I'm Andy Warren, currently a SQL Server trainer with End to End Training. Over the past few years I've been a developer, DBA, and IT Director. I was one of the original founders of SQLServerCentral.com and helped grow that community from zero to about 300k members before deciding to move on to other ventures.
Right now I'm active with
I still write quite a bit for SQLServerCentral (here is my article list) and occasionally participate in the forums (which is where you get to see the community in action). My articles on SSC tend to focus on beginner topics (because we have a constant influx of beginners into our profession), replication (because I think it's under used due to it's perceived complexity), and professional development. It's hard to pick one article as my favorite, but When To Use Cursors was fun to write and generated a lot of discussion - the true measure of interest on SSC! So far I haven't done much really formal writing, my only commercially published work is the SSIS chapter in the Sybex Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Optimization and Maintenance (Exam 70-444) Study Guide. I've got a couple ideas in mind for book projects but haven't committed to one yet; hopefully I will find time this year to tackle one of them.
I blog here a couple times per week on stuff that I'm working on or think might be of interest to those of you that follow along. It will generally be about SQL Server, but it might well reach into tangential areas such as professional development, interesting uses of technology, or discussions around using IT effectively. I'll also post any time I have new content posted anywhere outside the blog. Eventually I'll probably split some of that into a separate blog because I know how frustrating it can be to find an interesting blog and then the next new post is about something you care nothing about. For now my goal is to build 'my voice', experiment with what works and what doesn't, and on the business side, provide prospective students/clients a chance to see my professional interests and passion. It's always nice to see posts get some reads, but I won't be posting just to drive traffic - it's not a commercial effort.
So why 'It Depends'? I teach a beginner to intermediate level performance tuning class and during the four days I probably say 'It Depends' about 50 times, because there just isn't a set of black and white rules for performance tuning, just some general guidelines. That philosphy tends to be true of a lot of decisions in our business and every blog needs a name, so for now - It Depends!
