Rob Farley : code camp

Plane old trouble

Rob Farley — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 10:52:23 GMT

Speaking at two SQL conferences in the last two months (SQL Down Under in New South Wales, and SQLBits V in Old South Wales), I’ve had some flights to do. This isn’t normally a big deal, but both times I managed to have some stress getting home.

Firstly, I should point out that both conferences were really good. Very different to each other – SQL Down Under was held at a university campus in a country town, SQLBits was in a 5-star hotel with conference centre – but both great events. There’s something about having a conference with a dedicated technology that makes it special. At TechEd you brush shoulders with people who have very different areas of expertise, but at a dedicated SQL conference, you end up having a lot in common with just about everyone.

At SQL Down Under I got to catch up with many people from around Australia that I see only a couple of times a year. Friends that I know from previous trips to Wagga, or from user groups I’ve visited, TechEd, even the occasional class I’ve taught. The content is always good, and it’s great to see people honing their skills in presenting. This year one of the highlights was seeing John Walker present for the first time.

At SQLBits, I got to meet many people for the first time (first time I’ve done a SQL conference in the UK). I got to see old friends like Simon, Jamie, Tony & Darren again, and meet people like Chris, Chris, Allan, James & Martin (of course there are many more names I could list). I had never heard any of these guys present before, so I tried to get around to as many sessions as I could. I was disappointed that the sessions I was giving clashed with Brent’s, but I was pleased that I could meet him for the first time.

Coming home from Wagga, I had to meet a flight taking me from Melbourne to Adelaide. I had allowed plenty of time to make the transfer, but when the flight out of Wagga was well over an hour and a half late, I knew I couldn’t make it. There was a fair crowd of SQL people at the airport, so we were joking about different tactics that could be used to help me make the connection. The flights were with different carriers, so apart from letting me check in for the second flight on their computer, there was nothing the Wagga staff could help with (they were very nice and helpful though, let me use their printer and everything). When I got to Melbourne, it turned out that the flight I was booked on had been cancelled, and my ticket transferred to a later flight, which I managed to catch. Home later than expected, but crisis avoided somehow…

Not so lucky on the way home from the UK. My flight to Australia stopped at Bangkok on the way, and as I got off, the crew were saying that we had an hour and a half. I got back to the gate in about an hour-fifteen, only to be told that I was too late. Apparently the 90 minutes was from the wheels touching down to the wheels taking off again, and we only had about 30 minutes in which to get back to the gate (bearing in mind that at Bangkok airport you need to wander down from the gate to a security area, and get re-admitted to the Departure area, before returning back to the same place you got off the plane in the first place). 24 hours later I got on a flight to Australia, but not before a stressful night trying to work out how best to get a replacement ticket, considering that nowhere in Bangkok was open for the first 16 hours I was accidentally in Thailand.

It hasn’t put me off the idea of travelling to conferences. Everything that happens gives me a story to tell, and I guess these last couple of months have just given me more stories than I expected. If you’re into SQL, and there’s a SQL conference near you, you should really try to get to it. Just pray that you have a better time getting home than I did.

A busy month – a new book, a new car, a new phone

Rob Farley — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 12:50:00 GMT

I don’t know why Septembers are always busy. This one feels like it’s been interesting, and I’m not sure life will be the same again.

But first, some of the biggest news – the book that I wrote a couple of chapters for is now available for purchase!

A challenge was put out a while back for SQL MVPs to write a book for charity. Paul Nielsen spearheaded it, and I’m pleased to say that there was a massive response. I wrote two chapters, and this week we have had the notice that the book can now be purchased from Manning Press. If you go to http://www.SQLServerMVPDeepDives.com you will be able to buy the Early Access Edition, which will get you updated electronic copies as the chapters become available (final layouts, images, etc still appearing). All the royalties for this book go to charity rather than the authors, so buy up! I promise to sign any copy put in front of me, but if you go to the PASS conference in November, you can probably get at least 40 or so of the other authors to sign it instead.

