Monica Rathbun

Monica lives in Virginia and is a Microsoft MVP for Data Platform. She has over 15 years of experience working with a wide variety of database platforms with a focus on SQL Server. She is a frequent speaker at IT industry conferences on topics including performance tuning and configuration management. She is the Leader of the Hampton Roads SQL Server User Group and a Mid-Atlantic PASS Regional Mentor. She is passionate about SQL Server and the SQL Server community, doing anything she can to give back. Monica can always be found on Twitter (@sqlespresso) handing out helpful tips.

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Blog Post

The FAST number_rows Query Hint

Query hints are always about tradeoffs—typically you are giving up something, such as flexibility, to achieve more consistency, or very specific performance characteristic. One example of this migt when...

2019-10-29 (first published: )

1,028 reads

Blog Post

New Event Calendar

Speaking Engagements Check out my new Event Calendar, to see my upcoming and past speaking engagements. You can catch me at various events throughout the year. If you are...

2019-10-15

14 reads

Blog Post

Quick SSMS Tip

It is widely known that I am a horrible speller and hate to type code. I tend to use a lot of code snippets and reuse code to avoid...

2019-09-20 (first published: )

1,262 reads

Blog Post

Are My SQL Server Indexes Being Used?

Indexes can be incredibly beneficial to your database performance; however, they do come with a cost—indexes both consume storage space and affect insert performance. Therefore, it is important as...

2019-09-11 (first published: )

2,797 reads

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Blogs

KDA: Echoes of Deception - Case 7

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A fugitive cyber-criminal, a wingsuit, and 24 million flight records. Somewhere between Doha and...

Do This Before You Contact Your SQL Server Consultant

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Say you need outside help. You’ve exhausted all the things that you could do...

Microsoft MVP 2026: Ten Years on the Data Platform

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I’m honored to announce that I’ve been renewed as a Microsoft MVP for the...

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Forums

Implicit Conversions Cripple SQL Server

By sabyda

Comments posted to this topic are about the item Implicit Conversions Cripple SQL Server

BIT_COUNT() III

By Steve Jones - SSC Editor

Comments posted to this topic are about the item BIT_COUNT() III

The Mythical Bus Accident

By Steve Jones - SSC Editor

Comments posted to this topic are about the item The Mythical Bus Accident

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Question of the Day

BIT_COUNT() III

In SQL Server 2025, I run this code: 

select bit_count(-1)
What is returned?

See possible answers