Mohammad Darab – A SQL Server Consultant

I decided to start a series of blogs where I interview key people in the SQL Server community. Instead of me asking technical questions, I plan on asking about their outlook on the future, books they read (non-fiction and/or technical), and their overall thoughts on where technology (mainly SQL Server) is headed. You can find more interviews here.

Next up: Amit Banerjee (b | t):

Mohammad: Do you think people who dismiss the cloud as a “fad” or just don’t take it serious enough to learn about it (i.e. Azure, AWS, etc), will be in a tough spot to find a job 5 years from now?

Amit: The world even today is about hybrid cloud. There are aspects of a public cloud which are very appealing like elastic compute and storage that open up a vast variety of opportunities for businesses around the world. This allows companies to leverage PaaS services built on top of a virtually infinite compute and storage and allows them to monetize their data assets and gather critical insights for their business. This wouldn’t have been possible traditionally without expensive investments in hardware. “Not enough hardware” is not a valid reason for the inability to solve a technology problem anymore. As we know the world today, it is hybrid and the lines between on-premise and public clouds are being blurred day-by-day! They are probably not going to be in a tough spot in about 5 years but will definitely have an advantage if they know about on-premise environments and the cloud. Disclaimer: I work Microsoft who is one of the major public cloud players in the world today.

Mohammad: Do you ever see the traditional SQL Server DBA role being replaced/eliminated?

Amit: The SQL Server DBA actually plays a pivotal role in the hybrid cloud world today. A good example of this is that a chatty application over the network was not probably not as big an issue when operating within internal boundaries of a corporate network. But when that application migrates over to the cloud, the fact that it is chatty can lead to latency issues and possibly additional network egress costs which leads to a poor customer experience and an added expenditure. This is hardly the reasons why someone would make the move to cloud. My personal viewpoint is that that DBA now becomes the gatekeeper to decide whether an application is ready to migrate to the cloud, play a critical role in deciding what the most optimum architecture would be and ensure that the business features being added to the database are in alignment with cloud and database best practices.

Mohammad: What are you most proud of doing/accomplishing for the SQL Server community so far in your career?

Amit: It is always humbling and gives me a sense of great personal satisfaction when I am able to help a customer of SQL Server learn about a new feature or enhancement which would bring business value to their environment. This happens in the form of blog posts, presentations that I deliver and freeform interaction with the community at conferences like PASS Summit, SQL Saturday.

Mohammad: What non-technical/non-fiction book/s would you recommend? If you only read technical books…what do you recommend?

Amit: Start with the Why by Simon Sinek is one of my favorite books. This is a great book for any individual or leader in any organization. It helps you think about the WHY in the business before focusing on the implementation and driving work only from a tactical standpoint.

Mohammad: For someone who’s career focus has been on one aspect of SQL Server (i.e. Database Engine), do you think it would be wise for them to become a “jack of all trades” by starting to learn, SSRS/IS/Azure, etc. or remain focused on their area of expertise? In another words, which would you say is more valuable? mile wide / inch deep or inch wide / mile deep?

Amit: I believe in the “T” model. I have had the good fortune of working with some of the brightest minds in the industry and I have noticed that they consciously follow the T-model in the skills that they are building. I would challenge that you would find a deep technical expert who knows everything about the SQL Server product (database engine, SSRS, SSAS, SSIS), Azure and other technologies. What has driven success for the individuals that I respect and admire is the ability to build subject matter expertise in an area and effectively collaborate with other subject matter experts in other areas which they require.

Mohammad: Finally, for anyone who has a deep passion for SQL Server and customer satisfaction, how would they go about applying for the SQL Tiger Team? Would an “outsider” be considered or does the Tiger Team only hire from within Microsoft?

Amit: A tiger team is a group of experts assigned to investigate and/or solve technical or systemic problems. Since SQL Server has evolved over the decades to become a RDBMS leader on Gartner’s Magic Quadrant, the need for having a group of experts to investigate and solve systemic problems in the product no longer exists. Now the “SQL Server Tiger” moniker exists to represent a group who are SQL Server subject matter experts, have a high amount of customer empathy and have extensive experience working with customers using SQL Server in Tier-1 environments. This group is able to solve niche problems with the product that some of your Tier-1 customers report, ship enhancements and features to help increase the ROI for SQL Server based on customer feedback and have fun while doing all of this! J If you feel that you have a penchant for doing any or all of these, then we are always happy to talk to you. If you are interested in becoming a SQL Tiger, be on the lookout for openings on the SQL Server Tiger team on our Careers website in case you are interested in working on the team.

