At SQLBits, I’m hosting a panel discussion called 20 Years of the Cloud: What Changed, What Didn’t, and What’s Next. I’m excited to share the panel lineup – all of the links go to their LinkedIn profiles:

• Amy Abel – aka the Database Reliability Spotter and a senior consultant at Straight Path.
• Ásgeir Gunnarsson – consultant at Data Lab ApS, leader of the Icelandic PASS and Power BI groups.
• Kellyn Gorman – aka DBAKevlar, engineer and advocate at Redgate Software with experience across all kinds of vendors.
• Niko Neugebauer – aka NikoPort, associate director for data & analytics at Finsolutia, former Microsoftie.
• Tracy Boggiano – senior SQL developer at Abarca Health, longtime blogger and presenter, and very active in many communities.

I’m excited because the panelists have a diverse set of experiences. Across the group, they’ve seen the cloud from its infancy 20 years ago, to its current state, and their visibility across a lot of companies and industries means they’re better equipped to see what’s coming next.

I’ll be asking them questions like:

• What misunderstandings do executives or application teams still have about what cloud means for database performance and operations?
• Has cloud improved collaboration between dev, ops, and data teams, or just created new boundaries and blame patterns?
• What’s something that younger data professionals take for granted today that used to be a slow, painful process?
• If you had to point to one area where cloud delivered beyond expectations, what would it be? What about under-delivered?
• Looking ahead, which current cloud trends feel foundational, and which are just fashionable?
• What’s a belief about cloud that you held 10 years ago, and no longer believe?
• What should attendees be more skeptical about, and what should they be more optimistic about?
• What skill or mindset should a data professional build now if they still want to be effective 10 years from today?
• If you had to live with a system for 10 years, what choices would you make differently than if you were just trying to get it live in 3 months?

Wanna watch it unfold? Join us Thursday 10:00-10:50 in the Living Lounge. Here are calendar invite files for all of my sessions to make it easier:

• Wednesday 10:40-18:00: Dev-Prod Demon Hunters  – because this is an all-day workshop, you need to register for this separately. There’s space in it now because they moved the session to the auditorium, so if you wanna join and get a free Fundamentals + Mastering Bundle for a year, contact the SQLBits registration staff.
• Thursday 10-10:50: 20 Years of the Cloud Panel Discussion
• Friday 16:30-17:20: Watch Brent Tune a Query in SQL Server 2025
• Saturday 12:20-13:10: Pokémon Battle, Choose Your Index

See you in Newport!