I’m planning to get a signed copy brought back from the US, and will auction it off to members of the Adelaide SQL Server User Group, giving the money to charity too.

It feels good to have the book finished!

September has also busy for a number of reasons. The company is growing nicely, celebrating a year this week, and keeping my time somewhat occupied. We achieved Gold Partner status with Microsoft at the end of August, and are ticking along well. On a more negative note, the winter has taken its toll with flu in the family, which is lousy – but we also bought a new car (finally got the people mover we’ve been promising ourselves). I replaced my old phone with an iPhone (part of me thinks that I’ll go back to Windows Mobile next time), and bought my wife one too (plus a DS for her birthday). I feel like we’re more gadgety than ever!

Not to mention TechEd Australia, which was a fun time. Grant Paisley surfing at Dreamworld was a sight to behold, and I hope there are photos somewhere! I gave a talk on SQL Azure, which gave me a number of headaches leading up to the conference, finding new things I wanted to mention on a daily basis! I also gave a talk on the danger of scalar functions in SQL Server, which I will be repeating in just over a week at Wagga, a couple of days after presenting at the Albury/Wodonga .Net User Group. An email arrived about half an hour after my scalar functions talk, saying that someone in the audience had just applied the principles I showed and made some vital queries run thirty times faster! Terrific news I think.

Bringing another laptop (an HP Mini) home from TechEd has also added to the number of gadgets in the house…

Tomorrow I hope to be able to write that I have been awarded MVP status for another year, which will be a tremendous honour. I keep wondering how much longer I’ll be able to remain in the company of such a fantastically skilled and helpful crowd. Every time I receive the award I’m both humbled and proud, and feel amazingly blessed.

More SQL Conferences coming up, including SQL Bits and SQL Down Under

Rob Farley — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 12:06:33 GMT

I know I won’t be there, as I’m a million miles away in Australia, but being from the UK myself, I always have an interest in the UK SQL community and in particular, events like SQL Bits.

This is the fifth SQL Bits conference, and they keep getting larger and larger. I’ve heard it’s now the largest SQL-focussed event in Europe. It’s going to be in South Wales (that’s OLD South Wales, not New South Wales), in November. I’m sure the area is lovely, good beaches ‘n all that… but considering it’s late November in Wales, I think you’ll be going for the SQL content, not the scenery.

Of course, if you are in New South Wales, then you ought to be thinking slightly earlier, in particular, the second weekend in October. The third SQL Code Camp is being held in Wagga, with many regular speakers (like myself) and quite a few new ones too.

These two events are clearly the significant SQL events in the last quarter of the year. I’m sure no-one cares about SQL PASS, after all. (I do wish I was going to this one, but I won’t be. I plan to go one year, but I was in the US that week last year, and I don’t plan to be away from home for two birthdays in a row. Maybe next year. It is the biggest SQL event in the world, with great speakers from everywhere, including many good friends of mine.)

No matter where you are in the world, there are SQL events that you should be going to. Professional development is really important for your career, and you shouldn’t neglect it. That being said, make sure you find me at TechEd Australia.

Four speaking engagements coming up

Rob Farley — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 10:55:20 GMT

I’m just going to list them…

This Saturday (July 18th), at Code Camp SA. I’m going to be talking about functions in SQL, particularly those that involve BEGIN and END.

At the end of the month, at the ACS Branch Conference. I’m going to be part of a panel discussing Open Source v Closed Source.

In August, I’m going to be speaking at SharePoint Saturday (Adelaide), about the integration of Reporting Services and SharePoint.

In September, I’m going to be a presenting at TechEd Australia, about SQL Azure.

Be nice if there was more of an overlap in topics…

Presenting at ADNUG this week

Rob Farley — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 10:03:41 GMT

I haven't been to ADNUG for a while. I love that the group is there, but over the past year or more, I haven't prioritised getting to the meetings. I've been to meetings of equivalent groups in Melbourne and Sydney, but not to the Adelaide .Net Group for a while.

