100th Blog Post: What I learned along the Way

I have now been blogging about SQL Server for almost 18 months.  Along the way I have learned a great deal and hopefully have also helped a few folks along the way.  From time to time I will go back and look at older posts.  When I did that recently I came to realize that I recently posted my 100th blog post.

Along the way I learned so many things.  Of course this increased my SQL Server skill set as well as a few other things.  Below are my lessons learned from the past 100 blog posts.

    • There is always more to learn – While writing each of the blog posts, I realized that there is so much more to learn. Given the vast landscape that is SQL Server, it is very easy to get humbled in this way.  Oddly enough, I have the same feeling when I attend a SQL Saturday event.  There are so many great speakers, just sitting in the speaker room is a great time to learn. The more I learn, the more I get excited about learning more.
    • It is important to keep up with what the industry is doing. It is very easy to get comfortable and use just what we know.  Also, DBAs are no different than any other IT professional in the sense that we have a ton of things that we are working on at the same time.  Blogging and presenting helps me keep current.  This is in addition to seeing what sessions are at SQL Saturday events.  I personally think the sessions offered at SQL Saturday’s are a good indication of where the industry is headed.
    • It is great to be part of the SQL Server community.  As I wrote sessions and blog posts, of course I researched the topic at hand.  While doing so, I really realized how giving the SQL Community really is.  There are so many great blogs and articles written by other members of the community, some of which I visit on a regular basis.  Especially when researching for a new post.
    • Face challenges head on.  This is something I have always tried to do in my career.  By facing challenges head on, things can never get boring!  This brings about another great part of the SQL community, you are never alone!!!  There is always someone willing to take a few moments and help.  Just use the hashtag, #SQLHelp on Twitter and you will see how many folks are willing to help.  There are many posts that I have written and never published.  Many times these are topics I wanted to learn and decided the writing a blog post was a good way to kind of force me to learn it.
    • Embrace change  Change in the technology industry is a constant.  As new versions of SQL Server come out, things will change!  There are usually some new great features that should be reviewed and if appropriate utilized in production.  While we all resist change at some point, embracing it makes life just a little easier and allows us to grow our skill set.  Blogging has really helped me embrace change by exposing me to the advantages of newer technology.
    • Blog on what you want!  This is some advice I received very early in my blogging career.  This came out of a conversation I was having with another presenter at the SQL Saturday in Wausau, WI.  I had expressed my concern about blogging about something that so many others already have blogged about.  He said “Blog what you want to blog about”.  He suggested that I might say something in a completely different way and it might be a way that clicks with a reader like no other blog past has.  So that is what I did, blogged about what I wanted.

If you are thinking about starting a blog, my suggestion is to do it.  It is a great way to learn and help others at the same time.  There are many great blogs in the SQL community that would be great role models.

Here are a few that I find myself visiting quite often.

Pinal Dave – https://blog.sqlauthority.com

Monica Rathbun – https://sqlespresso.com/

Kevin Feasel – curatedsql.com

www.sqlshack.com

www.sqlskills.com

www.sqlperformance.com

Kendra Little – www.littlekendra.com

Burt Wagner – This is more of a video blog, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6uYLOg8N_NzjkikbJ_vrtg

Denny Cherry – https://www.dcac.co/author/admin

David Klee – https://www.davidklee.net/blog/

Brent Ozar – www.brentozar.com

www.sqlservercentral.com – There are a number of great blogs here.

There are many great blogs in the SQL community.  Above are just some of them.  I am honored to have my blog selected as one of the Top 50 SQL Server blogs(#27) at https://blog.feedspot.com/sql_blogs/.  This is a great place to see many great blogs!

My only hope is that with each blog post, I am able to help at least one person.   While I really enjoy blogging, helping others is something I enjoy even more.  If each post helps a single person…then it was worth the time to write it.

Thanks for visiting my blog!!!