No Degree Needed
Steve doesn't think you need a degree to work in technology and more companies agree with this all the time.
The PASS Data Community Summit First Timer Guide
The 2023 First-Timer guide to the PASS Data Community Summit is available from Edwin Sarmiento
Time-Series Data Analysis with Apache Druid
Learn the basics of Apache Druid and how it can be used to ingest data into a data lake.
Is your organization using MongoDB? Help the Redgate Flyway team understand your pain points
Is MongoDB in use within your organization? The Flyway development team is adding MongoDB support into Flyway and would like to better understand the current pain points. If you are able help, or are interested in finding out more, please participate in our 5-minute survey.
Using Notebooks in Azure Data Studio
Learn how to use the notebook feature of Azure Data Studio to keep a set of queries together with some documentation.
Does Management Care About the Database?
In the past, Steve hasn't often felt management considered databases to be important, but that is changing.
The Basics of Dynamic Data Masking - Step 1 of the Stairway to Dynamic Data Masking
Learn the basics of how Dynamic Data Masking can be used to obfuscate data in SQL Server 2016+.
Timescale Launches Dynamic PostgreSQL, the Cost-Effective Alternative to Serverless and Peak-Allocation Pay Models
New solution allows developers and teams to “buy the base and rent the peak” when provisioning for variable workloads without wastage or performance tradeoffs
Something’s Up with Parallelism in Azure SQL DB Serverless
Or perhaps another way to phrase that is, Microsoft is up to something with parallelism. I don’t know how long it’s been this way – could even be since the launch of Azure SQL DB Serverless – but I just now noticed it while helping a client with a slow query.
Blogs
Learning from Mistakes: T-SQL Tuesday #194
By Steve Jones
We’re a week late, once again my fault. I was still coming out of...
Stupid Things I Did With AI: ASCII Art
By Steve Jones
I ran across this article recently (https://www.gatesnotes.com/meet-bill/source-code/reader/microsoft-original-source-code) and it has a great opening piece...
Simple Talks Podcasting in 2026
By Steve Jones
I’m in the UK today, having arrived this morning in London. Hopefully, by this...
Forums
Learning From Breakage
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Learning From Breakage
Python in Action to Auto-Generate an Optimized PostgreSQL Index Strategy
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Python in Action to Auto-Generate...
Adding and Dropping Columns I
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Adding and Dropping Columns I
Question of the Day
Adding and Dropping Columns I
I have this table in my SQL Server 2022 database:
CREATE TABLE [dbo].[CityList] ( [CityNameID] [int] NOT NULL IDENTITY(1, 1), [CityName] [varchar] (30) COLLATE SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS NULL ) ON [PRIMARY] GOI decide to add two new columns for the StateProvince and Country. What code should I use? See possible answers