In my PollGab room where y’all can ask questions, Chocolate Thunder wrote:
I do genuinely wish that I could do two things at the same time:
- Give y’all everything for free, and
- Pay for the roof over my head and put food on my table
I haven’t figured out how to do both of those things at the same time. I know how to do one of them, but not both. So I try to strike a balance: I try to give away as much as I possibly can, for free. Here’s a quick rundown of what I provide y’all at absolutely no charge:
- The First Responder Kit: tools like sp_Blitz, sp_BlitzFirst, and more so you (and consultants all over the world) can solve problems for free
- Training classes: like How to Use the First Responder Kit, How to Think Like the Engine
- SQL ConstantCare®: so you can get free monitoring for the most urgent issues like database corruption and broken backups
- YouTube videos: in the last year, people have watched 85,200 hours of videos – on average, at any given time, 10 people are watching one of my YouTube videos
- Short videos on my LinkedIn, TikTok, and Facebook channels
Every year, I challenge myself to give away more for free than I’ve ever given away before. 2024’s new addition was the short videos on LinkedIn, TikTok, and Facebook. This actually costs me money, because I have a social media person chopping up my Office Hours videos into bite-sized chunks and adding transcripts to make them easier to follow. (I can’t do this myself – I have zero free time left.)
Short videos don’t work for everything, of course. Some questions require longer, bigger answers. For example, in a 60-90 second free video, I can’t teach you how to rewrite a stored procedure to solve deadlocking problems. That takes explanation, a complex demo query, a cleanly rewritten one, and a long session showing the before and after effects.
So I do charge for the long, complex stuff.
I try to give away everything that folks need at the beginning of their careers. However, as they progress to the senior level and they start to face complex challenges – things that are costing the business real money – then that’s where I build more complex training classes to make those issues easier.
That means, Chocolate Thunder, that I’ve got good news and great news.
The good news is that you’ve found an authority online that you trust, whose opinion you value, and who you want to learn more complex things from.
The great news is that my training happens to be on sale this month! Now’s your chance not just to get your own problems solved, but also by buying my training, you’re helping to sponsor more free material every year. The more y’all buy, the more I can afford to give back to the community. Let’s do this together – help me help y’all!
- The best way to get started!
- Includes all of my Fundamentals of SQL Server classes
- 41 hours of videos
- Bought individually: $936/year
- Mastering Index Tuning
- Mastering Query Tuning
- Mastering Parameter Sniffing
- Mastering Server Tuning
- 57 hours of videos
- Bought individually: $1,580/year
- The best value!
- Includes all of my Fundamentals of SQL Server and Mastering SQL Server classes
- 98 hours of videos
- Bought individually: $2,516/year
- All my Fundamentals of SQL Server and Mastering SQL Server classes
- 98 hours of videos
- Never having to ask the accounting team for permission again: priceless
And if you want to add on our apps, SQL ConstantCare® and the Consultant Toolkit, these bundles include those too:
- Level 1 Bundle (Fundamentals + Apps):
$995/year$695/year, save $300 - Level 2 Bundle (Fundamentals + Mastering + Apps):
$1,595/year$995/year, save $600
Frequently Asked Questions
Can we pay via check or purchase order? Yes, but only for 10 or more seats for the same package, and the full payment (not just a purchase order or IOU) must be received before the sale ends. Email us now at Help@BrentOzar.com with the package you want to buy and the number of seats, and we’ll send you a quote to include with your check. Make your check payable to Brent Ozar Unlimited and mail it to 9450 SW Gemini Drive, ECM #45779, Beaverton, OR 97008. Your payment must be received before we activate your training, and must be received before the sale ends. Payments received after the sale ends will not be honored. We do not accept POs as payment unless they are also accompanied by a check in the same envelope. For a W9 form: http://downloads.brentozar.com/w9.pdf
Can we get discounts for group buys? Not during the Black Friday sale. These prices are as low as we go.
Can we send you a form to fill out? No, to keep costs low during the Black Friday sales, we don’t do any manual paperwork or sign up for your vendor system. To get these awesome prices, you’ll need to check out through our web site and use the automatically generated PDF invoice/receipt that gets sent to you via email about 15-30 minutes after your purchase finishes. If you absolutely need us to fill out paperwork, we’d be happy to do it at our regular (non-sale) prices – email us at Help@BrentOzar.com for details.
20 Comments. Leave new
“Thank you for helping us help you help us all!”
It’s just so weird that someone would make a comment like that. Does Chocolate Thunder work for free? They really have not thought this through.
Well put. I love the Office Hours videos and think you strike a perfectly reasonable balance of providing some tidbits of information for free where you can, directing people to other sources for things that you may not handle (security), and directing folks to paid training for more complex stuff.
ChocolateThunder has a very strange take on late-in-life potty training. Correct name for needing the training; bad attitude about acquiring the skill.
Um, wow. What’s this guy on? I have been learning from Brent (and some of his associates with posts on his site) and his First Responder Kit for almost two years now, completely free. I also watched lots of free content at the PASS Summit this month that I wouldn’t have known existed without subscribing to Brent’s emails.
I was more than happy to finally pull out my credit card for his training sale this November. Not just to learn, but to finally contribute something to someone who has enabled my journey from “yeah I can write some reporting queries” to having my boss refer to me as the company’s DBA.
Unfortunately, my contribution doesn’t even pay for one of Brent’s designer outfits… maybe the sales tax on it.
