SQL Saturday #175 Fargo, ND April 27th

When I heard SQL Saturday is coming to Fargo, ND on April 27th, 2013, I could't believe it. I was onsite at a client in Fargo when the news came out.  That was a sign, I must submit a session.  Fargo is growing rapidly, heck the whole state of North Dakota is.  Fargo getting a SQL Saturday is not surprising with the oil boom and the growth of the internet and the new technology in agriculture.  North Dakota has more data than ever.  Good thing I like data.

The title of my session is "A Complete BI Solution in About an Hour!"  I really appreciate the whole Microsoft SQL stack and how you can, with one install and some quick setup, really get a problem solved in no time at all.  I'll be re-working my slide deck a bit from previous events and have new code to show.  I might even throw in some nice HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript wiz bang to end the show.

As of right now, I'm on at 10 am in room 1. SCHEDULE HERE That's a really good time for me.  My session is the only beginner level talk in that 10am slot so I hope there will be enough beginners that want to hear about BI.  If I don't fill the room, I can take more questions and show all the other ways that Microsoft makes BI easy for us SQL developers to get the job done.  

See you in April! I hear there are a lot of registrations.  I'm not surprised it's only $10 for a full day of SQL goodness.

 

 

JavaScript should be your favorite language

So you think you're really cool because you're hardcore and know everything there is about PHP or C# or C++ or VB or Perl or Ruby or Python or ColdFusion or Java or ActionScript or..  I should stop right?  The thing is, as developers we've been coding in all these other languages to fit the phone, desktop, server and platform we think is best.  But we were wrong.  There is no "best" or "favorite" platform.  We shouldn't have been writing Flash apps.  We shouldn't have been writing Silverlight or Windows or Mono or XNA or Java apps.  We should have been writing HTML5 apps this whole time. 

Don't get me wrong.  I don't thing that the debate of standards based apps vs native apps is over.  I think it's going to go nuclear.  Soon their will be iOS, Windows, Ubuntu, Chrome, Android, Blackberry, Firefox OS, and more to come.  They (I assume) will all probably be a little different but there will be ways to write in just HTML5, JavaScript and CSS.

So if you are really cool and prefer all those other languages, maybe you should look at JavaScript a little closer like I have this past year.  Dive deep, don't just use it when you really have to.  Try out some server side stuff like Node.js.  Or, God forbid, write a Windows Store App in JavaScript instead of C#.  You might like it.  I do.

Brackets for Good

Brackets for Good

This story actually starts for me back in 2010.  I volunteered for Indy GiveCamp.  My assignment was to help organize and lead a team to upgrade a community center's website to DotNetNuke.  That's when I was pulled in to help the Trusted Mentors team build a database application.  GiveCamps are really cool.  You get to code for charity, if you have the chance go volunteer.

Things circled back around in 2011 when I was developing some really cool medical device software at WoundVision.  We were doing really well at the time.  We had offices near Fountain Square where Trusted Mentors has it's office.  We got to sponsor a breakfast at the Fieldhouse event for them.  It happened to be my birthday, it was a really cool event and a great birthday present from WoundVision.  I miss all those poeple, we made some really good software together.

Now it's time for me to pay back so I've given a few bucks, that's all it takes. It's a really cool idea for March.  All non-profits benefit and there is a bonus at the end for the winning team.  Please help by going out to the Brackets for Good site and buying some points for your favorite team.  Perhaps that is even my favorite team, Trusted Mentors.

Poplulist vs Elitist

I first need to tell you that is not a political blog. I don't have any agenda and seldom post anything too controversial. If you are looking for that sort of thing you'll not find it here. This post is about styles, techniques, or preferences in developing software.

I'm not an Elitist, at least I don't think I am. I'm very open minded and try not to force my views of engineering on anyone. I have been a team lead many times in the past though. I'm made decisions and dictated standards that might seem high and mighty. A lot of where I come from is Pragmatism. I don't like really over engineered 9 tier application frameworks. When I step through the debugger and hit the F10 key 50 times, I have a heart attack. Why all the nesting?

I'm not a Populist either. I don't necessarily think Ruby on Rails is the definition of MVC, even though most developers who do MVC use Rails. ASP.NET MVC is cool, as are others. I don't think that the iPhone and iPad are the best devices ever. I actually think they are a pain to use and too plain for me. I don't think that everyone should code the same way. Go4 can kiss my... I could really care less about how your css is minified as long as it works and doesn't take forever to download.

So why am I writing this blog post? I really don't like spaghetti code. I'm ok with 70% code coverage in NCover. If my app only has 3 layers, I'm ok with it. If I have to write a stored procedure to get what I want out of the database, cool. I can code from the UI in, or the schema out. What I don't like is over engineered bloat! I don't get along with Elitist software guys who care about REST vs RESTful.