I decided to start a series of blogs where I interview key people in the SQL Server community. Instead of me asking technical questions, I plan on asking about their outlook on the future, books they read (non-fiction and/or technical), and their overall thoughts on where technology (mainly SQL Server) is headed. You can find more interviews here.

Next up: Andy Yun (b | t): 

Mohammad: Do you think people who dismiss the cloud as a “fad” or just don’t take it serious enough to learn about it (i.e. Azure, AWS, etc), will be in a tough spot to find a job 5 years from now?

Andy: Yes and no.  Do I see cloud adoption growing tremendously?  Absolutely.  Do I see it completely replacing on-prem infrastructure?  No.  As such, I don’t think one who chooses to dismiss the cloud will definitely be in a tough spot, but they may be more challenged.

Alternatively, because the role of the database professional is so broad and has numerous specializations, one could instead choose to focus on a different area that is less directly impacted by the cloud.  For example, a T-SQL developer could get away with minimal exposure to the cloud.  Is that ideal?  No.  But they could still get by.

Mohammad: Do you ever see the traditional SQL Server DBA role being replaced/eliminated?

Andy: Yes.  But before you get your pitchfork and light your torch, hear me out.

First, what do you define as a “traditional DBA?”  In my mind, that refers to a DBA who is the all encompassing owner of everything related to the database, and master of all.  But as the footprint and capabilities of SQL Server grown and expanded, being master of everything SQL Server has become impossible.

To be effective, I argue that we must all specialize in some way.  Today, it is impossible to maintain a high level of proficiency in the entire SQL Server stack.

When I think of a DBA today, I distinguish between Development DBAs and Operational DBAs, and even those are overly broad, generic titles.  Some who think of the “traditional DBA” would say that it is synonymous with an Operational DBA, and I might agree.  But that sheds light onto the other problem I see – these labels mean different things to different people, even DBAs themselves!

And that is why I believe the “traditional DBA” is dead.

Mohammad: What are you most proud of doing/accomplishing for the SQL Server community so far in your career?

Andy: I am most proud of my efforts to grow new community speakers.  I started this effort in late 2016 with a T-SQL Tuesday challenge (https://sqlbek.wordpress.com/2016/10/25/t-sql-tuesday-84-growing-new-speakers/ and https://sqlbek.wordpress.com/2016/11/15/t-sql-tuesday-84-growing-new-speakers-round-up/).  Throughout 2017, I mentored a number of participants, who all gave their first technical presentations.

This year, I am continuing that effort with a new professional development session of my own: Everybody Has a Story to Tell: Developing Your First Presentation.  I debuted this session recently at SQL Saturday Nashville with great success and look forward to presenting it elsewhere throughout 2018.  And I continue to actively mentor prospective speakers.

Mohammad: What non-technical/non-fiction book/s would you recommend? If you only read technical books…what do you recommend?

Andy: Truthfully, I rarely read books these days.  I used to be a bookworm growing up and do kind of miss it, but it’s a huge time commitment.  That’s not to say that I do not read at all.  I read a lot.

My reading effort is spent on the internet.  I read blogs, forums, industry news, and other websites.  I consume much of this material using RSS feeds via Feedly (RIP Google Reader).

Mohammad: For someone who’s career focus has been on one aspect of SQL Server (i.e. Database Engine), do you think it would be wise for them to become a “jack of all trades” by starting to learn, SSRS/IS/Azure, etc. or remain focused on their area of expertise? In another words, which would you say is more valuable? mile wide / inch deep or inch wide / mile deep?

Andy: Well, I already kind of answered this when asked about a “traditional DBA.” I do not believe that a “jack of all trades” DBA is really possible.  Who can learn (and master) SQL Server’s storage engine, T-SQL, SSIS, SSRS, SSAS, R, Python, Azure, etc.? Even the top names in our industry specialize.  I classify myself as primarily a Development DBA with a focus on T-SQL development, performance tuning, and storage engine internals.

But just because you are specialized already, does not mean you must remain focused in that area of expertise. I didn’t. A few years ago, I felt like I hit a plateau in my database developer roles, so I made a conscious change to take a position as an Operational DBA. I brought a wide variety of skills to the table, but lacked other skills common to an operational role.  For example, I had little hands on with HA/DR technologies.  I’d never worked with FCIs, barely knew what an AG was, much less even understood clustering.  Replication?  Sure, I could click through a wizard?  :-)  But that new role challenged me to learn new skills and help me grow as a data professional.  I look back and wouldn’t change that decision – it’s made me a better data professional as a whole.

