This is part of a series of articles in which I'm trying to teach myself about BI. Any related articles I write are preceded with "#BI101" in the title. Because this is a new (to me) topic, it's possible that what I write might be inaccurate. I invite you to correct me in the comments, … Continue reading #BI101: Introduction to data warehousing
Tag: Technology
#BI101: An introduction to BI using baseball
Edit: This is the first of a series of articles (I hope!) in which I'm trying to teach myself about BI. Any articles I write that are related to this, starting with this one, will be preceded with "#BI101" in the title. As I stated in a previous article, one topic about which I'm interested … Continue reading #BI101: An introduction to BI using baseball
Better Comments
This is a reblog of a post by my friend, Steve Jones. I've often said that commenting code is a form of documentation, and needs to be done more.
Keeping up with technology — revisited (again!)
A while back, I referred to Eugene Meidinger's SQL Saturday presentation about keeping up with technology. I came across his 'blog article where he talks about exactly that. It's a very good read, and he gives an excellent presentation. Eugene will be giving this presentation in Rochester on March 24, which happens to be the … Continue reading Keeping up with technology — revisited (again!)
Document maintenance is critical
I had two appointments this past week. The first was one for my car to get my oil change and to make sure everything was in good working order (it was). A couple of days later, I had a dentist appointment. It was a routine cleaning (I also had a procedure done -- one that … Continue reading Document maintenance is critical
My first podcast interview!
About a week ago, I received an email from Carlos Chacon of SQL Data Partners inviting me to take part in a podcast. This was my first such request, and I jumped on the opportunity. The podcast recording took place last night. My topic was along the lines of "writing and communication: why it matters … Continue reading My first podcast interview!
Upcoming SQL Saturday dates for me
Looks like my SQL Saturday schedule will be busy! Here are my upcoming dates (and I admit that I'm writing this for my own reference as much as anything else). Scheduled to speak I am scheduled to speak at the following event: December 9, 2017: #694, Providence, RI Presentation abstracts submitted I submitted my presentations … Continue reading Upcoming SQL Saturday dates for me
Musings from a frustrated technical writer
(Source: dilbert.com) As someone who has professional technical writing experience, I am often asked to edit or rewrite documents written by other technical professionals such as developers, IT personnel, managers, and so on. The ability to create good functional instructional documents is a skill -- just like the ability to write good object-oriented and structured code, … Continue reading Musings from a frustrated technical writer
Time is Precious
My friend, Steve Jones, wrote this article, and it is well worth the read (most of his articles are), even if you’re not a technology professional. If you care about your craft — no matter what it is — set aside a little bit of time to improve upon it.
I’ll hear people constantly say they don’t have time to work on their career. They can’t attend a UG meeting to network. They can’t spare a minute to go through a Stairway Series. They have family commitments, kids, hobbies, volunteer activities, spiritual needs, and more. That’s not even counting all the work they need to get done as a part of their job. When can they spend time on R or Machine Learning or CosmosDB or anything else?
I get it. My life is chaotic as well, with deadlines and a pile of work that never goes away. I sometimes dread travel and vacation because that means my work piles up on either side of those events. This is on top of commitments to keep up on chores at home (I have cooking and laundry), fix things at the ranch, spend time with kids, get date nights with my…
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Looking Back
This is a reblog of a post from my friend, Steve Jones. He touches on a topic that is near and dear to my heart, and one that I strongly believe is crucially important.
Nearly all of my SQL Saturday presentations have revolved around documentation and technical communication. Technology may have changed over the years, but the importance of documentation has not. I strongly believe that documentation is getting to the point where it is being dangerously ignored, something that we, as technical professionals, cannot afford to do.
Someone sent me this post on 40 years of programming. It’s a read that laments a few things and complains about many others. Most of the thoughts are opinions, and as such, you may or may not see validity in them. I suspect most of you, like me, see some things are mostly true and some as just false. Since I’ve been in this business for nearly 30 years, many of the comments bring back memories and thoughts about my career as well.
One of the things I do lament is the declining quality of documentation. I’ve seen the volume and detail decline over the years. I wouldn’t want to go back to paper, but I would like to see better examples and more complete examination of the ins and outs of the various functions and features. Far too often I find that there are examples, explanations, or behaviors…
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Welcome to Ray Kim's 'blog 