My apps aren't for everyone and I didn't take a long time to code them. They are there for the users who like using them. My project plan was only 6 months long. We released on time, and hopefully we made money. My code doesn't have a lot of dependencies and is pretty simple, really fast. I'm not going to be an Elistist and tell you to follow my lead. But if my way becomes popular, I'm ok with that.

Stuff I'll never do as a boss, again.

I've been reading a lot about building good corporate culture and trying to retain employees and recruit new team members.  I've been away from the team lead position for about 6 months but have been consulting with large organizations.  I've come up with a short list of things I'll never do and will probably do as a boss.  You might not agree but I hope as a member on a team I lead you will appreciate some of them.

• I'll never pressure you to give to the United Way or other charity because your employer said so. 
  I will try to work out schedules if you are donating your time and it doesn't really interfere with anything.
• I'll never ask you to do something I wouldn't do. 
  I will ask you to do something because you are better at it than I am.
• I'll never pressure you into after work social events.  Not everybody likes free football tickets.
  I might spread the word about a cool user group topic that is coming up though.  You really don't want the free tickets?
• I'll never ask you to work thru lunch or whenever it is you eat.
  I might invite you to go out to lunch with me, I might even want to buy.
• I'll never ask you to evaluate your peers.
  That's my job to decide if another team member isn't pulling his/her weight.  You can tell me if it's hurting your timeline, but I'll not force you to do it.  I will ask you to evaluate me.
• I'll never ask you to play some stupid team building game and reveal your inner most secrets.
  I can always look on your Facebook for that sort of thing.  I might ask you to play Halo sometime, though try not to frag me too much. I like to play but am not very good.
• I'll never ask you to remind me when a meeting is or when I veer off course.  I know my responsibility.  But if I am late, txt me with all caps and pick on me about it.  I won't retaliate.
  I will tell you when your veering off course and I'll tell you really early.

I have probably done some of these things in my past as a team leader.  I really regret that. 

I think there is enough pressure at work to get the job done.  A lot of the office politics is really old fashioned.  The workplace is full of diverse individuals.  You have a life.  I'm asking for a lot of it, so I'll try to treat you fairly.  Hopefully the company we work for treats us as well as we treat each other.

Very busy months for SQL Saturday in September and October

If you’ve never attended the free 1 day seminar called SQL Saturday than the next few months give you plenty of chances.  Some Saturdays there are events in 3 or 4 different cities at once.  Even if you are outside the US, there is probably a SQL Saturday each year within a few hours drive or flight. 

 

SQL Saturday is for beginners and seasoned professionals.  There are always multiple rooms with speakers presenting at the same time.  I suggest using Schedule Builder feature of the SQL Saturday website once you’ve registered for the event nearest you.

 

I’ve been attending and sharing my experiences at SQL Saturdays for years now.  Each event is top notch and very organized.  The list of speakers are the best SQL experts in the world.

 

I’m next speaking at SQL Saturday #149 in Minnesota September 29th.  I’ve had the privilege to speak in Chicago, Indianapolis, Columbus, New York City, and Kansas City.  I’ve also attended Louisville a few times.

 

You should check out the SQL Saturday website for more information and the upcoming schedule.  If you don’t see your area, check out the list of previous events.  Maybe you’ve missed it and you’ll find out what month it will be back next year.

 

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A Complete BI Solution in About an Hour!

 

In this presentation Aaron will cover how to collect data from multiple SQL Servers using SQL Server 2008 Integration Services (SSIS). Then he will use SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) to report detail on that data. After that he will use SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS) to create a KPI. Finally he’ll present that KPI on a dashboard via a web page. The goal of this presentation is to show how seamless the Microsoft Business Intelligence products are. If you’ve only used a few of these products, you’ll appreciate seeing them together all at once. Code will be provided.

 

Session Level: Beginner

Windows 8 Consumer Preview

I downloaded the developer preview months ago and put it on an old laptop.  It was fun but really testy.  A few weeks ago I purchased a Acer Iconia Tab W500 from the Microsoft Store for $399.  It’s a 1 GHz dual core tablet with a 32GB SSD.  It came with Windows 7 on it.  I put the developer preview on it, much better but prone to crashes.

 

 

This morning I downloaded the Windows 8 Consumer Preview.  It’s even better.  I’m actually in love with it.  It takes some getting used to with the way the settings menu and apps work together.  Performance is awesome.  I’ve gotten about 6 hours out of the battery.  With 7, battery life was about 3 hours.

 

What I want:

 

1. Office 15
1. Better People Tile
2. Better Reader

 

I have tons of motivation to work on cool Metro apps now though so you’ll see more from me about Windows 8.