Ask SQL Family - SQL Player's show

Kalen Delaney has been working with SQL Server since 1987 when she joined the Sybase Corporation in Berkeley, California. Kalen has an independent international trainer and consultant since 1992. She has been a SQL Server MVP since 1993 and has been writing about SQL Server almost as long. Kalen has spoken at dozens of technical conferences, including every PASS conference in the US and multiple TechEd events in both the US and Europe. Kalen is the author or co-author of many books on SQL Server, including the series about SQL Server Internals.

This talk has taken place during SQLDay conference in Wroclaw (Poland), on 16th May 2018 (Wednesday).
Interviewers: Kamil Nowinski & Damian Widera.

Why we have the #SQLFamily so great?
How long did take Kalen to update the book about SQL Server 7.0? What is Kalen's advice about starting in IT market?
Who did thanks to Kalen more times in the last three weeks than in the last few years? What kind of things Kalen loves to repair?
Do you know the story about @sqlqueen twitter handle? You'll find all answers out over here.

Itzik Ben-Gan is a Mentor and Co-Founder of SolidQ. A Microsoft Data Platform MVP (Most Valuable Professional) since 1999, Itzik has delivered numerous training events around the world focused on T-SQL Querying, Query Tuning and Programming. Itzik is the author of several books including Microsoft SQL Server High-Performance T-SQL Using Window Functions, T-SQL Fundamentals and T-SQL Querying. He has written articles for SQL Server Pro, SolidQ Journal and MSDN. Itzik's speaking activities include SQLPASS, SQLBits, SQLTeach and various user groups around the world. Itzik is the author of SolidQ's Advanced T-SQL Querying, Programming and Tuning and T-SQL Fundamentals courses along with being a primary resource within the company for their T-SQL related activities.

This talk has taken place during SQLDay conference in Wroclaw (Poland), on 16th May 2018 (Wednesday).
Interviewers: Kamil Nowinski & Damian Widera.

Do you know what Itzik does like doing the most? What kind of thing is important when writing a book? Why worth to be at conferences and also when he has started working with Microsoft SQL Server databases? Find out more in this talk.

James Rowland-Jones is a Principal Program Manager for Microsoft. He is passionate about delivering highly scalable solutions that are creative, simple and elegant in their design. James specializes in big data warehouse solutions such as Microsoft Analytics Platform System (APS), Azure SQL Data Warehouse, Hadoop ecosystems.

James is a keen advocate for the SQL Server community; both internationally and in the UK. He has previously served on the Board of Directors for PASS and helped organise SQLBits. James was awarded Microsoft’s MVP accreditation from 2008 - 2015 for his services to the community.

This talk has taken place during SQL Bits conference in London, on 23rd February 2018 (Friday).
Interviewers: Kamil Nowinski & Damian Widera (remotely).

Do you want to know why James has moved to Seattle and started working for Microsoft?
How he started his career in IT and what is important in your work? Which big conference is his baby and how much his community involvement has affected his professional life?
You will find out all the answers in the following talk.

Rob is a SQL Server DBA with a passion for Powershell, Azure, Automation & SQL. He is an MVP & an officer for the PASS PowerShell VG & has spoken at, organised & volunteered at many events. He is a member of the committee that organises SQL Saturday Exeter, PSDayUK & also the European PowerShell Conference. He is a proud supporter of the SQL & PowerShell communities.
He relishes sharing & learning & can be found doing both via Twitter & his blog. He spends most of his time looking at a screen & loves to solve problems. He knows that looking at a screen so much is bad for him because his wife tells him so. Thus, you can find him on the cricket field in the summer or flying a drone in the winter.
He has a fabulous beard!

This talk has taken place during SQL Bits conference in London, on 22nd February 2018 (Thursday).
Interviewers: Kamil Nowiński & Hubert Kobierzewski

What is his recipe for having a good speech? Where is a passion in his life? Check out which kind of toys Rob doesn't take to abroad and why. Check that and also, why we had a lot of background noises during this chat.

Grant Fritchey is a Microsoft SQL Server MVP with over 20 years of experience in IT, including time spent in support and development. He has worked with SQL Server since 6.0, back in 1995. He has developed in Visual Basic, Visual Basic .NET, C# and Java. He is the author of the books SQL Server Execution Plans (Simple-Talk), SQL Server Query Performance Tuning (Apress) and co-Author “Expert Performance Indexing”, “SQL Server MVP Deep Dives 2”, “Beginning SQL Server 2012 Administration” and “Pro SQL Server 2012 Practices”.
Since 2009 he has been awarded as a Microsoft SQL Server MVP. In 2014 I was awarded as a Dunn & Bradstreet MVP. In 2011 I received the Tech10 Award in Rhode Island and joined Red Gate Software as a Product Evangelist in January.
Grant volunteers at PASS, currently serving on the PASS Board of Directors as the President.

