Hey there! It’s time for every blogger’s favorite post – the end of year wrap up!
It’s strange because it feels like it was such a quiet year. I mean, it wasn’t quiet in some ways – we got a dog and got married and life in general still happened. But in terms of general career and community, things still seemed quiet overall.
In terms of speaking, I didn’t do a whole lot. I spoke at a few user groups over the year – mostly virtual, two in person SQL Saturdays, and was part of the Learning Path for the PASS Data Community Summit, which was pre-recorded. The feedback I’ve gotten has been wonderful so thank you all for that! I did manage to help out with some other events as a moderator, which is something I definitely enjoy doing.
In terms of blogging, I didn’t do a whole lot. I still have a lot of ideas I’d like to do; there’s this one post that I started working on that I’d still like to finish soon. (Mentioning it here to hold myself accountable to actually finishing it.) I thought there would be more to say about our home lab set up, but maybe that is a post all by itself. I still managed to participate in T-SQL Tuesdays and even hosted in July.
But I did do a major step up in terms of the general community involvement – I became a member of the Azure Data Community Advisory Council. This is not a governing board but an advisory one. The goal is to help the user groups who focus on the Azure Data Platform throughout the world make sure that their voices get heard and have the support they need to function. It’s interesting to hear about the needs of the community and especially think about what that means for those in parts of the world that I haven’t had a connection to or insight to their work before this. It’s a great reminder that it’s easy to get stuck in our own world views and how important it is to break out of that to truly make an impact sometimes. If you’re looking to find out more about the Azure Data Community in general, you can find that info here.
Don’t get me wrong – while there were lots of good things about this year, I have to confess that I’m a little disappointed with just how quiet it was. I know some people still manage to speak frequently because they are just great at finding those opportunities and making the most of them. I’m a little envious because I don’t feel I have that same ability. I don’t know if I’m affected by the virtual fatigue along with the acknowledgement that we’re not fully out of the pandemic, even as things are seemingly coming back to a new version of normal. Hopefully I’ll find a way to do more in 2023.
So what’s up next for me?
Well, my speaking calendar is pretty light so far. But I’m super excited that I was selected to speak at SQLBits this year. I’ll be presenting my “Practical Starter Guide to SQL Notebooks”, which is a session that I truly enjoy giving. I have a few user groups lined up already for later in the year. If you’re interested in having me speak (except for most Tuesday nights when I have rehearsals), let me know! Also, if there’s a topic you want to hear me talk about, let me know that too – I’m always trying to figure out what people want to hear me talk about.
I have a couple of other things in the works that I’m hoping to make happen over the next year. I’m not quite ready to say what they are but hopefully you’ll be as excited for them as I am. Maybe I’ll even get to all of the blog posts that are sitting in my drafts.
I truly love being a part of the #sqlfamily\Data Platform community with all of you. I’m looking forward to all of the good things that are coming over the next year.
Wishing all of you and yours a very Happy New Year!
Deb the DBA 