I decided to start a series of blogs where I interview key people in the SQL Server community. Instead of me asking technical questions, I plan on asking about their outlook on the future, books they read (non-fiction and/or technical), and their overall thoughts on where technology (mainly SQL Server) is headed. You can find more interviews here.

Next up: Louis Davidson (b | t): 

Mohammad: Do you think people who dismiss the cloud as a “fad” or just don’t take it serious enough to learn about it (i.e. Azure, AWS, etc), will be in a tough spot to find a job 5 years from now?

Louis: As someone who has been focused on relational programming, I don’t really care about cloud or on-premises, my hope is that they both work close to the same. What I hope is that in 5 years from now, when I type a query such as the following, or maybe a lot more complex with 100s of joins, aggregations, etc:

SELECT column FROM table WHERE column = literal

That it runs fast, stable, and gives me the right answer no matter how many rows are returned. If we design the structures like relational theory prescribes, using the relational engine, I don’t want to have to do much more than create the tables and define the constraints that match my requirements. Edgar Codd’s vision that he outlined in his rules (written in 1985, no less), was that we separate the physical work of indexing, hardware choice, etc. from the logical work. I want to get to that day where stuff just works, and answers the customer’s questions in an easy fashion.

I think my biggest question is when will technology outpace the consumer’s desire to store more and more data. 20 years ago, we had data needs that would have needed no optimization using today’s hardware. Now we want to store everything about everyone, all the time. Eventually one of them has to reach some limit, right?

Mohammad: Do you ever see the traditional SQL Server DBA role being replaced/eliminated?

Louis: It already has been, somewhat.

Realistically, I don’t see the DBA vanishing as a role, just changing more and more. The original role of DBA is long gone. And I think it kind of changes every year or so. The technology is getting more and more complex, doing more and more every release of SQL Server. All of these new technologies they keep adding (R, Python, and Graph, most recently) need someone to support them.

Back in the day, a DBA could just hide out in the office, and make sure that data was backed up and restorable and things were great. SQL Server used to just be a simple relational engine, and now it takes as long to decide what parts of the product to install as it does to install it. Security was much different also. A great percentage of companies were not really hackable because data was not connected to the Internet, and often we were generally too paranoid to store personal information in the first place. Now I know that my personal information is stored and accessible on the same network where you can watch unlimited cat videos.

Cloud/hybrid solutions are making things easier for the DBA, in that you can offload some of the daily maintenance, someone needs to be able to configures the systems? And when they fail, who fixes them?

Mohammad: What are you most proud of doing/accomplishing for the SQL Server community so far in your career?

Louis: Tough question, because I never really think too much about successes or accomplishments. I have always just enjoyed what I do for a living, and doing it as a hobby has been great.

Probably the thing that gives me the most pride is when someone comes up to me at a conference and tells me that I taught them something that stuck with them, or inspired them to get involved. Admittedly, receiving the MVP Award is my greatest honor, but it was never my primary goal, and while it can be a motivator, it certainly isn’t why I keep writing and speaking.

Mohammad: What non-technical/non-fiction book/s would you recommend? If you only read technical books…what do you recommend?

Louis: Reading. I once joked that I had written more books in a year than I had read. This is still generally the case. The last book I read (ok, listened to someone else read to me) was the book “Tarkin”, which was a great Star Wars book that chronicled Governor Tarkin’s rise to power before meeting his demise on Death Star 1.0. That and a New Dawn: Star Wars, which was an origin story for some of the characters from the Rebels TV series. (Yes, I am a bit of a Star Wars fan.)

When I read a technical book, it is often as a technical editor, mostly because there is only so much time in the day. I have been slowly reading Expert SQL Server In-Memory OLTP by Dmitri Korotkevitch, which is excellent, and a topic I am very interested in (full disclosure I was given the book by our shared editor, but I only say nice things if I really mean it.).

Mohammad: For someone who’s career focus has been on one aspect of SQL Server (i.e. Database Engine), do you think it would be wise for them to become a “jack of all trades” by starting to learn, SSRS/IS/Azure, etc. or remain focused on their area of expertise? In another words, which would you say is more valuable? mile wide / inch deep or inch wide / mile deep?

Louis: I suggest that anyone who is just getting started should try everything they can. My first job was a LAN administrator (Novell!), and I tried procedural programming in college and did a little of it professionally. I didn’t love either (and have only basic skills configuring my home network these days.)  I happened into being a SQL programmer when a coworker quit and we needed lots of stored procedures and triggers written. I loved it and didn’t look back.

So best case for your career: figure out what sticks, and more importantly, what it is you love to do. And if you don’t love anything technical, don’t do it even if you are good at it.

