Hi! 2024 is (almost) over and we’re heading into the preview of 2025. Let’s see how we get through this trial period of the new year. Let’s start with looking back on the year that’s behind us all.
What a year it’s been! 2024 had a lot going for it, also enough things to, as the British say, blow raspberries at. As it’s the end of the year and there are enough reviews of all the horrible things that are happening, I’ve chosen to focus on the more positive things. And as it’s my review of the year, guess who’s positivism you’re going to have to deal with.
MVP award
Let me start with the one that fully coloured my year; the MVP award. It was, and is, the biggest honour in my life to have been nominated twice. And when I was awarded this January, mind was blown.
I was at a customer at the time I received the email and at that point body and mind went into overdrive. Not only a massive reward for hard work but also a rare piece of recognition. Something that doesn’t really fit in my normal life. To be honest, I’m still amazed to be part of the excellent group of people that are MVP’s and that a number of amazing people at Microsoft are willing to jump on a call to listen to my feedback. Feedback that is always well received with a positive attitude.
Copilot in Azure SQL
One of the things that stood out for me was the invitation to join the preview program for Azure SQL Copilot. This meant early access to the functionality, trying it out and giving feedback to the team. It was an absolute joy to have conversations with Joe Sack and team on expectations and reality of tooling.
Microsoft Fabric Copy Job
Another real fun project I was involved with was the Copy Job; the ‘wizard’ that will help you to quickly ingest data from a source into Fabric, either with a full load or incrementally. Again, good conversations with Ye Xu and team on how it works, expectations and real life experiences.
In both accounts, it was real fun to meet these people at the Fabric Community Conference in Stockholm.
Feedback matters!
I think that is one thing a lot of other companies can learn from; feedback isn’t criticism, it can really work to improve your products, tools and/or processes. You can have a lot of opinions on Microsoft, their way of working and tooling, but this is something that, in my experience, they have covered.
Unsung heroes of the MVP data platform program
I can’t write about MVP without mentioning Rie and Kelly, the two amazing people who help us data platform MVP’s wherever they can. We are extremely lucky to have you help, guide and teach us. A driving force in the data platform community who are making us look good. We know what you do and appreciate it. Thank you!
Sharing knowledge
My two primary pillars in the community are continuous learning and continuous sharing. Because sharing quickly stops when you stop learning. As an MVP, I do get early access to some things. This means that when new developments are announced, I’ve already fooled around with it, probably broke it, had chats with the program team about it etc. But me learning is fun for me, but in essence benefits no one, unless you’re a client of my employer who pays for my work. As the MVP award is a community award, it all comes down to sharing what I’ve learned with you all. In my case that means writing blogs and presentations. And speaking at events to actively share what I’ve learned but also to get your opinions, your learnings and your experiences.
Testing 1 2 3…. uh oh!
Most testing is me in the evening, in weekends and other spare moments impersonating either Dexter or DeeDee; different variations of “ooh, what does this button do?” and running around with my hair on fire.
But no matter how many things I try, how many different angles I try, it’s still a N=1 test. That’s why reactions to blog posts and presentations are so important. It’s the same with providing feedback to Microsoft; they think they have a clear perspective on how we data people work with their tooling. That is, until they release it in previews and people start to use it like they do in their regular day job. All of a sudden the carefully constructed code breaks because we are not Microsoft; we do things differently. Again, feedback is important.
Videos
A growing number of MVP’s is also sharing knowledge and experience through videos. I have tried recording videos for Youtube but to make them effective, there’s a lot of post production work involved. Right now, I just can’t find the energy to do that. So when Valerie Junk and I came up with the plan to create a learning series on the DP-700 certification, I was relieved that she was willing to create all the videos and I could stick to what I like most; writing.
Traveling
Looking at the locations I’ve been to this year, there’s a skew towards Scandinavia. Yes, I like the Nordics, the people who live there and the events they organize. And it’s always a happy moment when I meet the people there. I like the vibe, the calm and the feeling there.
Traveling became a major endeavor this year with the biggest flight being the one to Seattle and ‘dock at the mothership’, also know as MVP Summit. It was the only overseas trip this year, maybe I’ll do more next year, but it depends. I will attend MVP summit in 2025, that’s for sure.
Anything extra in 2025?
Well, who knows. The first conferences have been confirmed, I will not go to Fabric Con in Vegas but will do my utmost to be at the one in Vienna next year. As SQL Bits was announced late in 2024 and will take place in June, I hope to be there as well; both as a speaker and a helper but there are no certainties. The same goes for all the other conferences I spoke at this year. I will submit my sessions to them, maybe add a new one in the mix if it works out but the best thing about the community is that the MVP status isn’t a shortcut into a speaking slot. As far as I’m aware, session selection is based on the abstract, not the status of a speaker. And that’s a very good thing.
SQL Server and Microsoft Fabric
2024 leaned heavily on Microsoft Fabric and, from a personal perspective, not enough on SQL Server. In the meetup I’m organizing with Ynte Jan, the sessions on Fabric were easily filled. On the other hand, I even had to cancel the session on SQL Server which still hurts. It’s really weird that the focus changes this fast. My focus will remain on SQL Server as well as I still love it (even with its quirks) and it is the tooling that got me into the data community.
Copilot
Copilot will feature more as well as it is a given. It will change a lot of jobs and if you’re looking for job security, make sure you change with it. Make sure you know how to work with it, how it can make your life easier and how it fits in your role. If you miss this opportunity, it could very well be your job on the line. Maybe not in a year or two, but seeing the growing adoption of tools like Github Copilot and the increasing use of Azure Copilot, the rest will follow.
Numbers please
Ok, as you’re probably a data person reading this blog, you like numbers, graphs and statistics. So here are the numbers on my blog.
If you’re an aspiring blog writer, remember that it took me from 2018 to get to these numbers. The first years, I was elated that more than 1 person read my stuff. And every year, attendance grew. In other words, it pays to keep going. You need stamina to build an audience and key parts are being yourself and loving what you do. I’ve started a lot of blog posts that have been binned within minutes because the idea just didn’t work in my mind. I’ve also started blogs that are still awaiting publication because I need to find out some details on how a thing works or why the results are what they are. At the time of writing, this is blogpost number 185.
Numbers are… just a number
In the end, just like my sessions, it’s not about the number of people who attend, it’s about that one person who’s stuck and leaves less stuck or even with a solution. Or the people leaving with some fresh inspiration. Or the people who have learned that a part of technology just isn’t for them. I have used many blogs that way. I was stuck, found a blog and 6 out of ten times got a solution, other times it was a step closer to the solution or learned something.
The other thing is, when creating blogs, sessions of videos you will inevitably learn things yourself, dig deeper into a subject than you would have done otherwise and that is a win in itself.
SQL Family!
Finally, a huge virtual hug to the entire #SQLFamily; accepting me as is has been the best thing ever, just like you accept anyone else as they are.
Reitse's blog 