Engineer Lessons
Steve thinks a few lessons on being a software engineer at Google are good items for anyone to think about.
2026-02-18
94 reads
Career Growth
The DBA is Dead; Long Live the DBA
There have many many times when a company or individual has thought that DBAs aren't needed. Steve doesn't think that has ever been true, nor will it be anytime soon.
2026-02-09
182 reads
Common Misconceptions About Microsoft Certification Exams
An experienced exam writer explains common misconceptions about Microsoft certification exams, question design, preparation, and real-world expectations.
2026-02-09
Where Your Value Separates You from Others
Many of us aspire to be senior level professionals at some point in our careers, but what separates us from others? Steve has a few thoughts today.
2026-01-09
105 reads
2026-01-02
78 reads
2025-12-31
89 reads
Your Value from a Conference
Today Steve asks what value you get from attending conferences or other events.
2025-12-19
44 reads
The Selfish Case for Learning AI
Steve has a good reason to spend time working with and learning about AI technology.
2025-10-31
141 reads
2025-10-24
103 reads
The Journey to PostgreSQL (or anything)
Learning is fundamental in technology. Steve has a few thoughts on adopting a new technology at work.
2025-10-17
122 reads
Blogs
RANK() vs DENSE_RANK(): #SQLNewBlogger
By Steve Jones
I haven’t done one of these in awhile, but I saw an article recently...
Using CAT for Testing of Data Agents
In last months one of the scenarios where you can use AI has been...
Forums
Missing the Jaro Winkler Distance
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Missing the Jaro Winkler Distance
25 Years Later: What SQLServerCentral Meant to Me
Comments posted to this topic are about the item 25 Years Later: What SQLServerCentral...
Doing Good at SQL Server Central
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Doing Good at SQL Server...
Question of the Day
Missing the Jaro Winkler Distance
I upgraded a SQL Server 2019 instance to SQL Server 2025. I wanted to test the fuzzy string search functions. I run this code:
SELECT JARO_WINKLER_DISTANCE('tim', 'tom')
I get this error message:Msg 195, Level 15, State 10, Line 1 'JARO_WINKLER_DISTANCE' is not a recognized built-in function name.What is wrong? See possible answers