I spend a significant amount of time working alone at my desk. I write articles, edit them, and share my opinions. However, I am constantly concerned about being wrong. How can I overcome this feeling? If this were a live session, I would eagerly listen to the answers to this question. Since it isn't, I […]
2025-05-10
92 reads
As this idea is being born, I am sitting in a dueling piano bar and I have never felt so old ever. And I don’t mean physically. I have only recognized about 1/4 of the songs being played, and everyone just seems younger than me. Even the people I think are older seem younger as […]
2025-04-05
70 reads
There was a post on X I read today about valuing your time. The gist was that since this person had waited 9 minutes to save $4, they valued their time at $27 an hour. I get the point being made. Time is valuable and you need to set the value of your time. It […]
2025-03-01
79 reads
In my family’s history of the past 10+ years, we have become well versed in nagging, ongoing, non-debilitating pain. In some ways, the lessons we have learned about physical pain correlate all too well to the types of pain that we technical people are involved with daily. But there is a huge difference, even if […]
2025-01-25
76 reads
It is December 27, and the most significant day of the year for reviewing your life is quickly approaching. New Year’s Day is probably the most positive day of the year when people, in all manner of situations, think back to the previous rotation around the earth and decide what they will do better this […]
2024-12-28
48 reads
We have all heard the saying I based this week's editorial on. It has been credited to Benjamin Franklin and goes like this, “You can do anything you set your mind to”. This is such a powerful way of thinking when you are starting a task. “I can do it, no matter what anyone says.” […]
2024-11-30
101 reads
As the Simple Talk Editor, I have had the privilege of attending numerous conferences these past few years, and all of them have been somewhere between great and amazing. Still, there is something a bit more special about the PASS Summit. Even before I started this position, I have been to the PASS Summit events […]
2024-11-02
37 reads
As I start this editorial, I am sitting at a PostgreSQL conference in New York City during the nighttime reception. The sound of 100 voices is not quite deafening, but it is certainly loud and understanding anyone in this group would be hard. It is also hard because I only know about four people at […]
2024-10-05
67 reads
I used to think I knew everything. I felt like I had the world all figured out. But then, when I went to kindergarten, I realized that I didn't know much at all. As I grew older and finished college, I regained confidence in my knowledge and again felt like I knew everything about the […]
2024-09-07
111 reads
This editorial was originally published on Jul 13, 2019. It is being re-run as Steve is out of town. I recently had the pleasure of catching Paul McCartney in concert, and he was amazing. I have been a fan forever and have heard him tell the same stories he over and over with great delight. […]
2024-08-21 (first published: 2019-07-13)
599 reads
By Steve Jones
If you aren’t watching the Ignite keynotes today, then you might have missed the...
Short version You want to get this running as fast as possible. Do these...
By Steve Jones
Last week I asked you to write about SQL Server 2025 and what things...
Hi everyone, I’m working with some old SSIS 2005 packages, and I’m trying to...
Unlock the full potential of spreadsheets with our “Advanced Excel Mastery” course tailored for...
Prepare your team for the upcoming compliance shift with our “2025 Form 1099 Reporting...
I am dealing with issues on my SQL Server 2022 instance related to collation. I have an instance collation of Latin1_General_CS_AS_KS_WS, but a database collation of Latin1_General_CI_AS. I want to force a few queries to run with a specified collation by using code like this:
DECLARE @c VARCHAR(20) = 'Latin1_General_CI_AS'
SELECT p.PersonType,
p.Title,
p.LastName,
c.CustomerID,
c.AccountNumber
FROM Person.Person AS p
INNER JOIN Sales.Customer AS c
ON c.PersonID = p.BusinessEntityID
COLLATE @c
Will this solve my problem? See possible answers