PASS Is For Everyone

Last week I received an email from @wnylibrarian:

Hi Thomas,

I’ve been thinking about registering with PASS, but I just feel slightly uneasy doing so because I’m what you would refer to as an “accidental” DBA. I hold no certifications, but have a Master’s Degree in Library Science. I worry sometimes about what I can contribute. My work with SQL Server was based on necessity. We were getting a vendor product that used SQL Server a few years ago. I had to learn on the job, and I like to think I’ve done pretty well. Yet when I read your blog and others I know there’s so much I don’t know. Do you have any thoughts or suggestions? Are there other paraprofessionals involved with PASS? I’m curious about it, but also wonder if it is the correct fit for a technical librarian.

Thank you in advance for any insight you may provide.

My first thought was “Absolutely! Of course you should come to the Summit, because the Summit is for everyone.” And then I had a much more sobering second thought: “Did I leave the bacon in the oven?”, which was followed by “Wait a minute, here is one of those ‘accidental’ DBA’s wondering if they belong at the PASS Summit. How many more people like this are there?”

Now I have no idea how many ‘accidental’ DBA’s there are, or how to find them. But I wish I could reach out to all of them and spend a few minutes explaining that PASS is for people of all technical abilities and interests. You want to learn about BI? We got that. You want to learn about multi-server management? We got some of that, too. You want to network with a few thousand of your closest friends? No problem. You want database design theory, learn about the storage engine, or complain directly to Microsoft about how your Connect items get closed without any comments…we got all of that.

We all start somewhere in life and walk our own path and along the way we hope to meet others and share our life experiences. When you go to PASS, that is what you get: the ultimate in sharing of experiences for SQL Server. It does not matter where you are along in your path, you will find others just like yourself. And then you get to journey together, which is like being injected with liquid awesome. Or bacon, you get your choice.

I am one person, I cannot possibly know everything there is to know about SQL Server. But as a whole the PASS community does know everything. Don’t believe me? Come to PASS with your questions and I promise to personally help you find the answers. That’s right, you read that correctly:

At the PASS Summit 2009 I promise to assist anyone with any question.

Chances are I won’t know the answers myself, but I will do my very best to point you in the right direction. And yes, it can be any question, but let’s try to keep things professional.

If any ‘accidental’ DBA’s are actually reading this and are on the fence about attending this year just drop me an email and give me ten minutes of your time to get you as excited about attending as I am.

And to @wnylibrarian I would also like to add the following: Stop thinking of yourself as a ‘technical librarian’ and start thinking of yourself as someone who is technical. Your technical skills will apply outside those stacks of books as well as inside.

See you, and everyone else, at the PASS Summit in Seattle!