Seattle and Points Northwest, November 08, 2014

I’ve opted to take a different route home from the PASS Summit in Seattle this year: the Empire Builder route by train from Seattle to Chicago through the Northern fringe of the continental United States. As I pass through Ballard and over the locks that aid to transition boats from Puget Sound to the fresh waters of Lake Union I begin to look forward to the next two-and-a-half days of my own transition; from the non-stop activity of the largest global conference for SQL Server Professionals to the quiet of home and eventual ramp-up to our next SQL Cruise in February in the Caribbean.

From the largest and all-encompassing global SQL conference to the most intimate of conferences that serves the same community of SQL Professionals but with a foundation in networking, soft-skills and unfettered access to the presenters for SQL Pros and C-Level leadership alike.

This should provide plenty of time to reflect on career, family, goals and my future. The rolling of the sleeper car and clicking of steel-on-steel with scenery of the Puget Sound and Olympic Mountains is bordering on hypnotic.

Whidbey Island rests off to my left, rising severely, its steep, bare Southern coast a reminder of past events where the Sound has claimed back the ground it once held in its watery grasp one landslide at a time over the millenia. Many slight and subtle changes that don’t become evident until enough time passes. I look back now and see that my career has been impacted by subtle changes over time just like the island fading into the sea.

Flashback 1: Kalamazoo, Michigan November, 1990

I came into this career as a Data Professional/Trainer/Small Business Owner/Chief Cook and Bottle Washer after I’d been out of university for almost 10 years. I had originally planned to earn a degree in applied mathematics though what I’d do with that knowledge was not something I had thought about. Most 18-year-olds are more focused on the present than thinking of the future. It mattered not though because once Calculus 3 came into my life I realized that math truly is hard and my passion for numbers abated. Eventually I fell into accounting – it was easy when I realized there was one basic rule for accounting: if your credits equal your debits you win. While accounting was easy I can’t say it was exactly thrilling. I was paying my own way through school and I came to the realization I didn’t want to put on a tie and decide if an insert-any-conceivable-part-name-here cost $0.02 or $0.03 to manufacture THE REST OF MY LIFE; this epiphany occurring just as I was entering my senior year and was able to see the bottom of my bank account approaching as quickly in a photo-finish race with my fears of economic survival. Because of that I trotted forward with the plan to get the degree and use it to leverage myself into a career I really wanted (once I figured out what that was.)

“One of the most valuable aspects of SQL Cruise was the opportunity to learn about what other database professionals did every day. There is a huge variety in DBA positions, and understanding what someone else got to do during their day helped me identify what I still needed to learn. I also discovered how much potential there was for me in my career…SQL Cruise opened huge doors in terms of figuring out *what* I could do, and helped me create a plan to get there.” – Erin Stellato

Insert a series of no-need-to-document events and I found myself working for a brief time as an Administrative Assistant in a defense contractor’s office. I had important duties. So important that the only one I remember is making coffee for my boss when she asked and running to the store to get pain meds when her occasional migraines set in. The job was completely void of fulfillment but it was nice making some money – not much – but not having to take my work home with me. That job didn’t last long once they figured out to make their own coffee and my Manager started taking bottles of aspirin with her to work. An interesting twist however is that at that time I didn’t realize how close I had already come to a life in data – that was the defense contractor’s core line of business. Fate? Foreshadowing? Who knows?

“I’ve attended training before and I’ve been on a cruise before, but I didn’t know what to expect from SQL Cruise. What I found was not only a wealth of knowledge, but I built relationships with folks that I still have years later. These folks have helped me with sticky technical problems at work, taught me new things, and challenged me to always learn more. If it wasn’t for all the built in networking time and open office hours, I would have never been able to forge these kinds of relationships.” – Ryan Adams

Flashback 2:  Kalamazoo, Michigan, the 1990’s

From there I fell into a job performing high-end graphic design, desktop publishing and photo retouching services for a pre-press and printing company; a door that was opened to me by a family member already working in a different role in the company. I was pretty good at it too until I started to develop a weak strain of color blindness. Instructing someone to make Joan Rivers’ flesh (yes, a client of ours) “less red” and “more life-like” to someone who had difficulties with concepts like “red” for a subject who was not very life-like was a failing endeavor. Luckily they needed someone in the role of Estimator who knew the time and effort that went into the services we provided but with a background in accounting. I was doomed to end up in accounting after all (so it seemed.)