Brent does an awful lot for the SQL Server community for free. From the humble beginnings of the First Responder kit (sp_AskBrent anyone), to think like the SQL Engine, to the sporadic free offerings like PowerShell for DBA’s… The list goes on and on.
That Brent takes the time to have offers and address/answer questions for free is fantastic.
He has to pay bills and keeps the lights on just like the rest of us. Referring to his paid classes (highly discounted this month as he stated above) for more complex questions is not a big ask.
Expecting complex answers to complex questions that are covered in his classes for free…
I look at office hours as a way of having someone explain concepts and thought processes. Details? Not in that time format.
The problem is that free stuff isn’t properly appreciated by far too many people. (I’m not one of them). The scripts, the free videos and blogs aren’t enough? Nobody has a big enough spoon for this.
Thanks so much Brent for all you give for free to the SQL community.
I could stop there, but what made me comment here was Chocolate Thunder’s assertion that “more often than not your answer is take the training”. This is so not true.
“More often than not” implies more than 50% of the time, whereas in my experience over the years it is no more than 1 or 2% at the most. I’m absolutely fine with that, as everyone should be, imho.
I’m really, really grateful for the 98% or more of the answers we get day in and day out from the wealth of your knowledge and experience.
When you eventually retire, you will be greatly missed by thousands, if not millions (are there that many DBA’s in the world? Ok, missed by thousands!), not only for the excellent technical SQL content, but for the wider observations, stories and reflections, as well as the occasional withering reply. You know, the ones where you go silent and look pensive for several seconds before moving on 🙂
Love the office hours and more often than not you provide enough of an answer that gets the gears turning and then its either up to us to take it across the finish line or as you so eloquently state, take the training. You give immense amounts to this community, we can give back.
I want to thank you for what you do for all us one or two person shops, that use vendor software that can’t be changed but are able to use your knowledge to create efficient reports (my thing!) or upgrade SQL Server and use proper settings rather than take all defaults.
I’ve followed Brent for years and love his work and sense of humor. I work for a non-profit org with serious budget constraints, so I really i appreciate all that he does for the community. I wish I was in a position to buy paid products. Instead I rely on brent, Ola, Erik, Kendra and Paul. Thank you. I’d be screwed without you guys. Pete
Absolutely agree with you Brent. You give a great service to the community. If someone needs longer answers, they should:
A: Pay for the training
B: Pay for you to be their consultant
C: Do their own research. A lot of what people need to know is out there on the internet already, it just takes time to read through the crap to find the nuggets of gold.
Those that complain about your method of giving, need to rethink their belief system.
Master class in polite response. Brent, you are an inspiration, since before the day we’ve exchanged a few words after your presentation in some dark room of an obscure software consultancy. Getting things for free is easy and boring, provides limited growth. Put your wetware, and your purse, to work, Chocolate Thunder.
Brent, I’m constantly amazed at how much you give back to the SQL Server community for free. I don’t know anybody else that consistently gives away as much knowledge as you do! I say kudos to you and I’ve learned so much from your blog and videos. I even have purchased some training on my own dime because of the high quality you provide. I hate to hear people complain when you suggest they take the course that you’ve, no doubt, put many, many hours into making. Don’t be discouraged in doing the good that you do! I’m forever grateful for your contributions! I don’t think I’d be as successful a DBA today without your contributions.
I would be remis should I forget that there are also many others in the community who give of their knowledge freely through blogs, videos, etc.. It’s truly amazing! I have an informal list of “heavy hitters” that I try to follow, but I tend to consistently come back to you for your knowledge, experience, and let’s not forget the humor injected in there too!
-dougl
Put me in the “Brent’s Awesome” crowd. And let’s be realistic. A lifetime subscription to recordings of everything for life is $1,795 during the black Friday sale. That’s an incredible bargain at 3x the price. Any DBA, and throw in the company they work for, who isn’t willing to put $2K out to get quality training like Brent offers needs to see a therapist; something isn’t right upstairs. Before you ask, yeah, I bought one this year for a DBA that works for me. Thanks Brent.
I guess some people don’t care enough about what they do to spend a little to be so much better. I dont know anywhere else where I can get the details I get with your courses. I will be renewing for another year. Your courses have saved my barnacles so many times in the past year I. I just wish I had a better memory, because I am frequently going back to review your courses.
FYI, I hope you deserve a really nice, nice house over your head. Thanks.
It is very easy thing. If you take courses, you will learn A LOT! You will learn stuff that you dud not know that you need and most current and a few future questions will be answered. I did not take payed course, I just did some of “think like …” which explained a lot in advance. And it helped me. I would love to buy yearly subscription, but my company does not think it is valuable enough, because… “no certifications” (MS that is).
Brent – thanks for your efforts – your answers – EVEN ones ending “take my training on xyz” – often provide enough to get the gears turning and/or pointers to appropriate training or where to focus my own investigations.
I have especially appreciated Office Hours since I switched to working from home during the pandemic. It recreates those ‘water cooler moments’ on occasion that pique my interest in something, and lead me to investigate bits of SQL I might otherwise not have thought to look into or come across in my regular day to day.
Your enthusiasm and knowledge are much valued
Thanks for the kind words, everybody! Y’all make this all worthwhile.
You know the saying “You can’t please all of the people all of the time…”
I completed Brent’s training and not only was it good fun, but I also learnt a considerable amount!
Brent style of delivery keeps you wake and focused.
I can’t but highly recommend his training.