Nine Christmases ago, in late November 2015, Microsoft released Service Pack 3 for SQL Server 2012, and included a gift just for me! Only kind of just for me, really…

I don't like to write about client situations, but this one seemed worth mentioning for the sake of other people experiencing the same thing, so I asked my client for…

The French philosopher Montesquieu wrote, “Le mieux est le mortel ennemi du bien”, which means, “The best is the mortal enemy of the good.” Montesquieu was an interesting man who…

This is the question posed by Tim Mitchell over at https://www.timmitchell.net/post/2024/10/01/t-sql-tuesday-179-whats-in-your-data-detective-toolkit. The context is around what techniques are used when I’m faced with a new environment, or even just a…

Sometimes it's the little things - the small issues that aren't actually what we do (ie, not data-related, or processes, or whatever) - that drive you the most crazy. The…

If you've found this post because you're trying to figure out how to get SQL Server to run locally on a Copilot+ PC with a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, then I'm…

I'm a consultant, so I see a variety of answers to Mala's question. But her question isn't exactly "where does the database code live?", it's "where do you keep your…

Louis Davidson (@drsql) asks what advice we wish we'd had - particularly when we were starting out first data platform job. I'm not really sure when that was. I did computing…

When is the right time to move to new technology? Andy Leonard asks about balancing new features and proven technology. And certainly the challenge is real. I see new features…

At LobsterPot Solutions one of the things we often do for our clients is participate in job interviews, to help get a feel for the technical ability of the people…