I've used a number of clients with SQL Server across the last 30 years. I worked early on with the command line and isql (now SQLCMD and soon Go-SQLCMD). That was handy with DOS and Windows 3.1. However, I soon moved to GUI tools and spent years in ISQL/W,  which was how I ran Query Analyzer. Enterprise Manager was the next evolution, though I used Rapid SQL for awhile to get offline query work while on a plane. This was handy for me in documenting and commenting code without a server. Amazing to think I used to work without a SQL instance on my laptop. SSMS (Management Studio) has become the de facto way I've written queries for over a decade. Microsoft has tried to push people to Azure Data Studio (ADS), but I don't see a lot of people moving to it. It's fast, but also, not attractive, at least not to me. Read the rest of  The Importance of Thick Clients

The Importance of Thick Clients

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It seems that when I travel to offices these days, it's standard for most desk setups to have two monitors. I think all the desks at Redgate have a docking station and two monitors for people to use. They also convert to standing desks, which is handy. I have a standing desk that I use regularly, and it's nice to have that option when I visit an office. At a number of customer sites, I've seen similar setups, sometimes with laptop/monitor lifts instead of desks that rise. Recently I saw a docking station announced that can support four monitors. I wonder how many of you want, need, or use more than two monitors. While there is often a standard in offices, since many of us work part or full-time at home, perhaps you have a different setup. Maybe you have one or two large monitors instead of 3 or 4 smaller ones. I'd certainly be interested to know if any of you have more than 4 monitors. Read the rest of  Multiple Display Productivity

Multiple Display Productivity

I've got a few certifications and quite a few more that have expired or aren't relevant. Does anyone think Windows NT 4.0 or SQL Server 6.5 matter? If you need help in those areas, ask someone else. Unless you have a crazy budget with a willingness to pay a ridiculous hourly rate. Kamil Nowinski had a recent video discussing why IT certifications are still relevant. He had ten reasons, and if you want to watch the entire show, you'll hear his reasons and some rationale why he thinks they matter. It's a good set of reasons: keeping up with tech, practicing learning, demonstrating a commitment to some technology, finding a community of certified colleagues, and more. Read the rest of  Are IT Certifications Still Relevant?

Are IT Certifications Still Relevant?

One of the things that I've found with cloud computing services is that the people involved with managing these resources sometimes get asked to become financial accountants. I saw an interesting post from SQL Rod asking about this new task as something all of us might need to consider a part of our job in the modern world. He asks if we are Techouncants or Accountechs? This isn't in the sense of being the Financial DBA trying to manage costs in the cloud, though that is part of his post. It's more about making smart financial decisions. Certainly, as more workloads move to the cloud, and they are for many of us, we likely need to keep an eye on costs, usage, and tuning. Read the rest of The DBAccountant

The DBAccountant

For most of us working in technology, I think we understand that if something is broken we might need to work. Not that we have to, or we need to, but we might need to. Perhaps you feel differently, or your company approaches on-call in another way. If so, let me know today how you deal with staff being on-call. In my career, there are jobs with formal on-call, informal on-call, or even no on-call. In the latter situation, there isn't anyone who is prepared to handle issues outside of normal working hours, but that doesn't mean if management calls you can ignore them. It's that the organization didn't expect issues. I worked in a small company (< 50 people), where we primarily had systems for people who worked in the office, and nothing was running at night (outside of backups). Normally no one knew if there was an issue overnight or on weekends, but I did get called by the owner when he went in one weekend and couldn't receive a fax on our computer system. So I guess I was the emergency-on-call person. Read the rest of The On-Call Load

The On-Call Load

I saw a quote recently that resonated with me. It's not something I've often struggled with, but I have at times. Here's the quote: "Life rewards action, not intelligence. Many brilliant people talk themselves out of getting started, and being smart doesn't help very much without the courage to act. You can't win if you're not in the game." - @JamesClear Read the rest of  Action Over Knowledge

The Importance of Thick Clients

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