SQL Data Partners Podcast

Compañeros! The good organizers SQLSaturday in Pittsburgh allowed me to take a slot on the schedule and opened up the podcast for a little Q&A session and I was super happy with the results. We had several SQL Server pros come and our conversation was around one central issue--testing in your development environment. We came at from a setup perspective, but also from a how to compare apples and oranges when your hardware is different. Because we had a developer ask the question, I opted to call this episode "Dear Developer". Hear from Microsoft MVPs and SQL Server consultants such as Allen White, Kevin Feasel, Jonathan Stewart, Tim McAliley and others give their thoughts on this subject. At the very least you will have a few more ideas on where to start looking for potential options to your testing after listening to this episode. The show notes for todays episode is found at http://sqldatapartners.com/2016/10/15/deardeveloper/

After talking with Patrick Thomas in episode 64, I was introduced to Microsoft's newest learning curriculum, the Microsoft academy, and their first offering in data science. In this episode, I talk with one of the lead course writers Graeme Malcolm about the new program. Microsoft consulted data scientists along with several companies to identify the core skills they need to be successful. A curriculum was developed to teach these functional and technical skills, combining highly rated online courses with hands-on labs, concluding in a final capstone project. This episode talks about the new program and what is next for Microsoft learning. The show notes for today's episode is found at http://sqldatapartners.com/2016/10/18/professional-program/ and we'll see you on the SQL trail!

This week on the SQL Trail, Steve and I chat with Jason Horner about building a good data architecture. When talking about a data warehouse architecture, or even just a data architecture, people often think about building the data warehouse and specifying the server hardware, building the ETL, things like that--they tend to lose sight of the larger picture of data architecture. Jason gives us his "four pillars of data warehouse architecture" and how each of them impacts what you are able to do from a reporting prospective. We are super excited to have Jason on the show with us this week. You can catch the show notes at http://sqldatapartners.com/2016/10/03/data-architecture/ and we'll see you on the SQL trail.

Have you ever thought that Microsoft certifications were a waste of time? Depending on where you are on the experience scale, certifications still play a large role in hiring and career development. In Episode 64 of the SQL Data Partners Podcast I talk to Patrick Thomas the program manager for the MCT and MCP programs and the role they play at Microsoft and in what way they continue to provide value, including what's in store for data science learners and what he thinks of the Microsoft purchase of LinkedIn. The show notes are available at http://sqldatapartners.com/2016/10/03/microsoft-mcp/ and we'll see you on the SQL trail!

Availability groups provide both high availability features and disaster recovery options, but they also have several areas you must be aware so you don't introduce more risk into your environment. The major advantage is availability groups allow for you to fail over more than one database at a time. In Episode 59 we talked about general data availability options and in this episode we focus on the new features of Availability Groups in 2016 and how data availability options have changed with our guest John Sterrett. John shares his experience getting a large database to a highly available situation along with some other ways to use availability groups. Show notes for today's episode are available at http://sqldatapartners.com/2016/09/21/episode-63-high-availability/ Have fun on the SQL trail.

Have you heard the buzz around the Cortana Intelligence Suite? It seems like it is all the rage these days and Microsoft is coming out with lots of new features in this space. In Episode 62, Steve and I interview Melissa Coates, AKA "SQLChick". We chat about the history of Cortana, about the tools it encompasses, and why you might implement parts of the suite in your organization. Show notes for today's episode are found at http://sqldatapartners.com/cortana If you are using Cortana, we would love to hear about it on the show notes for today's episode.

Do you dread the idea of going to the project post-mortem? Is it because you have to spend tons of time prepping your defenses for the onslaught? This week we chat with Russ Thomas and get his take on what makes a good debrief and where he got some of his ideas. These concepts are intended to make the whole team better so if you like what you hear, pass this along to other in your group and perhaps your debriefs can help everyone. The show notes for today's episodes are at http://sqldatapartners.com/2016/09/05/debrief/ where you can get links to information Russ points to in this episode. Have fun on the SQL trail compañeros!

When Microsoft introduced the Azure Data Lake, they included a new language, U-SQL, for Big Data processing as part of the Cortana Intelligence Suite. U-SQL plays a role in the streaming analytics space–primarily in the Azure environment. We break down some of the basics of U-SQL, then we'll discuss the use cases that might make it an effective addition to your database toolbox--especially if you know C#. The show notes for today's episode can be found at http:\\sqldatapartners.com\usql Have fun on the SQL trail, compañeros!

Have you ever wondered what the best option is for making your data available in your environment? Listener Chris Hendon asked us to talk about differences between Availability groups, mirroring, log shipping, and replication. Today on the SQL Trail Steve and I chat with Andy Mallon and Mariano Kovo about these topics. We cover each topic in detail and explain the positives and negatives of each one. Join us, for another great episode. The show notes for today's episode are available at http://sqldatapartners.com/2016/08/24/data-availability/

With all the changes in technology, how do you stay up to date with your technical learning? This is a question we have been asking our guests the last several episodes and in this episode we, the hosts, attempt to answer this question and Carlos and Steve give some thoughts on how we stay up to date. We discuss four ways to keep up. If all else fails, you can follow this old adage. "It's know WHAT you know, it's not WHO you know--it's WHAT you know about WHO you know." The show notes for today's episode can be found at http://sqldatapartners.com/learning.