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The Voice of the DBA
 

I Want to Use My Brain

I had a very interesting conversation recently with a longtime DBA who was worried about using AI in their database work. The Redgate State of the Database Landscape 2026 report showed that the vast majority of you (99%) are getting value from AI, so clearly it's being used. However, this individual was concerned that using AI for tasks would not engage their brain, and they might lose some of their SQL skills.

And they want to use their brain at work.

I would hope most of you want to use your brains and accomplish things. That's a lot of the reason I continue to work and enjoy what I do. It engages me, and I find the challenge of solving problems to be interesting work. Whether that's simple T-SQL queries, architecture for an application, or the culture challenges of changing teams. It's exciting to move anything forward.

I would hope most people want to use their brains at work and not just get through the day without straining their mental faculties. It's fun to solve a problem, puzzle, or challenge. The thing I've learned is that AI doesn't preclude that.

I use AI to tackle tedious things. Small things. Minute-saving things. The number of times I use an AI to do something that saves me minutes is surprising. Those minutes add up across the week and let me avoid some of the tedious work and focus on the things I enjoy: deciding if something works and if it is the appropriate solution.

I might ask an LLM to generate some code, summarize some text, or give me a first draft. I might use a lot of a little of what I get. I might throw everything away and do it myself, but often that little kickstart gets me moving quicker than I might otherwise get started, and it's lower stress.

I enjoy PowerShell, but sometimes the tedium of getting the syntax right and formatting things is annoying. Scaffolding around an algorithm can be a pain. An AI can do a lot of that stuff and I can evaluate the result. I never type > instead of -gt anymore because the LLM does it. I decide if I like the approach or not, or if I want to write a little code inside the scaffolding.

I still use my brain. AI hasn't changed that. It's just that I avoid some of the tedious things. And if I need a break, I can go for a walk or cook or play guitar rather than slogging through a chore that isn't interesting.

 

Steve Jones - SSC Editor

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 Featured Contents
SQLServerCentral Article

SQL Server Enum Implementation: A Single-Row View Strategy for Avoiding Magic Values

Ivica Borscak from SQLServerCentral

Learn about an alternative strategy for avoiding hardcoded literal values in SQL Server queries by using single-row views designed to mimic enum behavior.

External Article

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Additional Articles from MSSQLTips.com

I used the guide in a previous tip on Install SQL Server 2008 on a Windows Server 2008 Cluster Part 1 to install a SQL Server 2008 on a Windows Server 2008 failover cluster (WSFC). Now, I would like to upgrade and migrate my SQL Server 2008 failover clusters to SQL Server 2022 running on Windows Server 2022. What is the process for installation and configuration?

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Hello Hello, We. Are. Back! The schedule for EightKB 2026 Edition has been announced! We’re kicking off at 1pm UTC on August 20th…here’s the schedule: – N.B. – If...

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Extreme DAX Book cover

Extreme DAX: Take your Power BI and Fabric analytics skills to the next level

Steve Jones - SSC Editor from SQLServerCentral

Master advanced DAX in Power BI and Microsoft Fabric to build scalable semantic models, solve complex business problems, and deliver high-impact analytics using real-world scenarios and proven techniques.

 

 Question of the Day

Today's question (by Steve Jones - SSC Editor):

 

BIT_COUNT I

In SQL Server 2025, I have a table (dbo.UserPermission) that contains this data: 
UserID  UserPermissions
15
23
37
What is returned when I run this code: 
select bit_count(UserPermissions) as PermissionCount
from dbo.UserPermission
where UserID = 3;

Think you know the answer? Click here, and find out if you are right.

 

 

 Yesterday's Question of the Day (by Steve Jones - SSC Editor)

Multiple Values Inserted

I have this code on SQL Server 2022. What happens when it runs all at once?

DROP TABLE IF EXISTS dbo.Commission
GO
CREATE TABLE dbo.Commission
(id INT NOT NULL IDENTITY(1,1) CONSTRAINT CommissionPK PRIMARY KEY
, salesperson VARCHAR(20)
, commission VARCHAR(20)
)
GO
INSERT dbo.Commission
( salesperson, commission)
VALUES
( 'Brian', 12 ),
( 'Brian', 'None' )
GO

 

Answer: This creates the table, but doesn't insert any data

Explanation: The table valued constructor (values clause) creates a table to insert data. However, this means that data type precedence rules are important and each rows are attempted to be converted to the higher level. In this case, the 12 has the higher precedence as an int. The 'None' cannot be converted to an int, so the table is created, but an error is returned and no data is inserted. Ref: table valued constructor - https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/t-sql/queries/table-value-constructor-transact-sql?view=sql-server-ver17

Discuss this question and answer on the forums

 

 

 

Database Pros Who Need Your Help

Here's a few of the new posts today on the forums. To see more, visit the forums.

SQL Server 2019 - Development
identity increments by 10,000 when it was supposed to be 1 - hi a peer of mine who ive never known to be wrong says a new table he created with pk identity(1,1) jumped by 10000 on one insert.   has anyone ever seen this anomaly?
Editorials
What is the Cloud? - Comments posted to this topic are about the item What is the Cloud?
Midjourney, Healthcare? - Comments posted to this topic are about the item Midjourney, Healthcare?
Changes, Happiness, and a Few Tears - Comments posted to this topic are about the item Changes, Happiness, and a Few Tears
Follow Your Hunch - Comments posted to this topic are about the item Follow Your Hunch
Article Discussions by Author
SQL Art, Part 4: Happy 4th of July — A British DBA's Guide to Celebrating a War We Don't Talk About - Comments posted to this topic are about the item SQL Art, Part 4: Happy 4th of July — A British DBA's Guide to Celebrating a War We Don't Talk About, which is is not currently available on the site.
Extreme DAX: Take your Power BI and Fabric analytics skills to the next level - Comments posted to this topic are about the item Extreme DAX: Take your Power BI and Fabric analytics skills to the next level
Changing the Schema - Comments posted to this topic are about the item Changing the Schema
Index Fragmentation Explained: Page Splits, Logical Reads, and What to Do - Comments posted to this topic are about the item Index Fragmentation Explained: Page Splits, Logical Reads, and What to Do
BCP on Linux - Comments posted to this topic are about the item BCP on Linux
You Probably Don't Need a Vector Database - Comments posted to this topic are about the item You Probably Don't Need a Vector Database
What Happens When You Ask a Local AI to Query Your Database? - Comments posted to this topic are about the item What Happens When You Ask a Local AI to Query Your Database?
Detecting Characters - Comments posted to this topic are about the item Detecting Characters
Displaying Money - Comments posted to this topic are about the item Displaying Money
SQL Server 2022 - Development
Increment a number in a SQL Query based on a value - I have an issue where I have a Bill of Material list of items where some of the item numbers are blank. I need to give them sequential numbers from a beginning number like 9000000. then the next blank would be 9000001 and so on. I thought I could create a table and store the […]
 

 

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