“What SQL Cruise meant to me: relationships. The people I met on SQL Cruise Alaska 2012 have become friends and mentors. When I have a technical or career question, I know all I need to do is pick up the phone or write an email to one of my fellow cruisers.” – Jes Borland

You ever have one of those bosses that you can always trot out to your friends or coworkers when they start to complain about something in their office? Someone that was a trump card in the game of Worst Boss Ever? That was the situation I had at this company. I can say this now as I’ve been out of that environment for over 15 years and am not framing that time in a fashion that seems catty or vengeful. But he was horrible but he was also the owner of the company who staked out his own little fiefdom in the Southwest corner of Michigan between the walls he funded and tormented his staff and family members who worked for him. For good and for bad he taught me a great deal. Unfortunately I picked up some of his bad habits that I’ve since been fighting years to undo.  Like a parent passing on good and bad alike to their children.  Either that or I suffered from Stockholm Syndrome.  One thing he did teach me was how to deal with difficult people.  He has also given me a benchmark to which all other difficult career events are measured. After 10 years though I had enough of the emotional ups and downs, threats, demeaning remarks and shouting. When you dread finding out your boss is in the office and rejoice when you find out they’re traveling for a week you know you’re in a bad spot and it’s time to move on.

Flashback 3:  Moab, Utah and Points Southwest, September 1999

Towards the end of my career in accounting and re-animating Joan Rivers and the start of my passionate love affair with Data I took a solitary drive out to Moab Utah in order to meet friends for a week of mountain bike riding, camping and hiking. While there I was commiserating with a dear friend I’d known since I was five-years-old; and it was he who suggested I become a DBA. I still remember where we were, what the weather was like and what I was doing when the conversation arose. I also remember asking what “DBA” meant. Looking back on it now I’m quite surprised I was attracted to the idea of being a DBA since there really is no glamorous job description for that role. However, energized with the idea of going into Information Technology I returned home and bought my first SQL book (one of those Learn T-SQL in 21 Days type books) and started on my journey.  It took me only a short two months to learn enough Transact-SQL to escape into the light.  I had no idea how bright that light would shine.

Flashback 4: Grand Rapids, Michigan in a New Millennium

I ended up with a job in the waning days of the end of the 20th century converting Access applications into Access 97 since that version was Y2K-compatible. The job had a use-by date on it though: 12/31/1999.  You could say that my new position was Y2K-incompatible.

“I took my SQL Cruise shortly after beginning a new position, with a new company, and that new position was something completely outside of my comfort zone in regards to SQL Server. The time spent in the class room gave me confidence in the skills I already had as well as a great set of new skills to bring back to work.
The time spent outside of the classroom gave me the opportunity to build relationships with other experts, which gave me the extra boost I needed to apply those skills in my new gig. Even now, two years after our cruise to Alaska, I have a group of people not only able, but willing to help me riddle out any challenges I face in my professional life.” – Meredith Ryan

Not long after the Y2K threat passed I was transitioned into a role as a SQL Server Developer. There was a team of three of us working on the Access 97 conversions and with our core tasks accomplished it was time to move us into other roles. The other two went on to become an Oracle DBA and one stayed in Access – eventually becoming an Access MVP. I earned my MCSD (Microsoft Certified Solutions Developer) certification in 2001 (Visual Basic 6 and SQL Server 2000 to let you know how irrelevant that certification is now) and through a twist of fate ended up being our company’s first SQL Server DBA when the single SQL instance we had at the time went belly-up and the Server Engineers who acted in the DBA role at the time exhausted their skills trying to fix it. All it took was a yellow Post-It note that ended up somehow on the corner of my desk that had the password for the sa login frantically scribbled on it.

I really wish I would have saved that scrap of paper. It changed my life.

Somewhere in Montana, November 09, 2014

I told you that story so I could tell you this one…

As I was learning SQL Server the first class I ever took I was introduced to Kevin Kline’s (b|t) SQL In a Nutshell book. I still have it and one of these days I really should have him sign it. I was also told that if I wanted to really learn SQL Server inside and out I needed a book by Kalen Delaney (b|t) called Inside SQL Server 2000. The instructor spent more time the first day of my first SQL class talking about Kalen’s book than he did about any other individual topic if memory serves.

