SQL DATA Skills

1. SQL DATA Skills Senior In Age / Pay Or SKILLS

2. Abstract: Your SQL Life Story • Who this talk is NOT for: • Those of you that are “Getting Things Done” – blogging, presenting, and have already established your career and you know the “end game” • Anybody not interested in a presentation that is not “hard-core” technical • What it is about • Challenging your understanding of where you are currently • What the “ground rules” are to becoming a “Senior SQL RockStar” without any regrets (omissions)

3. Challenge for all the Seniors (DBAs)

4. Design New Tables • Never, I deal with tables other people made • A couple of times a quarter • Once a month • Every week – I’m very familiar with data modelling tools and I own data modelling books

5. Write Queries • When you write, you use the same syntax you have been using for years • Using books and blogs on line – sometimes • Regularly watch web casts or subscribe to blogs to improve T-SQL • Present to local user groups

6. Deploy Changes • Make them live in production. What, is there something else? • Script them out first and test them in development • Script them out, test them, document the change that I’m expecting and monitor afterwards to make sure I got the change I was expecting • Check the changes into source control, have someone else test them and then deploy them into automated fashion

7. Tune Queries When I tune queries, I • I feel like I’m back in high school, in the back seat of a car, fumbling around in the dark, groping indexes and execution plans blindly • I know when I should apply a missing index recommendation and when I shouldn’t • I know how to hand craft an index to improve a query even when there is no missing index recommendation • I can recognise when I’m getting the wrong join for a query, and I know when I should influence the Server to pick the right one

8. Monitor Performance When they say SQL is slow, I • Am completely surprised • Know which SQL server metrics to look at • What my server’s normal baselines are for any given metric • Tell them I already knew about it because I have alerting set up correctly, with thresholds configured properly for my baselines and I don’t have email rules set up to push all alerts into a different folder

9. Troubleshoot Outages When SQL goes down, I • Am completely surprised • Remote desktop in and start poking around • Have a rough idea of what logs I need to hit, in what order and I am confident in how much time it will take to fail over to my secondary servers • Grabs my customized First Responder Kit and step through my well-rehearsed troubleshooting steps

10. Install & Configure SQL When I install SQL Server, I • Run setup.exe • Google for a setup best practise checklist • Grab my customized checklist that has my company-specific settings • Get my prepped installation files off the file share and run an automated installation

11. Design & Test DR When I design SQL HA / DR, I: • Wait, what do you mean design? My instances are standalone • Use the same techniques I’ve been using for years • Have a good idea of what my options are and work with the business to pick the right solution • Get the business’s RPO and RTP requirements in writing, then write down a few options for them with budget estimates

12. How many Companies have these DBA Types

13. Your Life Story • The decision you made or will make when answering these types of questions will be part of “Your Life Story” • Make sure that you don’t omit aspects of your story • By doing something that you will be embarrassed about OR • By not doing anything and staying exactly where you are and have been for several years • What story will your future tell? • Lets look at some examples: • Joseph • Brent Ozar • Andy Leonard • Thomas LaRock

14. Joseph’s Life Story • What could have been: • Victim – Brothers wanted to “Kill him or Sell him” • Deceiver – Slept with Potiphar’s Wife • Revenge Seeker – Exposed his brothers • What he was: • Favourite Son • Head of Potiphar’s Household • Prime Minister of Egypt

15. Brent Ozar’s Life Story • The Past • Aspects of his life that he doesn’t want to tell • “a whole lot of guilt from my upbringing. I’m overcompensating now and struggling through adulthood.” • Recognized By Quest • “They weren’t betting on my SQL Server skills – they were betting that I’d continue working hard on my communications skills.” • Current Life Story • “Getting things done” – read “My Epic Life Quest” • Inspire others to “Get things Done” • “The reality is that the people you admire are writing, presenting, and webcasting because they want to help you.  They don’t just want to help you technically – they want to help you personally, too.” • He has challenged me to assess: • Where I am now (“How to get ‘Senior’ in your Title”) • Where do I want to be in the future

16. Thomas LaRock’s Life Story • The Past • Aspects of his life that he may not want to tell • Not realizing that someday has already happened or is currently happening • Not enjoying the “someday” time when it was happening • Current Life Story • SQL Inspire – Focus is “SQL People” • Recognizing “Someday” • Free to “Learn new things and think something different” • Remembered as good husband, spouse, father and SQL Person • He has challenged me to assess: • My “somedays” • Technology is NOT the only relevant part of our jobs

