The Improvement Limit
How much of a difference can you make at a job? Steve has a few thoughts today.
2025-10-13
112 reads
Work environment
2025-08-27
197 reads
Three Times a Day
The latest work trend report from Microsoft shows people have peak work three times a day, and often out of normal working hours.
2025-06-28
116 reads
2025-06-04
100 reads
Greener Grass
Before I start the whining (whinging if you prefer), let me just say I have the greatest job in the world. I'm exceedingly lucky to have it. I'm grateful as can be. And someone else (looking at you Tim) can get it when they pry it from my dead cold fingers. With that out of […]
2025-06-16 (first published: 2025-05-31)
160 reads
2025-04-23
188 reads
2024-12-20
135 reads
Time to Change Your Team
Many of you can't choose your team, or even change teams if you want, but from an organizational perspective, it might be the right thing to do. Whether you like it or not.
2024-11-11
146 reads
Knowing Your Total Reward
When you agree to work for a company, you should understand all your compensation.
2024-10-25
163 reads
A Quick Turnaround
Steve has a quick turnaround between trips that was a bit unexpected. Is there compensation for this?
2024-07-29
156 reads
Blogs
Don’t Miss Out – SQL Server Query Tuning Fundamentals Starts Next Monday!
Next Monday, February 9, 2026, my one-day live online training SQL Server Query Tuning...
Monday Monitor Tips: SQL Auditing Preview
By Steve Jones
One of the features we advocates have been advocating for is a better way...
SQL Server 2025 CU1 Fixes the Docker Desktop AVX Issue on macOS
Microsoft fixed the AVX instruction issue in SQL Server 2025 CU1. The container now...
Forums
25 Years of SQL Server Central
Comments posted to this topic are about the item 25 Years of SQL Server...
The Decoded Value
Comments posted to this topic are about the item The Decoded Value
Deploying SQL Server Developer Edition in Kubernetes: A Cost-Effective Alternative to RDS
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Deploying SQL Server Developer Edition...
Question of the Day
The Decoded Value
In SQL Server 2025, what is returned from this code:
DECLARE @message VARCHAR(50) = 'Hello SQL Server 2025!'; DECLARE @encoded VARCHAR(MAX); SET @encoded = BASE64_ENCODE(CAST(@message AS VARBINARY(1000))); SELECT BASE64_DECODE(@encoded)See possible answers