When I was a kid, I liked to climb trees. And there was a time or two when I climbed up pretty high, and then got too scared to come down. The way I came up looked more dangerous when I was trying to come down than it did going up. I panicked, said I could never come down and my sister went and got my mom, who talked me out of the tree. This blog is proof that I was wrong. With help, I came down. With clarity that often comes with youth, my sister later told me that I was being stupid. If I had just tried harder and not panicked, I could have come down by myself. While I didn’t appreciate her directness at the time, she was right. I could have helped myself, and probably should have, that time. But there are times also when I should have asked for help, but I didn’t feel comfortable asking so I wasted a lot of time trying to figure out things that a phone call would have cleared up in an instant. I like to think that I have gotten better at knowing when to ask and when to figure it out on my own. There is a wide body of knowledge available via search engines to answer a tone of questions. Also I am very fortunate to know people who, when I have asked for help literally have forgone sleep to help me out. These resources have been invaluable when I have been stuck in a virtual tree where I have a problem I don’t know how to solve.

The Lonely Leading Edge of Technology

Recently there have been a number of new releases of software. Whenever this happens, the number of answers to be found is sparse because people haven’t had a chance to accumulate a large body of knowledge. One reason the internet is such a great place to find answers is other people ask the same questions I have and have posted the questions and answers, either on forums or blog posts. I know I have written a few blog posts after finding the answers to questions I had. I am happy to share what I know, as a way of paying back for all of the help I have received. When software is released, chances are the answers are very difficult or nearly impossible to find. There are few people to ask and the internet comes back empty. This is a problem we all can fix, starting with me.

Call for Answers

Recently I have been working with some new features of SQL Server 2016 and have had questions which blogs, TechNet and Stack Overflow provided no answers on the internet. Fortunately, I have found people to help me resolve the answers. If you go searching for the same errors I had, you will find answers now, as I have posted them. If you have had a problem unique to the latest release of SQL Server, I hope you will take the time to post the question and the answer if you have it. I’m going to try to be better at answering forum questions, especially now I have learned a few interesting factoids. I am looking forward to the fact that next time when I go looking for an answer, thanks to all of us who have done the same, we can all help each other out. The next person who finds themselves in the same jam will thank you for talking them out of the tree.

Yours Always

Ginger Grant

Data aficionado et SQL Raconteur