T-SQL Tuesday #36 - SQL Community (Guest Post)

<div><p><img align="right" alt="tsql2sday" border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBdDpvUr4Gsd08n0g0o0QUm1UQRGlt00oVUdVTzsS7_ldpn9c_PrlrzvCzK2umkWGvvzDvZdgpAFyYIgaKqO3ivK_1STybSITrniDgthOm4ak5yunR_gmfr4sMsRaTiOORNzRWRRAmSQGy/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: right; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="tsql2sday" width="150" />This blog post is part of T-SQL Tuesday, a monthly <a href="http://chrisyatessql.wordpress.com/2012/11/05/t-sql-tuesday-36-sql-community-what-does-the-community-mean-to-you/">SQL blog party</a> with a rotating host and common topic. This month marks #36, hosted by <a href="http://chrisyatessql.wordpress.com" target="_blank">Chris Yates</a> (<a href="http://twitter.com/YatesSQL">@YatesSQL</a>), and the theme is "SQL Community". This post is not mine, but the handiwork of Andy Levy (<a href="https://twitter.com/ALevyInROC" target="_blank">@ALevyInROC</a>), a first timer at the <a href="http://www.sqlpass.org/summit/2012/" target="_blank">2012 PASS Summit</a>. Andy doesn't have a blog yet, but was compelled by the topic so I offered to let him post on my blog as a guest. Hopefully this won't be his only post and we'll see his own blog up and running soon!</p> <p>I'm very new to the SQL Community and still finding my way around. I had been exposed to it a little through <a href="http://www.sqlsaturday.com/129/" target="_blank">SQL Saturday #129</a> and several MVPs I've spoken with over the past 18 months or so, but my first <i>real</i> exposure to the community was last week at PASS Summit 2012. I was completely blown away. <br />I arrived not knowing anyone, and feeling a bit overwhelmed by the sheer enormity of the event. 3900+ people. Sessions & events (official & unofficial) stacked from pre-dawn until midnight or later. Tweets flying by at a ridiculous pace. But after a couple hours, I finally came to a realization: <i>These are my people</i>. We're all here for similar reasons, but we don't have to have serious technical discussions all the time. In fact, in a lot of cases it's better that we <i>don't</i>. We can talk about topics at a high level, then redirect for more detail - "go read so-and-so's blog, he had a real good post last month about that" or even skip technical discussion entirely - "I had that particular experience, but now I need something different, and really want to move more toward doing this other thing." We don't have to get into details if we don't want to.</p> <p>I met one woman near the Community Zone on Wednesday who told me that I should come speak at her user group - not 10 minutes after we  met for the first time. But I don't have anything to present. No worries, she says - surely I can come up with <i>something</i>. The following day, a discussion about SQLite came up, and Brian Davis pointed me at a <a href="http://blogs.lessthandot.com/index.php/DataMgmt/DBProgramming/MSSQLServer/spatial-data-from-your-iphone">blog post he wrote last year</a> about working with SQLite from within SSMS. This got me started on about a half-dozen ideas for ways I could use data that I already had, ideas that were relevant to another hobby I engage in, which eventually I could turn into a presentation for a user group. Wow! I stumbled into a topic for a presentation - and the very notion of speaking at a user group - thanks to two brief conversations with members of the SQL Community. I had previously tried blogging and failed due to a lack of material. Now I see that I have my own ideas & insights into topics discussed by others that I can contribute back to the community, so I'm thinking about starting up again.</p> <p>There's a recurring theme of "everyone in this room can learn at least one valuable thing from someone else in the room" that I've heard for quite a while, both in conversations and presentations, and now that I've experienced it firsthand (both as a learner and a teacher), I see just how true and valuable it is. It's very karmic - today I may get help from someone via twitter, and tomorrow I may be able to help someone else out the same way. There's no competition, it's incredibly collaborative & supportive. There's a tremendous feedback cycle - someone writes a blog post, someone takes the idea & make some adjustments to it or takes it to the next logical step, and then the original author integrates that feedback - or someone else can pick it up and run with it.</p> <p>SQL Server & our general job roles may be the reason why we congregate at Summit, SQL Saturdays & user groups, but it's not what brings us <i>together</i>. What brings us together is the conversations we have on the side, sharing not just technical expertise but life and career knowledge & insights. The passion for the community is infectious - I've already asked my local chapter president how I can get involved with planning the local SQL Saturday in 2013, because I want other people to experience what I've experienced from this community in a very short time already.</p> <p><em>Note from Kendal: Did you like Andy's post? <a href="https://twitter.com/ALevyInROC" target="_blank">Follow him on Twitter</a> and encourage him to keep it up!</em></p> </div>

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