Year: 2013

Let’s get this out of the way: I’m every bit as surprised as you are that I’m going to work for Brent Ozar Unlimited®. Two months ago, I would not have believed it. I saw the blog post, just as you did. And I dismissed it. I believed because it wasn’t a BI job, I wasn’t the…

The Road to Employee #3: The Interview

Last Updated February 12, 2017

Jeremiah Peschka

What was the interview like for the fine folks who went through it? Talking Points We’re big believers that one of most important things for a consultant is their ability to interact with customers. The type of work we do relies on communicating clearly with our customers, and we wanted to make sure that our…

How to Be Employee #3

Last Updated February 12, 2017

These four things are important if you want to join us in Cabo: 1. Demonstrate curiosity about the technology you use. Don’t focus on the specific technology you think we want – follow your dreams. If you use a technology on a daily basis to get your job done, be curious about how it works.…

How to Write a Killer SQL Server Job Description

Last Updated February 12, 2017

Kendra Little

Professional Development

Hiring managers often feel like they’re trying to find a mythical creature On September 24, we published a blog post that we were looking for a new employee. We didn’t advertise on any job listing sites (even though there are some really good ones out there). We tweeted about it a few times, but most…

Introducing Employee #2, @TheDougLane

Last Updated February 12, 2017

This video was my first introduction to Doug Lane (Blog – Twitter): You can see the full video on SQLcruise.com, where Doug had entered a contest for a free cruise a couple of years ago. Of course he was picked as one of the winners, because I was in stitches as soon as I saw…

Building a Report to View Memory Usage

Last Updated June 27, 2021

Jes Schultz

Memory is one of the most-used resources in SQL Server. Generally, the more you have, the better query performance you’ll get. This blog isn’t about the magic of the buffer pool or the plan cache, but you should understand how important they are to your server’s performance. Since memory is such an important resource, you…

Who Needs an Operating System?

Last Updated October 25, 2013

Jeremiah Peschka

Cloud Computing

In the 1950s, the global economy saw a tremendous change – container ships revolutionized global commerce. Shipping costs got 36 times cheaper with the introduction of containerization. What if you could reduce operational costs and revolutionize application and database deployment in the same way? Containers to the Future In the last few months, the developer world…

What Developers Need to Know About SQL Server

Last Updated February 13, 2017

Development, SQL Server

What Developers Need to Know About Designing Databases Understand that changing database design at a later date is harder than changing code. Getting it right the first time is important #dellsql — Gail Shaw (@SQLintheWild) October 24, 2013 One of my favorite tips, and I never thought of it that way. Code is agile, and…

“You get free videos! And you get free videos!” #SQLintersection

Last Updated January 17, 2019

This week, Jeremiah, Kendra, and I are presenting at SQL Intersection, a conference that also happens at the same place and time as DevIntersection and AngleBrackets. I like Intersections because there’s a bunch of different technologies covered – SQL Server, all kinds of development, SharePoint, cloud, and infrastructure. Kendra Polling the Audience For our pre-con,…

Upcoming User Group Sessions in Chicago and LA

Last Updated October 22, 2013

Coming soon to a user group near you, it’s…me. November 13: Chicago .NET User Group Brent’s How to Think Like the Engine: SQL Server Internals for Developers You’re comfortable writing queries to get the data you need, but you’re much less comfortable trying to design the right indexes for your database. In this 90-minute session…

Frequently Asked Questions About TempDB

Last Updated November 4, 2020

SQL Server, TempDB

The questions came fast and furious in one of my recent TempDB webcasts, so here’s the ones I wasn’t able to answer during the live session: Q: Virtualized OS, SAN, no dedicated LUNs, most likely scenario with no gotchas, theoretically: dump TempDB with everything else all on one virtual volume, including logs — or split…

Index Hints: Helpful or Harmful?

Last Updated February 13, 2017

Jes Schultz

Indexing, SQL Server

Let me ask you a question: do you want to boss the SQL Server query optimizer around? If you answered no: good. You’re willing to let the query optimizer do its job, which is to find the least expensive way to run a query, as quickly as possible. If you answered yes: you’re a brave…

Announcing sp_BlitzFirst® for Troubleshooting Slow SQL Servers

Last Updated March 26, 2014

When someone tells you the SQL Server is slow, what do you do? Run sp_who looking for queries that might be blocking someone Check the SQL Agent jobs to see if there’s a backup job running Fire up Activity Monitor looking for problems Remote desktop into the server to look at CPU use Open Perfmon…

#SQLPASS #Summit13 Women in Technology Lunch – Live!

Last Updated February 12, 2017

Jes Schultz

#SQLPass

Welcome to the second day of #SQLPASS #Summit13! I’ve been having a blast this week – presenting a precon with Brent and Kendra, watching great speakers like Erin Stellato and Bob Ward, chatting at the Community Zone, and walking the vendor booths. Today is one of my favorite events – the annual Women In Technology…

#SQLPASS #Summit2013 Professor DeWitt Keynote

Last Updated August 11, 2019

#SQLPass, In-Memory OLTP (Hekaton), SQL Server

This morning at the PASS Summit, we have the pleasure of listening to Professor David DeWitt talk about Hekaton internals. I’m actually not going to liveblog this – I’m going to sit back and take in the presentation as an attendee because it’s going to be so damn good, and I’m not going to be…

#SQLPASS #Summit2013 Microsoft Keynote Liveblog

Last Updated February 12, 2017

#SQLPass, SQL Server

Charlotte, NC – Your intrepid reporter is onsite at the convention center, settling in at the Blogger’s Table. At 8:15AM Eastern time, PASS President Bill Graziano will take the stage, discuss PASS, and then hand things over to Microsoft’s Quentin Clark for product announcements. Some of the things I’m looking for include: Attendance numbers on…

3 Signs Your DBA Skills Need an Upgrade (video)

Last Updated October 12, 2013

Kendra Little