This past
week I attended PASS Summit 2019 in Seattle. I had an amazing time and it was
great to catch up with friends and colleagues, both old and new! This was my
first attendance at the Summit, although I had made some friends along the road
to the conference through speaking at SQL Saturdays in Edmonton, AB and
Victoria, BC. In reflecting after arriving home, I have some initial thoughts
and impressions from the conference I would like to share with everyone.
Some additional context for this
post. I was able to have the registration for the conference paid by my
employer this year, although it was with the caveat that I would be paying for
my own travel and expenses. This did not include the Pre-cons, which I was
unable to find the budget for this year.
Firstly, I would like to commend
the organizers, PASS board of directors, Community team, sponsors and attendees
for making this past week a memorable and amazing experience. The session
content was amazing and valuable, the keynotes were excellent, the food was good,
and the camaraderie was steps above anything I have experienced at conferences
before. Truly the community is #SQLFamily.
I took a lot of value from this
time, in both professional and personal growth. This week served to highlight
areas I am happy to be excelling in, and to shine spotlight to the areas I need
to improve. This I believe should be anyone's first goal in attending such an
event, and in this I was able to take a great many things away.
For others that are thinking of
attending for the first time, or those that may have had some struggles their
first time around, I would like to share some things. Number one is find a
mentor. I was lucky enough to be close to Chris Wood here in Edmonton, who has
attended summit for 14 years, in addition to tech outbound and SQL cruise
attendance. His knowledge and wisdom were invaluable to me in taking in all
that was on offer, which is, honestly, a lot. Secondly, the sessions will be
there, they continue, and you will never be able to attend all the ones you
want to, there is too much concurrency. Plan to purchase the downloads or USB
and focus on the areas where you have questions that could be answered either
in the session, or one-to-one afterward with the speaker.
Lastly, do not neglect the
"hallway track". The opportunity to swap ideas, share challenges and
solutions, and pick the brains of the top minds in our industry is the primary
resource this conference has on offer, and the community is genuinely
interested in helping each other out.
Your perspective will change,
expect that. Your perspective on your work, new ideas and concepts can find fit
in what you are doing, new technology, announced releases, and solution
brainstorms will provide insight to improve your work. You will also grow
personally. I did, at least. Knowledge of your strengths and weaknesses, and
tracks to address both will provide context to your value as a professional.
This is the opportunity to assist in directing your growth for the next year.
I understand more about where I
have made strides with areas I struggle (Emotional Intelligence), but also
where I have improved in this area over the last couple years. I was also able
to connect and reach out to others who struggle as well, and people who are
masters of this in their field and work. I was able to get guidance on new
resources to explore and found new colleagues that can work on this with me
over the next year.
I will conclude with saying that
every penny spent was worth it, and I will be working hard to ensure I can come
back next year, when summit will be hosted in Houston!
Cheers!