17. Andy Leonard’s Life Story (@LinchpinPeople) • The Past • Aspects of his life that he doesn’t feel proud of • When asked to autograph a copy of his book - With a mixture of surprise and confusion I asked the requestor, "Why?!“ • Without Him, nothing you read in Part 2-4 would have happened in my life. I would have remained a bitter punk until death, and then I would have spent eternity separated from God in Hell. • Current Life Story • Continuous Education – “part of the job” and has defined his career • “What a blessing it is to be able to help his customers solve their database problems” • Balanced life story – SQL & “I spend time with my family and engage in activities that I deem important: farming, hobbies, faith” • He has challenged me to assess: • The benefits of writing / presenting about all aspects of what is important in life

18. More Than Just Technology • Professional Development • Outstanding Customer Service: John Sansom – Taking It to the next level • Head in the Clouds – Eyes on the Books: Buck Woody • Tim Ford, John Halunen, Dev Nambi, Grant Fritchey • Working Smarter • Automate Everything • Top 10 Free SQL Server Tools • Plan Explorer, sp_Blitz, sp_WhoIsActive, Management Data Warehouse, Index Defrag, sp_BlitzIndex, Compression Estimator, Central Management Server, ClearTrace, SQL DMV • Mentoring • Once you become a SENIOR, the workplace doesn’t provide a mentor – you need to find one • Another neat idea - The Mentoring Experiment • What Does a Good Mentor Do for You? (Kevin Kline)

19. More Than Just Technology • Character Traits • Example • Excellent attention to Detail • Natural Problem Solver • Assertive • Tactful • Manage Relationships • Good Decision Maker • Humble • Calm Under Pressure • Business minded • Approachable “If you are in the position where people will voluntarily use you as the first point of contact for database information rather than the last, then you are probably an exceptional DBA”

20. More Than Just Technology • Knowledge Management • Personal Knowledge Management • Personal Measurements • Applicability – documentation apply to large set of conditions or only a specific few • Verifiability – documentation cross-referenced to other documentation & publications • Currency – documentation up to date • Reference Or Task-Centric – documentation mostly reference or task driven • Organizational Learning • Standardize problem resolution & the process of root cause analysis • Continuous Improvement • Make the process repeatable • Standardize & Centralize Processes and Documentation • Manage – continuous review of processes & documentation • Metrics & Dashboards • User Dimension – Transaction Rates, ThruPut, Perceived Elapsed Times • System Dimension – Resource Usage, Availability of High-Performance Access Paths, Clustering • DBA Dimension – Utility Scheduling, Knowledge of Tables & Code

21. DBA Types: Kitchen with multiple Fridges

22. Fundamental Tensions (Dev & Production) • Development • Continuous Change & Enhancements • Mission: Meet Schedule Targets • Production • Stability • Controlled Change • Mission: Meet Reliability Targets • DevOps • Remove Silos between Dev & Production • Change Management • Focus on Company Business Mission: End-User Experience

23. DBA: DevOps • SDLC – Integrate Silos • Continuous Development, Integration & Deployment • Direct monitoring visibility • Self-sufficient Developers: Performance Observations • Performance Functional Requirement • Breakdown barriers between Development & Production • Developers are NOT “Time Sinks” • DBAs are not “Gatekeepers” but have final control on production • Shared Metrics • Consistent & Complimentary Functional Goals between Development & Production

24. DBA: Development • Database Code compiles with Company Standards (QC) • Provide Top 10 Resource-Intensive Queries & Ways To Improve • Design Indexes – Choose when to Add / Remove • Query Performance • Developer Education • Database Services & Internals • Database Design

25. DBA: Production • Backup strategy meets business RPO & RTO objectives • Troubleshoot SQL Server Outages • Monitoring Utilities – reduce false alarms • Choose HA solution • Determine most effective way to increase performance • Hardware • Configuration Changes • Index / Query Changes • Document database environment

26. DAMA & SQL Server: 10 Cores Principles T-SQL DQS INFORMATION_SCHEMA, New PowerBI Tools DBA FILETABLE, SharePoint Schema, Roles, Permissions, Encryption…… SSAS & SSIS, PDW MDM

27. Data Management Professions • Data Analyst • Data Architect • Data Modeller • Data Governance Manager • Data Operations Manager • Data Scientist • Data Steward • Database Administrator • Information Architect • Information Security • Metadata Modeller • Chief Data Officer