SQLFamily – Data Work Mom

Note: Sessions listed here are ones I am specifically interested in for one reason or another at the time of this writing. It’s a mix of one part stuff I think will be helpful to my company, one part things I’m SUPER interested in, and one part sitting in sessions with a group of speakers that I know and want to hear. Sessions that were in-person had a higher priority when I had to choose between different sessions, which is perhaps unfair, but with traveling I want to be in-person as much as possible. Sessions not listed have zero baring on their quality – there are simply only so many hours in a day – even with the on-demand option.

Inspired by Louis Davidson‘s post: The PASS Data Community Sessions I am Most Excited For, I decided to write my own. Because all that time I’ve ~~obsessed~~ spent looking at the schedule should be put to some use AND I’m hoping it will help me get over my writers block. That said, after looking at the schedule I created with the Favorites I tagged, I realized that this post would probably be best in multi-parts. Part 1 will focus on Tuesday and Wednesday activities.

There is a lot of sessions in this post, but basically I’m trying to plan for next week and the next 12 months. Also with 489 sessions, obviously my choice can and will change over time. But I like to have a plan. LIKE REALLY REALLY like to have a plan. An initial one and one I can pivot to quickly if needed.

I’m not going to rehash what PASS DCS 2022 is, you can get all the info here: https://passdatacommunitysummit.com/. If you can’t attend in-person for any reason but still want to attend – there is a great online option and an option for on-demand recordings. I attended online last year (which was the only option) and was pretty impressed with the ability to interact with others, even outside the sessions. This year I will be in Seattle for the event, (thanks awesome company that I work for!) but they also purchased the 12 month on-demand recordings option. That way I don’t have to always choose between sessions: just which ones I see during the summit. (Note: links to sessions probably require you register for the site. You are on your own for that.)

I’m guessing that a lot of people choose the All-In-One Bundle, but I did a more ala-carte registration. 3-day conference + One Day Pre-Con + On-demand recordings for 12 months. My company saved a whole 7 dollars going this route – but I really wanted the on-demand recordings and I wasn’t sure how great I’d be at pre-cons. <insert record scratch>

I’ll be honest – pre-cons kinda scare me. I’m neuro-diverse and 8 hours is a long time to hold my attention and I get big anxiety about it. That said, I made it through grad school with a 3.93 (dangit worldwide pandemic) learning Python/R, analytics, statistics, AI, etc., so I realize that it may be all in my head. [so’s everything 1:49]. I signed up for one pre-con, and if that goes well, than I may go for 2 next time.

Tuesday

Choosing between Pre-cons was pretty difficult. Like SUPER DUPER difficult. Ones that particularly interested me were:

Race + Gender Equity Toolkit – Cindy Gross
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Adopting Power BI in Your Organization – Matthew Roche and Melissa Coates
Azure Infrastructure – Denny Cherry
Become a Hybrid Architect – Anthony Nocentino and Ben Weissman.

Ultimately I went with Denny’s Azure Infrastructure pre-con as it aligns best with key initiatives for my company. I’m on a small Cloud CoE team and we are planning some complicated moves to the cloud; I want to make sure I have my ducks in row – particularly with best practices. I’ve been privileged to see many of Denny’s presentations back when I was an organizer for SQL Sat in Atlanta, and I’m super excited to get to attend one of his pre-cons. Also, I’m studying for several certification exams (which one depends on the day), and this will reinforce topics that may be outside some of my current experience.

Just by happenstance, I have also signed up for Denny’s PASS Karaoke Party 2022. I’ve only been to Karaoke once in my life, and even then I was just a backup dancer (if you can really even be a backup dancer to Gangsta’s Paradise“), so this should be interesting. Truth be told, haven’t been out-out since about 4 years ago, so I’m game. Just don’t expect me to sing or stay out too late (I’ve got a big next day!)

Wednesday

Here is where it gets super complicated. Mostly because I keep changing my mind. Some sessions I initially planed on, I saw later were online and I went back and changed them for in-person sessions. I have some internal conflict doing this for multiple reasons (another post for another day) , and I may go and change things 10x by Wednesday (or there may be times that my “overwhelmedness” kicks in), so nothing is really set in stone.

Luckily I purchased the 12 month on-demand option (I get nothing for writing this in case you are wondering), thus I have a pretty sizeable list of alternates. For any of the times listed below, you will sometimes see a different time listed in the alternates section. This is because the session has a slightly different time than the original. I will spare you the different colored highlights in my original OneNote doc, because I don’t need to expose all the crazy.

Drum role please….Here is my current schedule.

8:00 AM – 9:15 AM: Transform your Data Estate with Microsoft’s Intelligent Data Platform. Keynote – Rohan Kumar

Keynotes are always good for “big picture” info and this one is right in line with my company’s needs: integrating databases, analytics, and governance.

9:30 AM – 10:45 AM: Confession – I still haven’t made up my mind on this one yet. Here are my 2 main choices. I have some experience in both, but I feel like I need a reset.

Alternate/on-demand options