This talk has taken place during PASS Summit in Seattle, WA, on 3rd November 2017 (Friday).

Do you wanna know why Grant is so-called Scary DBA? How is he sharing his working time between Redgate and PASS and who has given him 6-weeks sabbatical? What is his approach to teaching, speaking and working? What does mean work-life balance for him?
Check this out right now.

Dejan Sarka, MCT and SQL Server MVP, is an independent trainer and consultant that focuses on the development of database & business intelligence applications.  Besides projects, he spends about half of the time on training and mentoring. He is the founder of the Slovenian SQL Server and .NET Users Group. Dejan Sarka is the main author or co-author of sixteen books about databases and SQL Server. Dejan Sarka also developed many courses and seminars for Microsoft, SolidQ and Pluralsight.

This talk has taken place during SQL Saturday in Ljubljana, Slovenia on 9th December 2017 (Saturday).

What is Dejan's favourite sports and which one he cannot plays?
How many MVPs were in the world when Dejan was given the title?
Check out his last book and find out what he called as a bullshit? Without what he cannot start each day?

Check these answers out in this episode.

Pedro Lopes is a Senior Program Manager in the Database Systems Group, based in Redmond, WA, USA. He over 15 years of industry experience. He is currently responsible for Program Management of database engine features for in-market versions of SQL Server, with special focus on the Relational Engine.
He also works closely with several Tier 1 SQL Server customers, as well as partners in the field, to understand and gather information about product usage and feedback to drive improvements into the product. Prior to this role, he was a Premier Field Engineer based in Europe for several years.
He has deep understanding and experience in various features of the product spanning several versions of SQL Server, starting with SQL Server 7 and up to and including SQL Server 2016.

This talk has taken place during PASS Summit in Seattle, WA, on 3rd November 2017 (Friday).

Why working for the Tiger Team is so fascinating? Why Pedro started to love the data? How to start to be a community leader? Is sharing knowledge an important thing? What does Pedro proud of the most?
Check these answers out in this episode.

Michael has been doing data processing and query languages since the 1980s. Among other things he has been representing Microsoft on the XQuery and SQL design committees and has taken SQL Server beyond relational with XML, Geospatial and Semantic Search. Currently he is working on Big Data query languages such as SCOPE and U-SQL when he is not enjoying time with his family under water, on the ski slopes, or at autocross.

This talk has taken place during PASS Summit in Seattle, WA, on 2nd November 2017 (Thursday).

Do you ever wonder how many people work on the USQL or Azure Data Lake? What animals does Michael see from his window?
Listen to this podcast to get to know what two career choices Michael had had when he finished PhD in Switzerland.

Cathrine loves teaching and sharing knowledge. She works as a consultant, technical architect and developer, focusing on Data Warehouse and Business Intelligence projects. Her core skills are ETL, SSIS, Biml and T-SQL development, but she enjoys everything from programming to data visualization. Outside of work she's active in the SQL Server and PASS communities as a Microsoft Data Platform MVP, BimlHero Certified Expert, author, speaker, blogger, organizer and chronic volunteer.

This talk has taken place during PASS Summit in Seattle, WA, on 2nd November 2017 (Thursday).

Do you want to know how Cathrine has started her adventure in IT? How difficult is to be a woman in IT and how we can help in struggling with prejudices? Who is one of her personal guru? Finally, how is a correct Norwegian pronunciation of her surname?
Listen to this podcast to get to know how Cathrine became her journey to IT and how tough can be for women in the IT.

Bob Ward is a Principal Architect for the Microsoft Data Group (Tiger Team) which owns the development and servicing for all SQL Server versions. Bob has worked for Microsoft for 24 years supporting and speaking on every version of SQL Server shipped from OS/2 1.1 to SQL Server 2016. He has worked in customer support as a principal escalation engineer and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) interacting with some of the largest SQL Server deployments in the world. Bob is a well-known speaker on SQL Server often presenting talks on internals and troubleshooting at events such as SQL PASS Summit, SQLBits, SQLIntersection, and Microsoft Ignite. 

This talk has taken place during PASS Summit in Seattle, WA, on 2nd November 2017 (Thursday).

Do you want to find out what is the next goal of Tiger Team for SQL Server?
What was his first database he worked with and how SQL's world looked like before DMV appeared? What does Bob have to do with the city of Łódź and why he does like to return to Poland?
Listen to this episode to find out all answers and more.