This post has been much harder to write than the other three this week. Not because I’m any less excited about what I have to say, I’m just struggling to convey my point clearly and concisely.
Attending SQLskills training has been described as drinking from a firehose. If you have read posts from other people that attended an Immersion event, you know that the phrase, “My brain is full” is used a lot.
But sometimes, I think that’s exactly what you need.
During your normal day-to-day job right now, how much time do you spend focused on learning? Really digging in and learning something new? On average day, it might not be a lot. But once in a while some cool new issue will come up and there’s a flurry of whitepaper reading, tweeting, testing and then…problem solved. Back to the usual.
I know that we all read blog posts and whitepapers, watch webinars, even attend SQLSaturdays and the PASS Summit. But none of those, even the Summit, is the same as a week of intense training. And it’s not for everyone. But if you’re a SQL Server junkie and feel like you can never know enough, then a solid week of training is probably right up your alley.
I am well aware that there are many training options out there. Believe me, I would love to attend them all. I wish there was SQL Server college…just for a year. We could rotate between different instructors who cover different topics. I promise, Mom, I wouldn’t miss as many classes as I did during those four years of undergrad. No go? Well, until that happens, I’ll keep going to SQLUniversity to learn from the community.
…focus, Erin, focus…
There are a lot of training options out there (SQLCruise, SolidQ, Data Education, Andy Leonard, SQL Excursions, Pragmatic Works, etc.) and I hoepfully will work my way through all of them. Last year I went on SQLCruise. I cannot recommend it enough. I will be going back. The cruise had great training and content also related to professional development. It was an amazing opportunity to really get to know some people within the Community. If you can attend, I highly recommend it.
So why I didn’t go this year? It was a hard decision. I targeted many training events that I wanted to attend and for a variety of reasons, SQLskills training and the Summit ended up being what I selected. One of the best things about the Summit is that you get a huge variety of topics from a lot of great speakers. One of the things I really like about the Immersion event is that I get training from people that are excellent presenters. I know that Paul, Kimberly and Jonathan will cover a siginificant amount of material. But I know that I can learn it from them.
