way0utwest
@way0utwest.bsky.social
📤 454
đź“Ą 50
đź“ť 1269
Founder, SQL Server Central and Advocate at Redgate Software. President, SQL Saturday charity
Today's editorial: Half of All Engineers
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Half of All Engineers
The AI LLM boom seems to show no sign of slowing down. Each time I think we've reached some level of crazy use or predictions, things take another turn. I still find myself pinging back and forth between this will be amazingly good and horrifyingly bad. Sometimes on the same day. Today, I'm a little more down on AI. I was listening to…
http://voiceofthedba.com/2026/04/29/half-of-all-engineers/
1 day ago
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Upgrading SQL Server Containers on the Laptop I don’t have SQL Server installed on my laptop. In an effort to keep things clean and smooth in case I need to rebuild things, I’ve gone with containers. I can easily copy a folder with all my docker compose files and data to another machine and be up…
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Upgrading SQL Server Containers on the Laptop
I don’t have SQL Server installed on my laptop. In an effort to keep things clean and smooth in case I need to rebuild things, I’ve gone with containers. I can easily copy a folder with all my docker compose files and data to another machine and be up and running. One other benefit is upgrades. This post looks at the process of upgrading/patching SQL Server on my laptop.
http://voiceofthedba.com/2026/04/29/upgrading-sql-server-containers-on-the-laptop/
1 day ago
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I guess its not just DBAs that fail to clean up old databases that aren't being used. Apparently network admins aren't good at it either.
arstechnica.com/security/202...
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Why are top university websites serving porn? It comes down to shoddy housekeeping.
Hundreds of subdomains from dozens of universities have been hijacked by scammers.
https://arstechnica.com/security/2026/04/why-are-top-university-websites-serving-porn-it-comes-down-to-shoddy-housekeeping/
3 days ago
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It was 75F when I left Denver 9 days ago. Cambridge was high 60s, so my jacket was nice, Houston was 80s, so didn't need anything. Today, walked out with a hoodie and back in. It's 30s, so needed a jacket and hat
3 days ago
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Today's editorial: Spring Connections and Learning at PASS On Tour Chicago 2026
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Spring Connections and Learning at PASS On Tour
It's just a few weeks until the spring PASS On Tour Chicago 2026. This is a smaller version of the PASS Summit that will be coming to Seattle in November and has been running for 26 years each fall. Myself and many other data professionals have found immeasurable value from the time we've spent with others at these events.
http://voiceofthedba.com/2026/04/27/spring-connections-and-learning-at-pass-on-tour/
3 days ago
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Interesting puzzle to sign into a site today. Get a number (picture) one one side, and a "match the number of rocks on the other. Each picture of rocks had different numbres. Scroll through, count, submit the right one. How hard would that be for any modern llm?
3 days ago
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Questions and Answers from Running a Local LLM I had a few random questions from my Running a Local LLM on Your Laptop session at the Houston AI-lytics 2026 event last week, so this post looks at a few of those questions and my answers. Note: This stuff is changing rapidly, and there aren’t a lot…
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Questions and Answers from Running a Local LLM
I had a few random questions from my Running a Local LLM on Your Laptop session at the Houston AI-lytics 2026 event last week, so this post looks at a few of those questions and my answers. Note: This stuff is changing rapidly, and there aren’t a lot of factual answers. A lot of what you should look for is guidance and rational reasons for leaning in some direction.
http://voiceofthedba.com/2026/04/27/questions-and-answers-from-running-a-local-llm/
3 days ago
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Voice of the DBA | Writings from Steve Jones, the Voice of the DBA Houston AI-Lytics 2026–Powerpoint Slides Thanks to everyone for attending my session on running a Local LLM. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out with them. The slides with links embedded is below: Slides:…
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Voice of the DBA | Writings from Steve Jones, the Voice of the DBA
Houston AI-Lytics 2026–Powerpoint Slides Thanks to everyone for attending my session on running a Local LLM. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out with them. The slides with links embedded is below: Slides: Running a Local LLM.PPTX I’ll blog next week on a few of the questions people asked, so if you have anything you want answered, please reach out.