Here it is 15 years later and I consider Kevin one of my closest friends and one of perhaps three people I confide in when I need career advice or just a general sounding board. I’ve had him speak for me on numerous SQL Cruises and much of my success comes from emulating him. I also am friends with Kalen, spending time in discussions during intermissions at MVP Summits or PASS events. (She’s amazing by the way.)

It’s been two years since I took my first SQL Cruise, and I’m taking another this February with my husband. In the last two years, I’ve found confidence in my own professional abilities, I have expanded my network tremendously, and I’ve applied the knowledge I’ve learned on the Cruise in my job. I have also spoken at over 10 SQL Saturdays, 3 SQL in the Cities and 3 major conferences, one of which was PASS Summit. – Mickey Stuewe

If you were to go back 15 years and tell me not only would that be the case but that I’d also write books and articles on SQL Server and other topics as well as eventually serve on the PASS Board of Directors or run a training company built on teaching SQL, VMware, Powershell, Tableau and heavy on the professional development too I would have thought you insane – in part because much of those technologies didn’t exist in 1999 but mostly because you just don’t think those things are possible, particularly in the fresh days of a brand new career as it unfolds in front of you.

“SQL Cruise was a turning point for me. I left the boat with a clear career trajectory, and much more sure of my skill set. The people I met, both my fellow cruisers and the instructors, are friends and mentors.” – Nancy Daniels

I Don’t Want it to Take You Fifteen Years

Those things are possible though. It took little steps for those things to add up however. I volunteered after my first PASS Summit in 2002. I met people through volunteering that led to me writing my first article for MSSQLTips.com. I also by chance met Tony Davis, Editor of Redgate’s Simple-Talk at a TechEd conference. Eventually I became a local user group Chapter Leader. That led to me meeting various speakers and leadership within Microsoft, presenting Quizbowl at the PASS Summit for the past 10 years, writing Performance Tuning SQL Server with Dynamic Management Objects for Redgate Press with Tony as my Editor and Louis Davidson as my co-author and not only advancing myself to the Lead DBA role at my company but also launching SQL Cruise, but also blogging and providing my skills as a Consultant to companies worldwide.

Little steps over 15 years. Like the Sound reclaiming its land stake back from Whidbey Island. Like this train slowly making it’s way East towards home.

Flashback 5: Seattle, November 3, 2014

I had a former Cruiser – that’s what we call our attendees on SQL Cruise – Gareth Swanepoel come up to me at a gathering during the PASS Summit this past week and talk about the connections and networks he had built after just 7 days on a SQL Cruise. That was where he met Kevin Kline. Since that cruise three years ago Gareth has gone on to join Pragmatic Works as a consultant, is speaking at SQL events and has the occasional Kevin Kline over to his house for dinner when in the area. Kevin likewise expects that Gareth will stop by for dinner when he is in Nashville.

That is only one example though. We have former Cruisers that are now recognized as those Go-To Voices for their topic of specialization that people sought Kalen and Kevin for when I was starting out. People like Jes Borland (b|t), Erin Stellato (b|t), Jorge Segarra (b|t), Doug Lane (b|t), Neil Hambly (b|t), Ryan Adams (b|t), Mickey Stuewe (b|t) and Wayne Sheffield (b|t) whose careers have blossomed in part to their experience with building networks on SQL Cruise combined with the drive, focus and skills that motivated them to come aboard SQL Cruise in the first place.

In the end that’s what I’m trying to do with SQL Cruise. I want to help you build the networks like I’ve built that have helped to make me as successful as I am without it taking 15 years to do so. I’m trying to help you get started down that path in only 7 days. It’s worked. I’ve seen it happen and if you’re reading this you’ve already benefited from SQL Cruise whether you’ve been on one or not. Any time you sit in a session being presented by Mickey Stuewe, Ryan Adams, Doug Lane, Jorge Segarra, Neil Hambly or Erin Stellato or read one of their blog posts you’ve benefited from SQL Cruise.

Do you really want to get the most from what SQL Cruise has to offer though? If so then don’t get it second hand. Go on one of the SQL Cruises planned for 2015 and reap more of the benefits.

We all have our Origin Stories. Even after the 10 years it took me to get into IT my origin story took 15 years to mature. How long do you want yours to take? Visit www.sqlcruise.com/registerme and find out what it takes to get you onto a SQL Cruise (besides desire for success that is.)