2011

In common with a lot of technical bloggers I have been publicly setting and reviewing goals over the past few years. I find that having long term goals outside of the workplace keeps me focused and increases the breadth of my skill set.

That is all very well and has worked in the past for me. In 2011 however I fell short of achieving all of  the tasks I set myself. Anyway, here is my autopsy of my goal list from last year.

A new role

I achieved this goal and started in April 2011. The role has been challenging in terms of the volume of work and has forced me to up my game re; communication skills. Technically however, the technologies are old and simple issues are repeated over geographically separate client sites. In terms of skills I have still been able to utilize a mixture of administration and development.

Blogging

My output to this site has been less than half that of previous years and has occurred in bursts rather than the usual trickle. I found myself constantly returning to old posts and scripts last year so my efforts have paid dividends. I need to index the site better however so that will be on this years list! Rather bizarrely a lot of content has been focused on SQL 2000 which I thought I had long seen the back of! The client is always right (or skint) however...

Community

I did manage to publish more scripts although only on my site (no further SSC contributions this year). As for publishing articles (to other sites) I totally failed on this goal.
In terms of SQL Server events I managed to attend 3 in 2011. In April there was SQLBits 8 in Brighton and September saw me attend (and help out at) SQLBits 9 in Liverpool.
The 3rd event I attended was Gavin Payne's October SQL Server in the Evening event where I made my speaking debut. In line with recent experiences I presented my approach to auditing SQL Server systems. Public speaking wasn't in the plan but I am grateful for the opportunity to conquer a demon.

Learning

I am a little disappointed not to have had the chance for a major project that requires SSAS, SSIS or .NET development so these will remain on my list. In terms of reading, my book backlog is not being helped by the volume of quality SQL content the community is producing. Time has not been on my side of late and my reading list is being joined by a viewing list of awesome free training videos!