Launch week: the Season Pass & Fundamentals Week are 50% off — ends in 18d 03h 26m — See the sale
BRENT OZARUnlimited

Live Class Justification Email for Developers Without a DBA

Cartoon Brent Ozar shouting and gesturing

I’d like to register for Brent Ozar’s Live Class Season Pass 2026 before the 50% launch sale ends on July 10.

The short story: we don’t have a full-time DBA, we’re probably not going to hire one, and we don’t want to bring in an expensive consultant every time SQL Server performance gets weird. I’d like to build more of those troubleshooting skills in-house so I can be more effective when the database is the bottleneck, or when we need to prove that it isn’t.

This is live SQL Server performance tuning training that will help me make better indexing and query tuning decisions, troubleshoot slow production queries faster, and gather better evidence before we lose time guessing from the application side.

The regular price is $4,395/person, but the launch sale price is $2,197.50 through July 11. Registration for the first rotation closes at the same time, and if we miss it, registration closes until October. To get that discount, we have to use a credit card or purchasing card. If we ask for a PO or invoice, it’s full price.

Can you register me before July 10? https://training.brentozar.com/p/live-class-season-pass Put my name & email in as the student, and it’ll send the receipt to me – I’ll forward that back for accounting.

 

Still reading? Here’s more details in case you need more justification for approval:

The next rotation of classes is:

  • Fundamentals Week: July 13-17 (which includes index, query, and server tuning)
  • Mastering Index Tuning 2026: Aug 31-Sept 4
  • Mastering Query Tuning 2026: Sept 28-Oct 2
  • Mastering Server Tuning 2026: Oct 19-23

Each class is Monday-Friday, 4 hours per day. I’ve checked the schedule, and I can make the class times work while still keeping up with my regular responsibilities and urgent issues.

I think this is a good fit for me because our application performance depends heavily on SQL Server, but we don’t have a dedicated DBA sitting around waiting to tune queries, review indexes, or jump into performance emergencies. When users report slowness, developers are often the first line of defense, even if the root cause is somewhere inside SQL Server.

This training would help me get closer to DBA-equivalent troubleshooting skills without the cost and delay of hiring a full-time DBA or calling in outside consulting every time we hit a performance problem. I want to be better at reading execution plans, understanding which indexes help or hurt, recognizing when a query needs to change, and gathering the right evidence before we spend time chasing the wrong thing.

This is different from just buying recorded training. With live classes, I can ask questions, stay focused, and block the time on my calendar. Recorded training is easy to buy and never finish; the live format creates the urgency and structure to actually get through the material. If I miss a class, though, like if an emergency pops up, I also get access to the recordings through the end of the year.

Brent has 25+ years of real-world SQL Server performance tuning experience, has trained over 18,000 students, and teaches with the full-size Stack Overflow database instead of tiny demo databases. That matters for developers because tiny demos often make SQL Server performance look simpler than it is. Real applications have bigger tables, messier queries, unpredictable parameters, and tradeoffs where the “obvious” index is not always the right answer.

The classes also cover practical troubleshooting with the First Responder Kit tools I either already use or should be using, like sp_Blitz, sp_BlitzCache, and sp_BlitzIndex. Those can help me diagnose what SQL Server is waiting on, which queries are causing the most pain, and where we should focus first instead of guessing.

One other thing I like: the training itself is built and taught by a real human being, and he swears none of the training material is generated by AI. At the same time, the classes include practical use of AI tools because that’s where SQL Server troubleshooting is headed in 2027 and beyond. I want to learn how to use AI effectively and cost-effectively, with the right guardrails, instead of either blindly trusting it or ignoring it completely.

Can we approve this before July 10 so we can get the 50% launch sale price and get into the first rotation?

Thankfully,
Your Humble Developer Who Might Have Pasted This Email From Somewhere