T-SQL Tuesday #61 - Giving Back

Andy Levy
t-sql-tuesday

T-SQL Tuesday LogoWayne Sheffield (blog|twitter) is hosting this month’s T-SQL Tuesday and his topic is Giving Back to the SQL Community. More specifically, he’s asking how each of us is planning on giving something back to the SQL Community in 2015. He offers up a few suggestions, so I’ll start by addressing those and then move on to additional ideas.

  • Are you going to start speaking at your local user group? Yes, I expect that by the end of 2015 I will have spoken to our local chapter at least once. I spoke to various groups at work in 2014 and plan to continue doing so in 2015 as well.
  • Perhaps step up and help run your local user group? I was named the Vice President of our local chapter a couple months ago, and I will continue in that capacity.
  • Do you want to start becoming an active blogger – or increase your blogging? Yes! At the time of this writing I’ve only published 7 posts here, and I have 6 others in various stages of preparation. I have some ideas brewing, I just need to get things written and then actually press that Publish button. Part of it is fear/insecurity, and I need to get out of my comfort zone a little and Just Do It.
  • Do you plan on volunteering your time with larger organizations (such as PASS), so that SQL Training can occur at a larger level? If I have the opportunity to attend PASS Summit in 2015, I will volunteer at the event. When the call for pre-event volunteers go out, I’ll look at what’s needed and try to step a little out of my comfort zone & do something there as well.
  • Other ways of contributing
    • For the 3rd year, I will be helping to organize and run SQL Saturday Rochester in 2015. If you’re reading this, you probably know about SQL Saturday, and have probably even been to one. Next time, bring a friend!
    • I’ve been promoting PASS and our local chapter for a while at work and will be a more vocal in 2015. There are a lot of people with knowledge and experience they can share who aren’t even aware that PASS and the local and virtual user groups exist. I want to help bring those people into the community.