqlserver].[like_i_sql_unicode_string]([sqlserver].[sql_text],N'%EXPLAIN PLAN%') OR [sqlserver].[like_i_sql_unicode_string]([sqlserver].[sql_text],N'%LOCK TABLE%') OR [sqlserver].[like_i_sql_unicode_string]([sqlserver].[sql_text],N'%GRANT%') OR [sqlserver].[like_i_sql_unicode_string]([sqlserver].[sql_text],N'%REVOKE%') OR [sqlserver].[like_i_sql_unicode_string]([sqlserver].[sql_text],N'%INDEXES%') OR [sqlserver].[like_i_sql_unicode_string]([sqlserver].[sql_text],N'%TABLE%') OR [sqlserver].[like_i_sql_unicode_string]([sqlserver].[sql_text],N'%INDEX%')) […]
SQL Server 2016 - Development and T-SQL
The data types varchar and datetime2 are incompatible in the add operator. - In the procedure i have date column as datetime2 declare @date datetime2 = null,  @CaptureError varchar(100) when i am logging this variable like below SET @CaptureError= @CaptureError + ' ,Date: ' + coalesce(@Date, 'NULL') this is getting error as data types varchar and datetime2 are incompatible in the add operator. what is the workaround for […]
SSIS For each Loop not finding files when deployed - Hi, I have an issue with a SSIS package deployed to the catalog. This package includes a For Each container that scans a folder for CSV files. I can run the package from Visual Studio on my development box using my credentials and it completes successfully finds the files targeted by the for each loop […]
Administration - SQL Server 2014
Problem with calculating an approximate space required for online index rebuild - I have a database called TestDB which is in simple recovery model. I performed index rebuild on my Test Server which has no other user transactions except me. Before an online index rebuild the sizes of mdf and ldf files were as below:                   total size      […]
Development - SQL Server 2014
Determining if more CPU is needed - We have a data import & processing process that often longer than expected, often delaying the time at which users can begin working. I've determined that the CPU runs around 80% for the 1-2 hours the process runs (90 minutes is the SLA), but rarely hits 100 percent. I've found some queries that look at […]
SQL 2012 - General
Join Query, two tables, two databases? - Is that possible?  To have two databases with one query?  If so the query below should populate some data!  If not, how can I accomplish the task? SELECT JobSheet.dbo.JobHrs.JobNo, JobSheet.dbo.JobHrs.ActualHrs, JobSheet.dbo.JobHrs.ReworkHrs, TimeReporting.dbo.TimeData.Time, TimeReporting.dbo.TimeData.Rework FROM JobSheet.dbo.JobHrs INNER JOIN TimeReporting.dbo.TimeData ON JobSheet.dbo.JobHrs.JobNo = TimeReporting.dbo.TimeData.JobNo WHERE JobSheet.dbo.JobHrs.JobNo = '19-0228B'  
General Cloud Computing Questions
Archival Options due to Regulation -   Hi Guys, I have an ongoing need to provide a archival solution for an ex-production system for Regulatory reasons. In a nutshell: active database is around 30GB, but there will be others pending of varying sizes there may be the need for a couple of queries a year initially, tapering off potentially need to […]
SSDT
Using variables in multiple packages - I have a SSIS Solution built in Visual Studio Community 2019 using SSDT. The solution contains about 15 packages. I am using 5 variables (created in the first package) that I would like to use in all of the other packages. Is there a way to make a variable usable in other packages within the […]
Expression won't evaluate for property - I am attempting to parameterize the three properties for checkpoints in a SSDT 2017 SSIS project and keep receiving this error for the CheckpointUsage property: Error loading: The result of the expression "@[$Project::parCheckpointUsage]" on property cannot be written to the property. The expression was evaluated, but cannot be set on the property. I have the […]
Analysis Services
Row Level Security based on multiple factors - Hey there, I recently got a request from some people here to implement another level of RLS for a couple of tabular models that I manage. Background: I work for a commercial real estate company, so the security that I have implemented is based on region. Someone in Toronto can only view data from Toronto. […]
Events
PASS Local Group/Virtual Group/SQL Saturday organizers corner - A dedicated place for PASS Local Group/Virtual Group/SQL Saturday organizers to share marketing and promotional content as well as discuss what is working and what is not (credit for the idea goes to Cecilia Brusatori)
 

 

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