http://voiceofthedba.com/2026/04/25/voice-of-the-dba-writings-from-steve-jones-the-voice-of-the-dba/
5 days ago
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The Book of Redgate: Do the Right Things I do believe that Redgate has been very customer focused since it’s inception. I’ve worked with them in some capacity since 2002 and I’ve felt this along the way: The next page has this statement: We believe that if we do what is right for our customers…
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The Book of Redgate: Do the Right Things
I do believe that Redgate has been very customer focused since it’s inception. I’ve worked with them in some capacity since 2002 and I’ve felt this along the way: The next page has this statement: We believe that if we do what is right for our customers then we will thrive. I think that’s been true when we keep this in mind.
http://voiceofthedba.com/2026/04/24/the-book-of-redgate-do-the-right-things/
6 days ago
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Today's editorial: Local Agents
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Local Agents
Recently I saw an interesting article, saying that someone could build a general purpose coding agent in 131 lines of Python code. That's a neat idea, though I'm not sure that this is better than just using Claude Code, especially as the agent still uses the online version of the Claude model from Anthropic to generate code or perform other tasks.
http://voiceofthedba.com/2026/04/24/local-agents/
6 days ago
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Well this is quite depressing. Couldn't finish it. Not that I think it's going to come true, but I worry we move in this direction
www.citriniresearch.com/p/2028gic
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THE 2028 GLOBAL INTELLIGENCE CRISIS
A Thought Exercise in Financial History, from the Future
https://www.citriniresearch.com/p/2028gic
6 days ago
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Came to Cambridge with one jacket. Leaving with 3. Mrs way0utwest would be proud. She looooovvvvvveeeesss jackets
7 days ago
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I typed: "an update without a where claude" I think I'm using AI too often.
7 days ago
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Testing demos for the Houston AI Saturday this week. Glad I fired them up as I need to pull some new containers and models, which can be sloooooowwwwww from GHCR.
sqlsaturday.com/2026-04-25-s...
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Houston Ai-Lytics Day 2026 (#1137)
https://sqlsaturday.com/2026-04-25-sqlsaturday1137/
7 days ago
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Today's editorial: Every Database Has Problems
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Every Database Has Problems
Every database platform has some strengths and weaknesses. Some more than others. I caught this site (NSFW) from Erik Darling, and it made my day. I was having a tough one when this site got me to smile and chuckle out loud a few times. I especially like the MySQL and SQL Lite links (again NSFW). Every platform that you might choose to use to back an application can work in many situations.
http://voiceofthedba.com/2026/04/22/every-database-has-problems/
8 days ago
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Get a Range of Sequence Values:Â
#SQLNewBlogger
I discovered a procedure recently that I wasn’t aware of: sp_sequence_get_range. This post looks at how the proc works. Another post for me that is simple and hopefully serves as an example for people trying to get blogging as
#SQLNewBloggers
. The…
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Get a Range of Sequence Values:Â #SQLNewBlogger
I discovered a procedure recently that I wasn’t aware of: sp_sequence_get_range. This post looks at how the proc works. Another post for me that is simple and hopefully serves as an example for people trying to get blogging as #SQLNewBloggers. The Setup I have a sequence object, IDCounter, that is an integer with an increment of 2. The next value that is returned is shown here:
http://voiceofthedba.com/2026/04/22/get-a-range-of-sequence-values-sqlnewblogger/
8 days ago
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Today's editorial: The New OS Wars
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The New OSÂ Wars
In the last year I've seen a lot of statements about data and sovereignty between countries. While there have been concerns in the past, there seems to be more worry around the world with AI services primarily being run by, and hosted by, US companies. Plenty of my customers at Redgate Software have concerns over our ability to see data when we run AI models, though we don't store the data.
http://voiceofthedba.com/2026/04/20/the-new-os-wars/
10 days ago
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Today's editorial: Working Better Under Pressure
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Working Better Under Pressure
One of my colleagues wrote a great post about DBAs and developers, about how a DBA's pushback on bad code isn't to be difficult, it's because they can see the future. I never thought of myself as a modern-day Nostradamus, predicting the future of system performance. Apparently I had another title besides DBA. Working under pressure and with short deadlines often leads to short cuts.
http://voiceofthedba.com/2026/04/17/working-better-under-pressure/
13 days ago
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A New Word: Soufrise soufrise – . The maddening thrill of an ambiguous flirtation, which quivers in tension halfway between platonic and romantic – maybe, but no, but maybe – leaving you guessing what’s going on inside their chest, forced to assume that at any given moment their attraction is both…
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A New Word:Â Soufrise
soufrise – . The maddening thrill of an ambiguous flirtation, which quivers in tension halfway between platonic and romantic – maybe, but no, but maybe – leaving you guessing what’s going on inside their chest, forced to assume that at any given moment their attraction is both alive and dead at the same time. I don’t think in terms of romance here, having been married for nearly 28 years, but I do think about this in terms of my career.
http://voiceofthedba.com/2026/04/17/a-new-word-soufrise/
13 days ago
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Today's editorial: Who is Irresponsible?
