Vote for your winner
Chris Bell
Vote for Chris >>Over the last couple of decades I have been working to build my technical and leadership skills, allowing me to efficiently communicate to all levels within organizations. During my current position as the team lead of 12 Sr. SQL DBAs, I realized that my experience and knowledge shouldn't be exclusively available to those I work with. I have been working hard to share my experiences and knowledge with the SQL Community and hope to soon begin submitting articles and presenting at various events. I know that without this community I would not be anywhere near where I am now and I am honored to be considered for this prestigious award.
Why do you think you should win the Exceptional DBA Award?
To be frank and honest I would love to win! I admit I have an ego and just like everyone else it needs a good stroking every now and then. Seriously though, it would be an honor to win the award. I feel it would help affirm the years of work I have put into learning SQL and becoming an Exceptional DBA are recognized by more than just me, my family and a few local peers and team members. I may not be the most technically advanced DBA out there, and I may not work with the largest DBs out there (~8 TB is my personal max so far). I do have a great personality and presence gained through working hard on the soft skills required to compliment the technical skills I have. Over this past year with all the changes that have happened in my personal and professional life I have come to the realization that it really isn’t all about me (how often does a DBA say that?). It is about others and the influence I have on them regardless of them working in databases. In my opinion it’s the work done with and for all the other disciplines out there that makes an truly Exceptional DBA.
Vote for Chris >>Michael Davis
Vote for Michael >>My DBA experience began, like so many others, by accident. I was a Windows engineer, and on occasion I was tasked with performing general SQL administrative work including backups, restores, and running TSQL scripts. With the strict security policies that are so prevalent today development wasn’t allowed direct access to production. I would man the keyboard while a DBA instructed. One day the DBA manager whom on many occasions had instructed me “what to type” asked me if I wanted to work for him as a Junior DBA and another accidental DBA was born. Hundreds of performance problems, disasters, versions of SQL, and a decade later, I am the lead DBA at a SQL shop managing about 225 front end SQL servers with around 65,000 databases.
Why do you think you should win the Exceptional DBA Award?
I think I should win the Exceptional DBA Award because; I will bring a unique perspective to the award. There are very few DBAs who have the opportunity to work in a SQL environment with such a large and diverse footprint as I do. During a normal day I might work on a server with a handful of databases that are a few TB in size or on hundreds of servers with tens of thousands of databases ranging from a few MB to hundreds of GB each. Having the ability to know when to apply best practices and Microsoft recommendations or when to throw them out the window to develop your own plan and solution I feel is the true definition of an Exceptional DBA.
Short answer: As every DBA knows, accidental or otherwise, the mark of a truly exceptional DBA is one who continues to work away until the problems are solved and a solution is developed. I am lucky enough to be given problems and the opportunities to solve them on a daily basis.
Vote for Michael >>Bill Lescher
Vote for Bill >>Bill Lescher is a Database Administrator at Dreams Corporation. Bill has been working in IT for 19 years, and he has been a DBA since the SQL Server 6.5 days. Bill helped start the Chicago SQL Server User Group, an official PASS chapter, and served as its president for the first 10 years (2002 – 2012). He has had an article published in SQL Server Magazine, presented at user group meetings, and taught SQL Server classes at Allstate Insurance company where he managed hundreds of SQL Server instances for 6 years. Bill was born and raised in Chicagoland where he still lives and works today.
Why do you think you should win the Exceptional DBA Award?
I think I’m an exceptional DBA not only because of my SQL Server knowledge and experience, but also because I’ve always done what’s best for the greater good. Whether it’s building sound, flexible databases or running the Chicago PASS user group for 10 years, I have always focused on the long-term success of the organization. The personal and professional rewards have simply followed. I believe the best DBAs are well-rounded with programming experience and the ability to communicate well with both technical and non-technical people. My business degree and 5 years of programming in COBOL and VB really formed a solid foundation for my passion to become a DBA. I’ve helped design, build and migrate to new clustered SAN environments at the last 3 of my 4 different employers. I have had my share of working for 24 hours straight, running through server rooms using my phone as a flashlight, and generally pouring my blood, sweat and tears into keeping SQL Server environments healthy. There has been more than one time that I’ve had to save a company from data loss due to 3rd party issues. Throughout my career, I’ve consistently had business users express their appreciation for my communication skills. Some business users have gone so far as to not believe that I work in IT.
