3 takeaways from SQLSaturday in Oslo

SQLSaturday just took place in Oslo on Sep 1st. Here is what I learned.

-By Flemming Löth, Deputy System Manager, SQL Server.

SQLSaturday is a training event for Microsoft Data Platform professionals and people who want to learn about SQL Server, Business Intelligence and Analytics. I attended because I wanted to meet people who face the same issues as I do and learn something useful for our clients. This is what I learned.

1. Azure is growing and expanding

   On 1 September I attended the SQLSaturday event in Oslo. In fact, I went a day early because I wanted to go to a preliminary session. They offered a variety of events, such as SQL Server Tools for Query Tuning, Practical R for Everyone and A Data Engineer’s Guide to Azure SQL Data Warehouse.
   One major insight I got from the event was how Azure was growing. This is a major trend and they are continually adding new tools, such as PowerShell for automation.

   The event I chose to attend was PowerShell and SQL Server. This was relevant to my everyday work at Basefarm, because many of our customers are working on automating their administration tasks.

2. More tools to use data

   I work a lot with databases. I make sure databases are secure and perform as expected. Yet I don’t know much about the data itself, which is why I attended Storytelling in Power BI. This was fascinating because it was about the presentation of data. The example they used was about alcohol consumption in Europe. They took that data and presented it by country and the kinds of alcohol consumed. This was valuable because it gave insight and tools to visualize data.

   R Services in SQL Server, an add-on to a database engine instance, was also on the agenda. This is another instance of the new tools which make analysis and visualization of data easier and more efficient.

   I thought I was pretty good with Adaptive Query Processing, but Hugo Kornelis, who ran this workshop, was really, really good.

3. “Location, location, location” applies to more than retail

   It was also interesting to hear about the construction of data centers in Norway. As you know, there are regulatory requirements in industries like health and finance on where data can be located. Basefarm has several own data centers in Europe to help clients in these situations.

SQLSaturday is organized by PASS, a global community of Microsoft SQL Server and BI professionals. Volunteers put these events together to make us better professionals and let us mingle and have some fun. I definitely recommend people to attend. Go there. Learn. Meet people. And think about what challenges you face in your work and what you can discover to help solve them.