SQL Data Partners Podcast

Do you want to be a data scientist? Do you even know what data science is? In this episode, we tackle the idea of being a data scientist and discuss the criteria and what it may take to get the job description of data scientist. So not everyone feels out in the cold, our guest Brad Llewellyn, talks about how this field has developed out of data analysis and how we may have much more in common than differences between us.

Who hasn't had a deployment go a bit sideways?  For all the talk of DevOps these days, the ability to push out code can still be challenging.  When I heard David Moore, our guest today, talk about the increased confidence they have in pushing out database changes in very short cycles, I was interested.

Year Two of our beautiful idea--gather together with a group of podcast listeners in a conference type format and find ways for us to connect and help each other grow.  I am influenced by what I see in other events; however, I want to add my own flavor to what is currently offered.  I want SQL Trail to be different--learning should be attendee-driven rather than event planned.  The focus should be on the networking--the hallway track.  Everyone should make a new friend.

Those trained in SSAS may cringe a bit, but a curious thought entered my mind.  Many organizations start using data warehouse structure with fact and dimension tables, but never make it to the 'cube' state--actually using analysis services.  When Trey Johnson, our guest for this episode, wanted to chat about SSAS, I thought this would be interesting to get his perspective on using SSAS, the future of the service, and how PowerBI just might make it much more accessible.

Platform as a service has finally arrived to Microsoft's Azure offering.  With the release of Azure SQL Database Managed Instances--quite the mouthful--there is now an option to explore database services without missing all the functionality we didn't have with Azure SQL Database.  We are joined by Javier Villegas to discuss his experiences with Managed Instances and why we think this will be one service more organizations will want to start adopting.

Today we, the SQL Data Partners team, celebrate our 150th podcast episode! We introduce ourselves, talk about what we're doing, our goals for the coming year and answer the SQL Family questions. Come get to know us!

Do you ever feel like you have too many databases to manage?  Managing lot of databases can get tricky and in this episode we explore some of the techniques you can use when you need to manage lots of databases.  Tracy Boggiano joins us to discuss some of her techniques, as she has managed over 300 instances.

SSRS is great -- it comes with SQL Server, provides quite a bit of functionality, but sometimes doesn't always perform well. In this episode we welcome back Bert Wagner as he chats with us about some of the ways he has improved his under-performing reports. Our conversation focuses on SSRS itself -- we are going to assume you can tune the queries in SSMS from previous episodes or the interwebs. What do you think of our list? Did we miss one? Let us know!

Security is always important to data folks and when a new feature like Always Encrypted comes along, it gets your attention. In this episode, we discuss this feature introduced in SQL Server 2016. We are joined by our guest Sam Nasr and he shares an overview and we find it may not cover all the scenarios you might think when you hear the name. Our discussion leads to scenarios in both on-premises and cloud solutions.

So what is SQL Trail all about?  In this episode we invite our MVPs to discuss some of the topics they are ready to share on SQL Trail.  We know there are lots of options for training and networking -- this is our iteration on what the experience should be.  If after you listen to the episode and want to sign up, you can use our sponsor code "MaconIT" to save $250 of the cost!  We hope to see you on the SQL Trail!

In this episode we finish up our conversation with Jason and Cathrine and talk about how they keep up with all the changes in data conversions.  The advent of Azure services is great, but can be tricky to navigate.  We also get to hear Jason's answers to the SQL Family questions.

Moving data with SSIS is a forgone conclusion for most of us -- it is part of SQL Server, it has a interface we are somewhat familiar with, and connects to lots of common data sources like csv, excel, and of course SQL Server. This episode, with Jason Horner and Cathrine Wilhelmsen, challenges some of the thoughts around data movement and gives some things to think about as new tools are available to move data around.

We frequently talk about how many DBAs are concerned our job may be phased out in the future. This episode discusses one common career path in going from DBA to Data Warehouse Architect and we talk with Thomas LeBlanc about his transition: his decisions, his path and his advice.  Many companies can’t afford to staff separate individuals as developers, DBAs, analysists and architects, so there are generally opportunities for most of us to learn these technologies.

Are you giving yourself a HEAP of trouble by using tables with no clustered indexes?  But it is faster you say . . . because you don't have to worry about the sorting when inserting.  Our guest Rick Lowe suggests everything is fast until you decide to SELECT, UPDATE, or DELETE.  We talk about why you may or may not want to use HEAP tables.  I know I was surprised to get his take on the use of HEAP tables and I think you will be, too.

In this episode, we chat with David Maxwell about wait stats, what they are and why we should care about them. There are so many different directions we can go and if you have a specific use case you’d like us to consider, let us know and we can include it in a future episode.