But this week I will! I've offered to be a stand-in presenter, and will present a few tips around T-SQL. I'm presenting a similar talk in Wagga this coming weekend, so it'll give me a chance to work out my talk in advance. I regularly present and teach T-SQL things, so I'll be picking a few of the more useful suggestions (particularly those that get a good response from the audience), and showing some of them. People who at one of my recent presentations may have heard bits before, but definitely not all of them.

SQL Code Camp concludes, plus poor Catherine Eibner

Rob Farley — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 11:42:34 GMT

The SQL Down Under Code Camp finished this afternoon after a successful couple of days, but was marred by the news that Catherine Eibner, whose company sponsored the Influencers Party at TechEd AU this year, had shattered her wrist and was in hospital having surgery.

Catherine is becoming a big supporter of the SQL Server community in Australia, and even has a couple of user-group presentations coming up. Why not pop along to her blog and wish her well - I'm sure she'd appreciate it.

SQL Down Under talks, and England wins

Rob Farley — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 00:21:22 GMT

This weekend is getting better and better. With England winning in both the football and the rugby, my mood is pretty good anyway - despite having to give the first presentation of Sunday morning at the SQL Down Under Code Camp. The local TV channel sent cameras just after I finished, so I think I managed to avoid having my presentation on the local news. At least, I hope they came just after I finished... otherwise I didn't notice them lurking in the corner.

I taught the crowd about MERGE & Table-Valued Parameters, and got good feedback from various members of the audience. Hopefully people will be able to take the content and use it to try things out in SQL2008 when they get back to the real world.

Now, Grant Paisley is presenting about Analysis Services Best Practices. I've heard Grant give this talk before, but it's still good. With Darren Gosbell, Greg Linwood and Kevin Kline still to come today, it's going to be good. Poor France though... with Scotland beating the Ukraine in their Euro 2008 qualifiers, Les Blues need to win both their remaining matches to qualify for the tournament, and Scotland probably only need to a draw against Italy to go through.

SQL Down Under Code Camp begins

Rob Farley — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 00:27:06 GMT

Two days of intensive SQL Server training, thanks to experts from around Australia and Kevin Kline from the US. All the Australian SQL Server MVPs are coming (five here so far, two more coming soon).

The coffee is great (thanks Peter), the company is great, and there are so many more people here (than last year) because there is also a Security Camp on at the same time. All the user-group leads are here, including Perth and the new Hobart group (Jason Cook's getting this going), which means every Australian state is represented.

I'm sure other people will be blogging about this too, so keep your eye out for them. I'll try to blog more later on today.

Free SQL training at events in the UK and Australia

Rob Farley — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 12:42:56 GMT

...and I'm not even referring to the User Groups which run regularly. The ones I'm referring to are SQLBits and the SQL Down Under Code Camp.

SQLBits was in the UK last weekend, and was a massive success. I would've loved to have been able to attend, but it's a bit far to travel (I guess about 12000 miles). They had over three hundred attend, which is fantastic! Adelaide User Group regular Martin Cairney was there, and presented the talk he gave in Adelaide earlier this year. It seems to have been received well.

And this coming weekend is the SQL Down Under Code Camp in Wagga Wagga. It should be a great event, with well over a hundred people there. If you're able to get to Wagga, I thoroughly recommend it.

Code Camps galore

Rob Farley — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 10:32:28 GMT

We all know that Adelaide hosted Code Camp SA recently - it was a great success, and some people even wished I was there!

TechEd is coming up of course, but now there are two code camps scheduled for October, on the same weekend (13-14) and at the same venue! Yes, that place is Wagga Wagga - one Wagga for each event.

Firstly, and most importantly I'm sure, is the second SQL Down Under Code Camp. But the other one is the Security Camp Oz. With me doing the SQL Security talk at TechEd this year, I'm sure I'll have a good reason to attend both!

