More Query Tuning?

  • Comments posted to this topic are about the item More Query Tuning?

  • Hi Steve,
    Attended SQL Bits two years ago and certainly felt that the vast majority of sessions appeared to be targeted at all the new and exciting features that MS had just released or were aimed at more Enterprise users. As a 'jack of all trades' SQL DB person that does a bit of developing, tuning and admin for a small business there wasn't a huge amount really aimed at me.

    Thanks

  • I think the problem with trying to do a talk on query tuning is that it's such a nebulous subject, more of a mindset that cannot just be packed into a time limited session. It's akin to giving a talk on 'how to be a great writer'.

    ...

    -- FORTRAN manual for Xerox Computers --

  • I think that's definitely an issue. I think tackling a specific case or two (or four) is the best way, giving some examples and helping people get a concept and a tool to try.

  • benpe - Friday, June 15, 2018 3:34 AM

    Hi Steve,
    Attended SQL Bits two years ago and certainly felt that the vast majority of sessions appeared to be targeted at all the new and exciting features that MS had just released or were aimed at more Enterprise users. As a 'jack of all trades' SQL DB person that does a bit of developing, tuning and admin for a small business there wasn't a huge amount really aimed at me.

    Thanks

    That's feedback to give to organizers at all events. I tend to agree with you. Speakers like the latest and greatest, and many times organizers do, but there are lots of people just trying to get work done that would like to see something relevant to them.

  • Commenting only on SQL Saturdays - I think it best to keep them general with a lot of topics. It is free and often attracts entry level, journeymen, etc. hence casting a wider net is good here. For paid conferences I think it should get more specific and advanced.

  • It's tricky, because with query tuning the answer is always 'it depends'.  It depends on what your trying to do.  To cover things that may or may not apply to many in the audience, it gets generalized really fast.Be careful with Cartesian products, be careful with correlated sub queries, be careful with joining on calculations.  so vague.  And there are so very many blog posts by excellent writers that cover these things.

    I do agree with Jeff Mlakar, paid conferences are much harder to expect organizers to consider apprentice or journeyman attendees that don't have access to Enterprise Edition, and are just looking to code better.

  • I am still a younger DBA, 4 years, and frequented SQL Saturday events for the last 3.5 years averaging 10 a year as an attendee. I noticed as an attendee that there were not many sessions geared towards this. My goal was to submit to speak this year and have done so 4 times already and Houston next week. In Nashville, I saw an incredible session on speaking by Andy Yun. It was in that session I realized a session aimed at more of the beginning developers / query writers was needed so I came up with one. It was easy because I was seeing the same misunderstandings at my current job so ran with it. It is really aimed at issues a DBA knows, but not so much a younger developer such as implicit conversions, key lookups, data types and indexing temp tables. Every session I have done has been booked and I have received incredible feedback.

    My topic isn't query tuning, but mistakes/misunderstandings that hurt query performance. A session on query tuning with a few examples is a great topic for new speakers to tackle since there is such a big demand! Yes, It always depends, but a few examples would be a great session at SQL Saturday.

  • SqlServerDBA318 - Saturday, June 16, 2018 10:26 AM

    I am still a younger DBA, 4 years, and frequented SQL Saturday events for the last 3.5 years averaging 10 a year as an attendee. I noticed as an attendee that there were not many sessions geared towards this. My goal was to submit to speak this year and have done so 4 times already and Houston next week. In Nashville, I saw an incredible session on speaking by Andy Yun. It was in that session I realized a session aimed at more of the beginning developers / query writers was needed so I came up with one. It was easy because I was seeing the same misunderstandings at my current job so ran with it. It is really aimed at issues a DBA knows, but not so much a younger developer such as implicit conversions, key lookups, data types and indexing temp tables. Every session I have done has been booked and I have received incredible feedback.

    My topic isn't query tuning, but mistakes/misunderstandings that hurt query performance. A session on query tuning with a few examples is a great topic for new speakers to tackle since there is such a big demand! Yes, It always depends, but a few examples would be a great session at SQL Saturday.

    That's great and I bet it's a good session. Thanks for coming up with one and helping to teach others.

Viewing 9 posts - 1 through 8 (of 8 total)

You must be logged in to reply to this topic. Login to reply