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The Interview Process

Interview Questions for a SQL Server DBA

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When I’m interviewing a SQL Server DBA, I have three questions that I always ask. My favourite interview question is this: “What is the difference between a clustered and a non-clustered index?” My second favourite… 

Automation is the new Black

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I’ve been toying with the idea of automating a set of diagnostic scripts that I run on customer sites, when doing my checkup. It mirrors the automation that a lot of consulting shops do, but… 

Career Limiting Moves – Reply All

In a recent episode of a Netflix show called Grace & Frankie, a vitriolic and profanity-ridden email with very damaging statements was accidentally sent to a mailing list. Fortunately for the characters involved, Siri auto-corrected… 

Career Limiting Moves – Assigning Blame

I worked for a vendor implementation partner in the early part of my career, and oftentimes that meant having to set up a training lab, from unpacking rented PCs and plugging them in to getting… 

Career Limiting Moves – Saying No

IT departments get a lot of flak because members are accused of saying no to what staff think are perfectly reasonable requests. In this second post of my series about career limiting moves, I’m going… 

Career Limiting Moves – Dropping a Table

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In this new series, I will share some things that took place early in my career that could have resulted in my looking for new work—but didn’t! This post is also evidence that I haven’t… 

Filmmaking as a Metaphor for the DBA

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I worked on four films in 2015, three shorts and one feature-length movie, all shot in Calgary where I live. That has resulted in seven IMDb credits for me, someone who earns a living as… 

Intersection of Technology and Liberal Arts

The Intersection of Art and Science

This is the first post in a series of four, where Ed Leighton-Dick, via Brent Ozar, is proposing that we SQL Server folks participate in the #SQLNewBlogger Challenge. I write a fair number of words… 

sharpened pencil resting on a notebook

Where Do I Start With A Run Book?

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On SuperUser.com, a question came up about how to do a proper Linux backup, including the applications installed, and associated configurations. In light of a previous post I wrote about backups and run books, I…