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Who is Irresponsible?
There was a post on X recently from a founder in the EU about an engineer using Claude and ChatGPT to build a feature. I am not sure how true these posts are or if they are designed to just create engagement, but it's still an interesting topic. The part that makes me think is that (supposedly) the engineer was fired because their "data" (code) was sent to American servers.
http://voiceofthedba.com/2026/04/15/who-is-irresponsible/
15 days ago
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JSON_OBJECTAGG is an Aggregate:Â
#SQLNewBlogger
I wrote an article recently on the JSON_OBJECTAGG function, but neglected to include an example of why it can behave weirdly. This post looks at something you might not realize unless you remember this is an aggregate function. Another post for me…
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JSON_OBJECTAGG is an Aggregate:Â #SQLNewBlogger
I wrote an article recently on the JSON_OBJECTAGG function, but neglected to include an example of why it can behave weirdly. This post looks at something you might not realize unless you remember this is an aggregate function. Another post for me that is simple and hopefully serves as an example for people trying to get blogging as #SQLNewBlogger…
http://voiceofthedba.com/2026/04/15/json_objectagg-is-an-aggregate-sqlnewblogger/
15 days ago
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I just patched a patch for a patch to fix some code. My GH comments look like: fixed x fixed x (again) fixed the fix for x
16 days ago
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reposted by
way0utwest
Fredrik Boström
16 days ago
And SSMS 22.5 is out.
learn.microsoft.com/en-us/ssms/r...
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Release Notes for SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
Release notes for SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS).
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/ssms/release-notes-22
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reposted by
way0utwest
Data Platform Women in Technology
16 days ago
We are one hour away! Not too late to join. It may be just the thing that you didn't even know you needed! Presented by Tracy Sewell:
data-platform-wit.sh...
#datawit
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When the firehose causes the Burnout, Tue, Apr 14, 2026, 12:00 PM | Meetup
Burnout is complex, and as it is unique to every person, it can be difficult to define and identify. Let me help you with that. Over the past few years burnout has become
https://data-platform-wit.short.gy/April26-Sewell
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A little Monday morning fun for me:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ap87...
Maybe you, too
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Wings - Silly Love Songs (Official Music Video)
YouTube video by PAUL McCARTNEY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ap87QgZKTNw
17 days ago
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I mean I do need to renovate a kitchen ...
17 days ago
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Today's editorial: Poor Names
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Poor Names
It's always interesting to me when I give product feedback to engineers at Redgate on their demos. Quite often they've built a feature that uses AdventureWorks or Pagila (PostgreSQL) or some other well known schema to evaluate how their particular thing works with a database. I try to remind them that many databases aren't well modeled and designed with consistent naming.
http://voiceofthedba.com/2026/04/13/poor-names/
17 days ago
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Changing the Cardinality of a FK in Redgate Data Modeler One of the things a customer asked recently about Redgate Data Modeler was how to adjust a FK constraint between two tables. The tool seemed to makes this easy, and this post will show you how. This is part of a series on Redgate Data…
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Changing the Cardinality of a FK in Redgate Data Modeler
One of the things a customer asked recently about Redgate Data Modeler was how to adjust a FK constraint between two tables. The tool seemed to makes this easy, and this post will show you how. This is part of a series on Redgate Data Modeler. Altering a Constraint In a previous post, I looked at adding a FK.
http://voiceofthedba.com/2026/04/13/changing-the-cardinality-of-a-fk-in-data-modeler/
17 days ago
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TGIF
20 days ago
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Acting with Confidence Recently, I saw a graph about making decisions that showed the impact of both reversibility and consequences. Here is an example of such a graph and how one might approach decisions. If things are easily reversible or have a low consequence, we tend to make a decision and…
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Acting with Confidence
Recently, I saw a graph about making decisions that showed the impact of both reversibility and consequences. Here is an example of such a graph and how one might approach decisions. If things are easily reversible or have a low consequence, we tend to make a decision and move on. Or we are willing to make a decision. One of the examples of such a decision was choosing what to wear out to dinner.
