Ten years ago today, I filmed a Pluralsight Play by Play on open source PowerShell. I was standing between Jason Helmick and Jeffrey Snover, trying very hard not to look like the guy who had learned PowerShell six weeks earlier. I later wrote about that experience, but that day was the beginning of a much longer story.
It’s that time of year again! EightKB is back on August 20th at 13:00 UTC, and registration is open right now. It’s completely free. No catch, just a full day of the deepest SQL Server content you’ll find anywhere on the internet.
Mark, Andrew, and I have been putting this event on since 2020, and this year’s lineup might be the best one yet. All sessions are 400-level. That’s by design. We built EightKB specifically to fill the gap for serious internals content in the SQL Server community.
I’m honored to announce that I’ve been renewed as a Microsoft MVP for the tenth consecutive year, recognized in the Azure SQL and SQL Server technical areas under Data Platform. Ten years. I honestly didn’t see that coming when I set a five-year goal back in 2016.
I want to stop and acknowledge that milestone for a moment. When I first earned this award in 2017, I was deep in Availability Groups and SQL Server internals. Since then, the journey has taken me through SQL Server on Linux, containers, Kubernetes, storage integrations, and now AI-integrated SQL Server 2025. The platform has transformed dramatically, and I’ve had a front-row seat for all of it.
I am honored to announce that I have been renewed as a Microsoft MVP for the ninth consecutive year, recognized in the Azure SQL and SQL Server technical areas under Data Platform. Thanks for this incredible journey that began in 2017.
I want to thank Microsoft for this continued recognition. The MVP program has provided me with numerous opportunities to connect with brilliant minds worldwide, gain early access to cutting-edge technologies, and collaborate with product teams and engineering teams that contribute to the evolution of the data platforms we all rely on to maintain our customers’ most critical asset, data.
I’m pleased to announce that I will be presenting at this year’s PASS Summit. PASS Data Community Summit 2022 is the year’s largest gathering of data platform professionals in the US. This year I have a pre-conference workshop, a regular session, and a Learning Path session. Let’s dive into each.
My good friend Ben E. Weissman and I will teach a pre-conference workshop called “Become a Hybrid Architect” in this workshop we will cover the foundations needed to design and build a hybrid cloud strategy for your organization.
Every once in a while when I’m recording a Pluralsight course, I’ll take a photo of my desk to let people see the behind the scenes of the process. Well, my friend Steve Jones (@way0utwest) encouraged me to write a desk setup post…so here we go!
Autonomous SmartDesk 2 - Home Office
Most standup desks come at a much higher price point, and this one lands somewhere between $379-$500 depending on the features. While it’s pretty minimalist, it gets the job done. I have several presets for various heights depending on the current task I’m performing. One tip for those who record audio, I always stand when recording. It helps me with enunciation and also controls the tone of my voice better. A standing desk is a must if you’re going to be recording production quality audio. I think there are some health benefits too to standing desks. :)
Since January 1, 2012 I’ve been the principal consultant at Centino Systems. Jokingly, I refer to myself as The Centino of Systems. I learned a lot of lessons running my own business. Such as how to be a consultant and also how to scale the business even as the only employee/consultant. There’s been ups and downs, successes and failures and I couldn’t be more happy with how things went. The first phase of Centino Systems I learned how to build a consulting practice. Then in the second phase I learned how to scale Centino Systems by focusing on training. I blogged a bunch, produced 21 courses at Pluralsight, co-authored three books (with one more on the way), and numerous corporate and conference sessions and workshops focusing on Linux, SQL Server and of course Kubernetes.
I’m proud to announce that I will be be presenting pre-conference workshop at Data Platform Virtual Summit 2020 split into Two four hour sessions on 30 November and 1 December! This one won’t let you down!
Here is the start and stop times in various time zones:
| Time Zone | Start | Stop |
|---|---|---|
| EST | 5.00 PM | 9 PM |
| CET | 11.00 PM | 3.00 AM (+1) |
| IST | 3.30 AM (+1) | 7.30 AM (+1) |
| AEDT | 9.00 AM (+1) | 1.00 PM (+1) |
The workshop is “Kubernetes Zero to Hero – Installation, Configuration, and Application Deployment”
The first EightKB back in July was a real blast. Five expert speakers delivered mind-melting content to over 1,000 attendees!
We were honestly blown away by how successful the first event was and we had so much fun putting it on, we thought we’d do it again 🙂
The next EightKB is going to be on January 27th 2021 and the schedule has just been announced!
I’m pleased to announce that I will be presenting at PASS Summit. This year I have a pre-conference workshop and a regular session. Let’s dive into each.
Ben Weissman and I teach a pre-conference workshop called “The Future of Deployment for Modern Data Platform Applications” in this workshop. We’re going to cover how you will be deploying data platform applications in the near future. Here’s a listing of the topics we’re going to cover.
