It’s another T-SQL Tuesday! Thanks to Ewald Cress (b|t) for this month’s topic. Since our brains are full from PASS Summit, he asked us to give a shout-out to those in the community who have made a meaningful contribution to our life in the world of data. (If you’re looking for more background about T-SQL Tuesday, see Ewald’s invite or tsqltuesday.com.)
The timing for this topic couldn’t be better. It’s the month with Thanksgiving for those of us in the United States so I see this as a way of saying thanks to a few in our community.
I’ve decided to do a T-SQL Tuesday theme. I have done a number of T-SQL Tuesday posts since starting this blog. So I’d like to start by giving a shout out to all those who have hosted the months I was able to get a post together:
- Michael Swart (b|t – #79 – June 2016)
- Andy Yun (b|t – #84 – November 2016)
- Kenneth Fisher (b|t – #85 – December 2016)
- Kennie Pontoppidan (b|t – #88 – March 2017)
- Kendra Little (b|t – #93 – August 2017)
- Rob Sewell (b|t – #94 – September 2017)
- And now, Ewald Cress (b|t – #96 – November 2017)
I feel the need to give a mention to Brent Ozar (b|t – #86 – January 2017). While I didn’t finish in time so I didn’t officially count as participating, I still posted it later that week so I should include him in this list.
If you look at the names on that list, this is a pretty impressive group of people who have hosted and there are a number of ways that they probably have helped all of us in our careers even if they didn’t host a T-SQL Tuesday. All of these folks are people you want to follow and learn from. And having met several of them in person, they’re just good people on top of it all.
But I feel the need to single a couple of these people out.
First, Michael Swart. His was the first T-SQL Tuesday I participated in. I have to say “Thank You” to the person who had a great topic for my first time participating. It may seem small in the grand scheme of things, but it was a starting point for me.
Second, Kendra Little. My entry to her month’s topic is by far my most popular post to date. And I have to admit, I am pretty proud of that post. But I want to give a shout-out to her for a different reason as well. Kendra started a SQLWIT slack channel about 2 years ago. I made the impulsive decision to ask her to add me when I saw her initial tweet about it. Twitter and #sqlfamily are big communities. If you’re someone like me who can’t jump directly in the ocean but has to acclimate herself so slowly to the water that her friend mocks her endlessly about how long it takes for her to go swimming, it was a wonderful way to get to know some of the ladies of #PASSWIT in a smaller and less intimidating fashion. In fact, I believe that this group of women were the first ones I told that I started this blog. It’s not a busy channel but getting to know people on that platform led me to being more comfortable to responding or reaching out on Twitter and in person.
Third, Andy Yun. I pretty much knew that as soon as I wrote about getting out and speaking, I would do it. Andy took his own challenge seriously and followed up with people and encourage us to speak. Because of that, I’m not the only person who took his challenge and spoke over the past year; several other people also who participated also began to speak as well. By volunteering to speak, it led me to getting more involved in my local user group. I’ve also discovered that when you speak once, people want you to speak more. It’s almost overwhelming at times, but incredibly flattering and encouraging. Becoming a speaker in the community is probably one of the biggest things I can do to visibly help my career long term.
So why I’m focusing on the T-SQL Tuesday blog party for these thank yous? This is one of the many ways I can learn how to do my job better. In addition, blogging more has meant putting myself out there more, which is a scary thing. It’s made me more active on Twitter and despite the whole “Twitter being Twitter” thing for better or worse, it’s allowed me to connect to #sqlfamily across the world. Plus, through those three specific examples above, I can name at least one person who I’ve been able to connect with or has somehow supported me in ways that I wouldn’t have expected but also deserve separate shout outs and thank yous on their own. That’s a very special thing on many levels.
We don’t always get the opportunity or forget to thank those who have helped us along the way. And a lot of time, we don’t realize the impact we make on others. So to all those mentioned above and those who’ve been left out – a very sincere Thank you!
Deb the DBA 