http://voiceofthedba.com/2026/04/10/acting-with-confidence/
20 days ago
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Advice I Like: Rewards from Work The greatest rewards come from working on something that nobody has words for. If you possibly can, work where there are no names for what you do.” - from Excellent Advice for Living I work for a software company, trying to sell tools to companies for database…
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Advice I Like: Rewards from Work
The greatest rewards come from working on something that nobody has words for. If you possibly can, work where there are no names for what you do.” - from Excellent Advice for Living I work for a software company, trying to sell tools to companies for database work. It’s not hugely rewarding. I enjoy it, and I like going to work.
http://voiceofthedba.com/2026/04/10/advice-i-like-rewards-from-work/
20 days ago
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reposted by
way0utwest
Gianluca Sartori
21 days ago
Hear, hear! WorkloadTools 1.7.3 is out!
github.com/spaghettidba...
Many fixes to replay code
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Release 1.7.3 · spaghettidba/WorkloadTools
Fixed countless synchronization bugs Improved replay progress messages
https://github.com/spaghettidba/WorkloadTools/releases/latest
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A new Simple Talks episode. With a race car!
youtu.be/8YsGXaRO9wM?...
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Making stuff go faster, from databases to the race track (with Matt Gordon)
YouTube video by Redgate Software
https://youtu.be/8YsGXaRO9wM?si=oPrlmzf6TJFh83HH
23 days ago
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#tsql2sday
from @DataOnWheels
dataonwheels.wordpress.com/2026/04/07/t...
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T-SQL Tuesday #197 Invitation – An impactful session or two from a conference
I am delighted to host this month’s T-SQL Tuesday invitation. If you are new to this blog party, I encourage you to check out the rules. If you are new to blogging, please consider contributing. Yo…
https://dataonwheels.wordpress.com/2026/04/07/t-sql-tuesday-197-an-impactful-session-or-two-from-a-conference/
23 days ago
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Editorial Republish: A Great Case for Powershell
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Republish: A Great Case for Powershell
I’m still in Las Vegas coaching 13 year olds at the Red Rock Rave. Hopefully things are going well, though day 3 is often tough. It’s been a long weekend and players are tired (and coaches). I’ll be surviving today and then having a quiet night with my wife before returning tomorrow. I’ll see you Wednesday, but until then, you can read A Great Case for Powershell. Let me know how that has held up in the age of AI, 8 years later.
http://voiceofthedba.com/2026/04/06/a-great-case-for-powershell-2/
24 days ago
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Monday Monitor Tips: A New Analysis Page We have multiple teams (8) working on Redgate Monitor. Some work on the Standard Edition, a few on the Enterprise Edition, and others handling core work, like the Linux/PostgreSQL option. We also have designers, and they regularly research how well the…
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Monday Monitor Tips: A New Analysis Page
We have multiple teams (8) working on Redgate Monitor. Some work on the Standard Edition, a few on the Enterprise Edition, and others handling core work, like the Linux/PostgreSQL option. We also have designers, and they regularly research how well the product works for customers, what is difficult, and they propose changes. One of them was recently release. We have a new analysis page in Redgate Monitor and this post looks at the changes.
http://voiceofthedba.com/2026/04/06/monday-monitor-tips-a-new-analysis-page/
24 days ago
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Editorial Republish: A Double Failure
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Republish: A Double Failure
I’m off to Las Vegas for a volleyball tournament today. Fingers crossed we have a good weekend, and the team has a good experience. These tournaments can be stressful and tough with teams from all over the country. They can also be exciting when we win a few matches. While I’m gone, you get to re-read A Double Failure.
http://voiceofthedba.com/2026/04/03/republish-a-double-failure/
27 days ago
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A Las Vegas Break Only a little break for me. I’m actually heading to Las Vegas today for the Red Rock Rave volleyball tournament with a team of 13 year olds. We’ve been pushing them at practice for a few weeks, so hopefully they’re ready to compete and we break into the top half tomorrow. That’s…
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A Las Vegas Break
Only a little break for me. I’m actually heading to Las Vegas today for the Red Rock Rave volleyball tournament with a team of 13 year olds. We’ve been pushing them at practice for a few weeks, so hopefully they’re ready to compete and we break into the top half tomorrow. That’s usually our goal as the teams I coach aren’t often the top athletes in Colorado.
