Many of my customers are software houses (ISVs). In almost all of them, I hear people complaining that they can’t find enough good staff. I think they are trying to tackle the wrong problem.
Most of the staff members they are trying to find are developers, and there are so many great developers out there, but you have to accept that they might not be in the location that you hope they’re in.
2018-02-27
A current trend that I can’t say that I love is constant churn within software applications. I have no interest to go back to the days where we got a new version of SQL Server or Power BI, etc. every few years.
It’s also not a case of who moved my cheese?
In fact, I thrive on change. However, I’ve now become really concerned about how anyone:
I first really struck this issue with Azure. If I was teaching a class that used Azure, I could check every single lab on Sunday night, then Monday morning, the students would find it had all changed. That’s OK for an experienced person, but not OK for a learner.
2018-02-20
I’ve concluded that many software vendors (particularly large ones) don’t understand how much support users of their software provide to each other, and how critical that support is.
The SQL and data communities are a good example of this. When someone has a problem and are wondering how to solve it, they don’t call Microsoft or Google or Oracle (or whichever vendor) first. If they’re lucky, they ask a colleague for help. But most will simply make a Google search (or yes a Bing search) to try to find an answer.
2018-02-13
Digital Transformation and Cloud Transformation are phrases that I hear bandied around at nearly every large organization that I currently doing consulting work for.
Yet, in so many cases, I can’t see the organization achieving the changes required. This is for two core reasons:
An organization that is cloud-antagonistic internally, and stuck in an endless IT management quagmire, isn’t likely to make a good cloud transformation, and they’re certainly not going to be a successful partner to be able to help you to make a successful cloud migration or to implement a cloud transformation within your company.
2018-02-06
When many SQL Server customers are asked why they haven’t kept up to date with either SQL Server versions, or more importantly, patches to SQL Server, the answers usually boil down to two reasons:
Many SQL Server application vendors don’t keep up to date with testing of their applications on released versions or patches for SQL Server.
2018-01-30
Case sensitivity in comparisons is an aspect of computing that I’m surprised is still so widespread. I can’t say it more clearly than this:
I’ve recently been working at a site where a new case-sensitive SQL Server system is being implemented. I cannot begin to describe what a poor idea I think this is.
In the end, all that a case sensitive system allows you to do is:
2018-01-23
There’s a nasty trend that I’ve seen at a number of sites in recent years. It’s the tendency to try to block and or censor anything that the company thinks might be an issue. Some companies are so concerned about their IP (intellectual property) that they even try to stop any potential leak of that property.
While on the surface, that all might seem to make sense, it’s not sensible. It’s unproductive.
2018-01-09
I see so much written about how to scale SQL Server systems, and this generally starts with needing to improve SQL Server database performance. When I read articles from the SQL Server field support teams with titles like Top 10 Performance Problems for SQL Server, I often just smile.
The problem is one of perspective. If you are looking at the performance problems that are brought to the support teams to solve, you get a very, very skewed view of what’s typical.
2018-01-08
In the second half of 2016, I enrolled in the Microsoft Professional Program for Data Science, and completed it in early 2017. I have to say that I really enjoyed it overall. It was a bit challenging at times but I don’t regret doing it.
If you want to get the certification, you need to enroll in the verified option for each course. Nowadays, that’s pretty much $99 USD per course. You can do it for free, and if you’re tight on funds, perhaps that’s what you should do. I like to support the concept, and like to support both Microsoft and edX for creating these options. They are doing amazing work, so while I hear people say to just do the courses and not contribute to them, I can’t say that I agree.
2018-01-05
Let me make a potentially bold statement:
People who can’t type write worse code than they could be writing
I’m sure that will upset some people (probably those who can’t type or who are two or four finger typists) but it’s a conclusion that I’ve come to over many years. Coding is clearly not the same thing as typing but the reason is simple:
To write good code, you need to be prepared to constantly refactor and rework the code that you write, and if you can’t do that quickly, you’ll be more reluctant to do it.
2018-01-01
