Meme Monday: What #sqlfamily Means To Me

I have a lot of titles in my family.  I am a daughter, granddaughter, cousin, sister, wife, aunt and mom.  The roles that go along with the titles are different in each family.  Sure, there are many similarities, but every family has dysfunction (which is why you get some sons and daughters who do a lot of parenting, for example), some are just really good at hiding it.

There are no titles within the SQL Server community, unless you count MVP, MCM, etc., which don’t necessarily tell you anything about the relationships that person might have with other people.  But there are relationships between members of the community, and collectively it is a family.  I didn’t really think of that way until someone mentioned the #sqlfamily hashtag on Twitter.  Up until then I would try to explain the SQL Server community phenomenon to others as a cohort, a group of people who were as interested in SQL Server as I was, and they were social.  But really, #sqlfamily is analogous to my extended family in real life – everyone but my core family (husband and children).

My extended family includes my parents, cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents that I don’t see but a few times a year.  Interestingly, I see some members of my #sqlfamily more often than I see my parents.  Before you start thinking I’m crazy, let me mention that I do spend more time overall with my family, especially my parents (don’t worry Mom, we’re still coming to Iowa for the holidays).

Like any family, #sqlfamily has its own culture and quirks.  Most of us communicate through Twitter, email, forums and blog posts.  I communicate with my traditional family mostly through Facebook, with occasional phone calls.  The #sqlfamily has its own set of holidays, with the PASS Summit being our Hanukkah/Christmas/Kwanza/Boxing Day, celebrated for a week.  SQLRally actually occurs twice…once around Thanksgiving and then also around Easter/Passover.  It’s a smaller holiday but definitely still worth the trip.  For every other traditional holiday during the year, we have a SQLSaturday.  The fun thing about SQLSaturdays is that they move around – the date and location change all the time – and they occur all year.  Speaking of SQLSaturdays…we might be hosting a SQLSaturday at my place (Cleveland) in February.  Who’s coming to visit?!

So what does #sqlfamily mean to me?  It’s my home away from home, my family away from family.  It’s a group of people who are supportive, encouraging, honest, inspirational, hilarious, adventurous, brave, passionate, and just a little bit out of control at times.  It is what has rocked my professional world the past 18 months.  It’s not always perfect.  People argue, get mad, do silly things…but what family doesn’t have a little insanity?  I wouldn’t have it any other way.

And for record, I consider myself a sister within the community.  Sometimes maybe a big sister, most often a little sister, maybe once in a while a little bit of a mom.  I suppose any title might fit…except grandma.

Just a few members of my #sqlfamily