http://voiceofthedba.com/2026/04/03/a-las-vegas-break/
27 days ago
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Morning office
29 days ago
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Today's editorial: AI Database Central
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AI Database Central
SQL Server Central has been a great success over the last 25 years. We've helped a lot of people improve their careers with the Microsoft Data Platform, primarily SQL Server, but we've published articles on other aspects of databases, including other platforms. I wrote a bit about the history of the site last month, with a few stories in various pieces.
http://voiceofthedba.com/2026/04/01/ai-database-central/
29 days ago
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Finding Balance: Things Will Come Up I have a presentation on finding balance in your career that got quite a few people thinking and commenting on their own experiences. I decided to write a few posts supporting the ideas in the presentation, which my wife and I have used to both drive our…
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Finding Balance: Things Will Come Up
I have a presentation on finding balance in your career that got quite a few people thinking and commenting on their own experiences. I decided to write a few posts supporting the ideas in the presentation, which my wife and I have used to both drive our careers forward while enjoying our lives. Just this week, I had an example.
http://voiceofthedba.com/2026/04/01/finding-balance-things-will-come-up/
29 days ago
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#$#$
%# Lost an email and spent time looking for it. It was in the last place I looked, which was the deleted area. I must have fat fingered a delete on mobile, but thanks to Outlook, it didn't come up in searches.
30 days ago
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Today's editorial: Prompt Requests
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Prompt Requests
One of the challenges of AI-assisted coding agents is that they tend to produce A LOT of code. Even in refactoring or migration changes, the AIs can work quickly and generate such a volume of code that the process starts to become overwhelming. For pull requests, for CI/CD build systems, and certainly for human reviewers, they can be overwhelmed. This can become a real problem with OSS projects, where submissions can grow exponentially to the point that maintainers stop looking at pull requests.
http://voiceofthedba.com/2026/03/30/prompt-requests/
about 1 month ago
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Finding the Next Sequence Value:
#SQLNewBlogger
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Finding the Next Sequence Value:Â #SQLNewBlogger
I saw a question asking about the next sequence value and decided to try and answer it myself. I assumed this would be easy, and it was, but I used some AI help to make it very quick to get the value and learn something. Another post for me that is simple and hopefully serves as an example for people trying to get blogging as…
http://voiceofthedba.com/2026/03/30/finding-the-next-sequence-value-sqlnewblogger/
about 1 month ago
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Tesla Semi from Jay Leno - seems like a great idea.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCXS...
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Jay Leno Drives the 500-Mile Tesla Semi: The Death of Diesel? | Jay Leno's Garage
YouTube video by Jay Leno's Garage
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCXSq1dmEB8&t=4s
about 1 month ago
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Today's editorial: Is Your Time "Free"?
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Is Your Time "Free"?
We do a lot of research at Redgate Software, often contacting customers or Ambassadors and asking questions, getting feedback, and listening to their challenges or criticisms. We take that information and it helps guide us when we build the tools that help you in your job. Recently, I watched a call with a customer who uses our famous Toolbelt…
http://voiceofthedba.com/2026/03/27/is-your-time-free/
about 1 month ago
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The Book of Redgate: No Politics
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The Book of Redgate: No Politics
In today’s world, this might mean something different, but in 2010, we had this value: In our context, this was about being open and transparent. This is the text from the facing page: No gossiping, no intrigue, no pussy-fitting around problems and no telling people what you think they want to hear whist privately disagreeing. We will be transparent in our dealings.
http://voiceofthedba.com/2026/03/27/the-book-of-redgate-no-politics/
about 1 month ago
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I wonder how many other places might start asking for help in training. This feels like we're helping build The Matrix
www.eweek.com/news/doordas...
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DoorDash Launches App Paying Workers to Train AI | eWEEK
DoorDash’s new tasks app pays couriers to capture real-world data for AI training, turning gig workers into key players in machine learning.
https://www.eweek.com/news/doordash-launches-app-paying-workers-to-train-ai/
about 1 month ago
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Getting control of your database estate can be a challenge in many ways.
@sqlasylum.bsky.social
and I sat down to chat about it in this webinar:
www.red-gate.com/hub/events/c...
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Redgate Ambassadors, Events, And Community Activities
See which events we're attending, arrange sponsorship for your event or user group, and find out about the Ambassadors Program
https://www.red-gate.com/hub/events/control-in-practice-running-modern-database-estates
about 1 month ago
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Two takes so far and two F-bombs. Do better, Steve
about 1 month ago
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