As you mention, I personally went the specialist route. I have had the same job (database programmer/architect) for 15 contiguous years, and I don’t regret one moment. I spend most of my time on SQL Server’s relational engine, designing databases and coding in T-SQL; both in my day job, and here at my desk most nights. The deep knowledge I have cultivated is useful to solve the more complex problems that come up, and knowing the most about something makes you valuable to an organization.

Being 100% specialist can be career limiting also. I am a member of a small team, so I could never just design databases all day. Or just write T-SQL. In order to fit in on a modern team, you may need to have skills in other areas. Amongst the other stuff I do, I build a lot of SSIS packages and am staring to work with PowerShell some.

I think the most important thing is that every technologist should strived to be at least adequate in the things that they do. Not everyone will write books, or even blogs (heck, some people will have non-technical stuff they work on). But if you sell your services to a company, you should be giving them at least what you are advertising you can provide.

I decided to start a series of blogs where I interview key people in the SQL Server community. Instead of me asking technical questions, I plan on asking about their outlook on the future, books they read (non-fiction and/or technical), and their overall thoughts on where technology (mainly SQL Server) is headed. You can find more interviews here.

Next up: Bob Pusateri (b | t): 

Mohammad: Do you think people who dismiss the cloud as a “fad” or just don’t take it serious enough to learn about it (i.e. Azure, AWS, etc), will be in a tough spot to find a job 5 years from now?

Bob: I definitely see SQL Server becoming more cloud and/or service-focused with time. I think we’re seeing that already with now-yearly releases for on-premises. I think in the next five years we’ll continue to see new development in many cases be cloud-focused from the beginning. There will always be organizations and use cases where the cloud just doesn’t make sense or isn’t an option though. These are things like old code that just won’t play nice, or databases with massive levels of size or activity where cloud pricing just isn’t economical.

Mohammad: Do you ever see the traditional SQL Server DBA role being replaced/eliminated?

Bob: I don’t think the traditional DBA role will ever be replaced or eliminated, but it will continue to evolve. I think a lot of parts of the job that involve maintaining the data and its storage will start to become more scarce, as things move to the cloud, while architectural and tuning tasks will become more important. When every query costs money, organizations are going to start to care about optimizing their code more!

Mohammad: What are you most proud of doing/accomplishing for the SQL Server community so far in your career?

Bob: Without a doubt, the thing I am most proud of doing within the community is helping new members get started. Making sure they have a great experience and make a new contact at their first SQL Saturday, chapter meeting, or other event. It may not sound like much, but first impressions really do matter. From there, the best feeling in the world is when they enjoy it enough to come back to the next chapter meeting, or go to another SQL Saturday, and maybe get involved in volunteering themselves.

Mohammad: What non-technical/non-fiction book/s would you recommend? If you only read technical books…what do you recommend?

Bob: Every once in a while I get an opportunity to read a non-technical book. One of the ones I most recently enjoyed was “How the States Got Their Shapes” by Mark Stein. This book covers the borders of every US state and how they came to be what they are today. Incredibly interesting.

Mohammad: For someone who’s career focus has been on one aspect of SQL Server (i.e. Database Engine), do you think it would be wise for them to become a “jack of all trades” by starting to learn, SSRS/IS/Azure, etc. or remain focused on their area of expertise? In another words, which would you say is more valuable? mile wide / inch deep or inch wide / mile deep?

Bob: I think specializing will always have more value than being a generalist. I don’t advocate for being a “jack of all trades” but what I will say is that you can’t be a specialist in a hole either. Keep up with new developments and other technologies enough to understand what they are, what issues they address and their strengths/weaknesses. Nobody can ever be a master of everything; but I’d rather be really good at one thing than just so-so at many things.

I decided to start a series of blogs where I interview key people in the SQL Server community. Instead of me asking technical questions, I plan on asking about their outlook on the future, books they read (non-fiction and/or technical), and their overall thoughts on where technology (mainly SQL Server) is headed. You can find more interviews here.

Next up: David Klee (b | t): 

Mohammad: Do you think people who dismiss the cloud as a “fad” or just don’t take it serious enough to learn about it (i.e. Azure, AWS, etc), will be in a tough spot to find a job 5 years from now?

David: I see SQL Server technologies evolving in numerous directions, but the overarching theme will be cloud. Just look at the current release cycles for on-prem SQL Server. It’s a compiled and boxed version of the SQL Server features that are already released in Azure SQL Database in the previous months. Even the Linux release is (IMHO) partly because cloud-based SQL Server platforms are looking for a smaller footprint operating system. The bigger question for me is – are your applications ready for the shift? Most business-critical app vendors that I see are not yet even supporting SQL Server 2016, let alone newer versions. The limitations of DBaaS also are too much for many of these applications. But… they’ll get there, and you must be ready.

