We are all constantly learning. It's a life long endurance race to collect knowledge, learn facts, perfect processes and build on the foundation of our early childhood education. The mountain of knowledge can become overwhelming if you try to look at it from too high up. I think about all the things I know regarding SQL Server, and then sometimes all it takes is a single conversation with a colleague to realize how much I still have yet to learn!
So what have I learned recently? Certainly plenty of technical one-offs; some great NDA stuff from the MVP Summit; and always something more about myself...but for this blog post I want to write about networking.
This year at PASS Summit I made a point to spend more time with people I don't typically have much opportunity to hang out with. I decided to let the setting or the occasion determine the people around me and it was really a lot of fun! I had the chance to make several new friends, and even bonded with a great vendor/sponsor who is going so far as to help out with the local SQL Saturday venue. It's incredible what can happen when you just say 'hi' and start a conversation. We all have our inner circle, and it's tough when we mostly see each other only once a year to give up some of that time to meet more people and make more connections. Just a few of the folks who I had time to get to know better, or meet for the first time (in no particular order and my apologizes for those left off, long list!): Jamey Johnston - love the new twitter handle!, Jim Murphy - would you like another umbrella in that drink?, Catherine Wihelmesen - we need to hang out more!, Elysia Barber - next time I'm in Texas, watch out!, and certainly Kirsten Benzel - muahahahaha. In addition to being just crazy fun people, we managed to have some great conversations along the way and I'm looking forward to seeing you all again at the next event we happen upon.
Lastly but in no way least, while my time in the Exhibitor hall was limited, I really enjoyed meeting the great teams of people at Kroll Ontrack and Solarwinds. People, you just never know who you are going to meet and what kind of impact or impression they may leave upon you. It's worth having that conversation, even giving up your email address because great, and sometimes amazing things and partnerships can come out of it.
So what did I learn? I learned that I have an amazing group of friends in #sqlfamily and PASS. I also learned that by continuing to add to my network, more things are made possible.
To those of you whom I did not get to spend our typical dinner/lunch/afters with, I did miss you but I know there will be future opportunities to meet up....and I'll bring a new friend along, too!
Thanks to Chris Yates (b|t) for hosting this edition!
And totally unrelated, some pics from Summit :)
