Why I blog

Knowing how to do something in the various parts of the SQL Server stack can be a challenge when first starting out.  Knowing when to do something is a step up from that challenge, and requires experience on top of knowledge.   Thankfully the SQL Server community has a wealth of information and tons of people willing to share from their experiences.  This is one of the core components to the corporate culture at Pragmatic Works which is where I work.  Most of the consultants at Pragmatic Works are very involved in the community, from running and presenting at user groups to presenting at conferences like PASS and many SQL Saturdays across the country. Blogging is also a great way to get your opinions out and share your experience. I’ve been trying to ramp up on my blogging over the last few months.  There are bunch of reasons that I enjoy blogging and sharing my experience:

1. When I blog about challenges I’ve overcome at work it really reinforces the lessons learned from that day/days
2. I know that I will come across that challenge again, and I just can’t remember every solution to every problem I face, but by blogging about them I have a reference written by someone who explains things in a way that I can understand, or at least I hope I understand myself.
3. Giving back.  While I don’t post on forums with tons of questions I definitely scour them for answers to my own questions.  This blog is my way of giving back, and adding my two sense.
4. It has forced me to learn more and dive deeper into understanding the SQL Server Stack.  As a consultant our clients look to us to be experts, not only in building solutions, but in educating them in how to do this when we leave.  Writing this blog helps me organize my thoughts and look at problems not just from a “how do I solve this” viewpoint, but also from a “how do I show others how to solve this”

Going forward I’m going to try and not only explain how to build a package or write a report, but why I built it that way and why I didn’t build it another way.  I’m also hoping that from all of you out there who get a chance to read my blog, you will challenge me to explain more, force me to learn more and help you to learn more as well. 

As I sit here writing this it sounds like quite a lofty goal, especially since my blogging has not been extremely consistent over the last year.  I look at it this way, if I want to really dedicate myself to learning as much as I can about SQL Server I have to put pressure on myself to keep me motivated, and I can’t think of any way better to put pressure on myself than to publicly state a goal, and allow people to track my progress.  Thanks for reading and please come back soon and leave comments.

Thanks