Also in October, but the weekend before, and in the UK, the SQL community is hosting SQLBits. These guys have three streams (Dev, DBA, BI), and promises to be a fantastic event. I only wish I could be there. I'm sure Tony, Simon, Jamie, Jasper and Chris will do a fantastic job.

Seems wherever you are, October will be a big month for training.

Code Camp hits Adelaide

Rob Farley — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 07:52:55 GMT

July 7-8 is the date for Code Camp SA. If you're superstitious and seven is your lucky number, then it might be worth pointing out that the date is 7/7/7.

It's being organised by ADNUG, UniSA and the ACS, and you can find a full list of speakers here. I won't be there, but the Australian SQL Server User Group world is being well represented with David Gardiner, Greg Linwood and Greg Low presenting. It starts bright and early on the Saturday morning, and finishes in the afternoon on Sunday. It should be an excellent time for anyone who can get there.

For all the details, check out that speaker page. It includes information about the location and how to register.

Some new CodeCamp MVPs

Rob Farley — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 10:01:00 GMT

It's great when a new quarter starts, because we get to find out who the new MVPs are.

This time, my good friend Peter Ward has received the gong in the SQL world, and in the Dev world, friends Grant Holliday and Paul Stovell (both from Readify) have been honoured. Great news guys - thoroughly deserved. They all found out on their way back from CodeCampOz. I didn't go this time, because I had been away in Melbourne the week before. But now there's talk of having a similar event in SA - probably somewhere just outside Adelaide - so watch this space for more news on that!

Office 2007 RTM today, great time for a talk about it and SQL!

Rob Farley — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 23:31:00 GMT

Office 2007 has RTM'd today, and this includes Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007.

This is great timing, with Grant Paisley coming to Adelaide to give his talk about integrating BI and MOSS. This is a great talk, and if you're going to be in Adelaide, you should be there! Go to sqlserver.org.au, and find the link. And if you can't make it in Adelaide, go to his session in Canberra instead! I heard it at the SQL Code Camp, and it's definitely worth checking out.

The great thing about Office 2007 with BI stuff is that BI is all about making the data you have more useful. And Office 2007 is so much better integrated with other systems than previous versions, so it can become a great portal to getting your information out there.

On learning (Calvin and Hobbes, the ACS and digital natives)

Rob Farley — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 01:52:00 GMT

Digital natives learn differently. How do we take advantage of that? The funny thing is that right away, I've written this from an external perspective, when I'm probably in a mixture of both camps. Feel free to consider me in either camp as you...(read more)

Slides and scripts on the OVER clause presentation

Rob Farley — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 01:54:00 GMT

I'll write more about this when I get the chance. But in the meantime, if you want the slides and scripts from my presentations in Wagga and at AdSSUG last week, then get them from http://msmvps.com/files/folders/robfarley/entry180018.aspx . It was on Ranking Functions and Windowing, or on the uses of the OVER clause, etc.

SQL Code Camp Talks

Rob Farley — Sun, 08 Oct 2006 02:13:00 GMT

All the talks this weekend have been great. Almost every talk has a bunch of things that I really hadn't appreciated before. All 5 SQL MVPs from Australia are here, plus Itzik (from Israel) and a few non-SQL MVPs from Australia.

I would've liked there to have been a few more people here from my user-group in Adelaide, but I do appreciate it's a long way to come. There are two, plus me.

SQL Code Camp

Rob Farley — Sat, 07 Oct 2006 23:29:00 GMT

Well, here I am at Wagga Wagga. It's Sunday morning, and Itzik Ben-Gan is speaking. He's just shown us slides of the SQLHike trip, which looks like a really cool idea.

Being here in the middle of nowhere talking about SQL with people is really fun. My talk (on the OVER() clause) went okay yesterday. I was last up and had to keep it short, but I got good feedback from people. People liked it when I jokingly told Itzik to just put his hand up if he had any questions. I must check out Itzik's talk on row_number() some time - I'm sure I'd learn plenty, and be able to make my talk even better.