Rich,

Good question, “which part of SQL should I focus on?” My first piece of advice would be “whatever it is you enjoy most”. Start with that for now, and don’t worry about where it will be in five years. The next piece of advice would be to just dive into the engine because that stuff doesn’t disappear and is always being used. For example, indexes, locking, wait events, xEvents, etc.

So, it should be less about a feature and more about a piece of the core product. As you grow in time your interests will change and you’ll branch into different areas naturally. And along the way you will get better at communication, do some networking, and eventually find yourself in a very good place with your career.

HTH,

Tom

For me, this is one of the most challenging things. SQL Server is so vast and constantly growing that its difficult to nail down exactly which things to concentrate on. I consider myself a bit of a generalist (jack of “most” trades…definitely master of none!) within SQL Server but don’t have that deep knowledge. One concern I have is that I go deep on a part of SQL Server that isn’t used widespread and actually doesn’t provide my career with long term value.

John,

Congrats to you on the new addition!