Something for everyone at the SQLBits Training Day

Of course, the one not to miss is the one I’m doing, on Fixing Queries with Advanced T-SQL Techniques, but actually, they’re all excellent.

For example, Simon’s just blogged that Buck Woody’s seminar topic has changed. Instead of being on career development, it’s now on DBA skills for the non-DBA. This is a seminar that every .Net developer and Windows admin should be on. I can think of many sysadmins and helpdesk operators who should be sitting in the room listening to Buck explain this material. It’s the type of event that whole teams should attend, and I hope that dev shops from all around the UK (and beyond) will take advantage of this.

The Virtualisation day from Brent Ozar is amazingly relevant for just about everyone as well, considering that everyone wants to know about whether virtualisation is worth embracing or not. I’ve had plenty of clients ask me just that in the past year or two, and I would happily send people to Brent’s day to learn from one of the best.

Another topic of massive interest has to be Chris Webb’s day on tuning SSAS. I taught Chris’ MDX course in Adelaide recently (and will do so again in the not-too-distant future), and I can happily attest to Chris’ expertise in this area. With an increasing number of people venturing into the BI space, this will be a popular talk – as will Chris Testa-O’Neill’s seminar on Reporting Services. Chris is the owner of the Manchester accent heard on the Microsoft eLearning courses about SSRS, and at least if you’re in the room and don’t understand what he’s saying you can put your hand up and ask! (Only joking – Chris’ accent is perfectly understandable. He’s also going to be in Adelaide speaking to my user group in December, which will be a great time!)

Continuing the fantastic quality, the top-ranked precon from TechEd North America this year is being repeated. Maciej Pilecki’s seminar about SQLOS goes into SQL internals to a depth that few in the world can match. If you’re a DBA wanting to get deeper, then this is for you.

For database developers, Klaus Aschenbrenner is delving into SQLCLR and Service Broker – areas which I find are still very underappreciated.

And of course, my seminar, looking at the way that various query constructs translate into plans, and how to improve the way they’re handled. We’ll be looking at all kinds of things, leaving you wishing that you weren’t registered for the rest of SQLBits (because you’ll be wanting to connect back to work to fix up some of your queries). In fact, if you’re coming along to my stuff, feel free to bring some queries, and I’ll see if I can use them in some of my examples. That’ll get you some consulting time thrown into the price of the event.

So I really think there’s something for everyone. If you’re a database developer and not interested in my one, then do Klaus’, or one of the Chrisses’. If you’re a DBA, then get yourself onto Maciej’s or Brent’s, and get your non-DB colleagues onto Buck’s (and as many of them as you can). Just make sure you’re hanging around for the Friday and Saturday as well for one of the best SQL events in the world.

I’ll see you there!

PS: Did I mention that you can get a discount if you register today?