This time last year, I was so excited for 2020. I had a lot of plans of stepping out in the community. I was looking at all of the SQL Saturdays around the country and even a couple of international events to figure out which ones I wanted to submit to in the hopes of being able to attend.
And for the first two months, things seemed good. And then the pandemic hit. I’ve said this in other posts but everything that I was involved in was suddenly canceled – not just #sqlfamily event.
But looking back, it ended up being a pretty productive year in some ways.
- 19 Speaking Engagements:
- 8 User Groups (virtual and local gone virtual)
- 4 SQL Saturdays
- 1 PASS Summit
- Group By
- Data Platform Summit
- Dataweekender
- dataminds.Connect
- IDERA GeekSync
- Data Platform Discovery Days
- Mentor in the first New Stars of Data
- 19 Blog Posts (not including this one)
- 1 Job Change
- 1 MVP Award – Data Platform
In some ways, I was able to be a part of things that I probably would not have had an opportunity to be a part of otherwise because some of these were new virtual events.
Like so many of us, I am heartbroken about the dissolution of PASS. Getting involved with SQL Saturdays and attending the past several SQL Saturdays really helped me invest in my career in ways that I can’t express. It’s actually fairly bittersweet and poetic that the last SQL Saturday I spoke at was Albany, which was also the first SQL Saturday I spoke at. I am so appreciative of all those who are stepping forward to fill in the void. I’m looking forward to finding a way to jump in and help where I am able.
It will be interesting to see what 2021 will bring. I already know that I will be speaking at a couple of user groups over the next several months, including my local group, NESQL, in January. I will be a mentor for the New Stars of Data again so I’m looking forward to working with a new speaker. I have no clue what sort of additional speaking opportunities will be coming up. Even if I don’t end up speaking much while things are finding their new ground, I have a lot of things that I’ve been hoping to explore more and blog about. Maybe 2021 will be the year I spend more time writing.
While this year has been a challenge on many levels, I am still grateful for my friends in #sqlfamily. It gives me many reasons to be hopeful for the things to come in 2021.
Wishing you and your families a very Happy New Year!
Deb the DBA 