Mohammad: Do you ever see the traditional SQL Server DBA role being replaced/eliminated?

David: Never. I don’t see it being replaced or eliminated as long as the DBA themselves are able to keep up with change. I see the role evolving, and quickly, however. The role is evolving. Just like with cloud technologies, other features and tasks are changing. DR in the cloud is becoming just a few clicks. Backups and restores are much simpler to set up and manage. Availability is easier with Availability Groups. Many of the routine day-to-day operational tasks that DBAs have been tasked with for years are being automated. However, the role is drastically changing. While these tasks are being made simpler or are being automated, the role of the DBA is changing to be a bit more proactive. The DBA should start to emphasize tasks such as performance tuning, query optimization, and database design improvements, all of which can help to boost the performance of the applications. The other challenge is keeping on top o the all of the new enhancements that the DBA is able to leverage to make their lives easier, streamline operations, and improve business continuity. It’s a never-ending cycle of learning, one that I personally thrive on (I get bored easily!).

Mohammad: What are you most proud of doing/accomplishing for the SQL Server community so far in your career?

David: I’m probably the most humble guy in the room and I don’t much like talking about myself. But, I’m thrilled to have been able to help DBAs in the SQL Server community learn more about the infrastructure that their databases are powered by over the years. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed training thousands of professionals at events all over the world on the art of how virtualization, CPU and memory architecture, networking, storage, and the operating system all relate to databases. Most recently, we’re adding cloud into the picture too.

Mohammad: What non-technical/non-fiction book/s would you recommend? If you only read technical books…what do you recommend?

David: I’ve got a pretty eclectic list of books that I’ve been reading lately. The books that are non-technical but directly applicable to the job are all about the psychology behind presenting, probability and statistics, entrepreneurship, and negotiation. I haven’t had too much time lately for recreational reading outside of more technical subjects I’m afraid. If you want to read two of the best technical books that I’ve ever read, read ‘The Mythical Man Month’ by Frederick Brooks, and ‘SQL Server 2005 Practical Troubleshooting’ by Ken Henderson.

Mohammad: For someone who’s career focus has been on one aspect of SQL Server (i.e. Database Engine), do you think it would be wise for them to become a “jack of all trades” by starting to learn, SSRS/IS/Azure, etc. or remain focused on their area of expertise? In another words, which would you say is more valuable? mile wide / inch deep or inch wide / mile deep?

David: I prefer both! Now remember we’re consultants, and we’re asked to do a lot of things around the SQL Server platform, so my view might be a bit skewed at this point. I personally want to see folks that are skilled in many facets of a product like SQL Server and how it relates and applies to the business. It’s more of the mile wide approach from how it relates to the business and how the different features relate to each other. However, for the core features that directly relate to the needs of the client/project, I want the person to know certain critical areas extremely well. It’s a good mix of mile-wide and mile-deep in the areas that matter for their interests and job role. For example, our focus is on how the SQL Server engine interacts with the platform underneath it. I specialize in SQL Server internals, HA/DR, performance tuning, and all of those items for the platform below it. However, at this point in my career, I know how to *spell* SSAS and that’s about it. I can virtualize and tune the infrastructure around your warehouse, but I’ll refer any requests for us working on a warehouse to other folks we know that can do it a lot better than us.

Being a mile wide and a mile deep in certain areas makes you more adaptable as the world changes, and you can transfer the deep knowledge to a new ‘thing’ quicker. If you’re a technologist solely focused on a certain feature of a certain product, what happens if that feature is deprecated? Or a better feature comes out? I had a friend in college who was one of the most amazing Adobe Flash developers that I’ve ever seen. Now look at the state of that technology. It’s virtually dead, so if he had not recognized this and transferred the energy to learning a new product/platform/feature, he’d be out of work at this point.

The same goes for our virtualization knowledge. ‘Cloud’ is shaking up the world. All cloud means is that it’s someone else’s datacenter and they put some serious automation and abstraction around the various components. Our shift to the cloud was arguably quicker than DBAs who had never been involved with the infrastructure and virtualization in their datacenters. Today DBAs need to know about things like IOPs, network firewall rules and routing, and server sizing in ways that some environments insulated them from in the past.

I’ll stop my ramble there 😊 To shorten the response, you should be both. Specialize but have a keen awareness of the things around it, because as the world changes, so should you!