The other side of being an exceptional DBA I think is helping to foster an environment that develops more passionate, exceptional DBAs. Getting other DBAs and developers to care about things like execution plans and database design is something I’ve had great success at. I’ve had some excellent mentors, and I’m most proud of turning around and being a mentor for others. So far I’ve left behind a wake of really strong SQL Server DBA teams, and I love that these former coworkers and friends are still anxious to keep in touch, review ideas and concepts, and hang out. One manager even shed a tear or two when I left the company.
In addition to running the Chicago SQL Server User Group for a decade, I also helped organize and run the 3 Chicago SQL Saturdays, helped launch new releases of SQL Server, and moderated several 24 Hours of PASS.
Vote for Bill >>Meredith Ryan
Vote for Meredith >>Meredith Ryan is a self-taught DBA with more than 10 years of IT experience at ExactTarget, where she focuses on performance tuning. She grew up in the ranks of IT, starting at the Help Desk resolving as many issues as possible on the first call. She rapidly moved in to VAX/VMS and Windows Server administration. In 2006, when the opportunity to become a DBA arrived she jumped at it with open arms and never looked back. Since then she has made it her mission to learn and share all she can with her co-workers and other new accidental DBAs. In her spare time she is the chapter chair for the Women in Technology Virtual Chapter of PASS, on the board for the Albuquerque NM PASS chapter, a mom, knitter, novice gardener, and an avid reader of any book she can find.
Why do you think you should win the Exceptional DBA Award?
I'll be totally honest; I entered the Exceptional DBA contest as an exercise in singing my own praises. I had no expectations that I would be chosen as a finalist; rather it was a way for me to practice what I've been learning about self-promotion. To see that I've been chosen as a finalist is an honor.
Recently, in a team building workshop my co-workers and I did an exercise where we shared what made each of us exceptional. The common theme for what made me exceptional in my teammates' eyes was my ability to learn and master new technologies. I think the exact phrase they used to describe me was that I'm like a sponge when it comes to learning something new. I'm not an expert in many things, and I may not be the most naturally talented DBA, but as needs arise I've never hesitated to take on a new challenge or learn something outside of my comfort zone.
A couple of years ago I came to the conclusion that it wasn't enough just to learn – I needed to share that knowledge and even more importantly share how to find that knowledge with others. I began to blog when inspiration struck, monitor #SQLHELP when time permitted, and speak at SQL Saturday events in my region at least quarterly as a way to give back to the community that helped me so much with my career. Now, I also make it a point to share what I know with anyone that will listen at work. There may not be another DBA in my shop, but that doesn't stop me from trying to grow another one from my pool of co-workers.
Vote for Meredith >>David Williams
Vote for David >>David has been computing since 1984 where he instantly gravitated to the family Commodore 64. He completed a Bachelor of Computer Science degree from 1990 to 1992, commencing full-time employment as a systems analyst at the end of that year. Since then, David has worked as a systems manager, software developer, IT Manager, international troubleshooter, database administrator and other roles across industries spanning education, recruitment, call centres and coal mining.
At heart, all David’s work ultimately comes down to data: business data, finance data, transactional data, customer data. Every system needs data. Data flows through a business like blood flows through the body, keeping it alive. David has implemented and supported database systems across VAX VMS, Solaris, AIX, HP/UX and Microsoft platforms. By working with data David has had the tremendous joy of seeking company cultures literally transformed as meaningful, accurate, timely information is made available, giving management tools to run the business intelligently, helping staff optimise their processes, even encouraging sales teams to have friendly rivalry.
David is passionate about technology and the opportunities it brings. He is heavily involved in community activities, founding a local software and database user group, writing technical columns for print and online publications, speaking at events and acting as an examiner for the Australian Computer Society.
David would like your support as Exceptional DBA of 2012. He is committed to his craft, and to seeing businesses recognise database administrators as innovators and drivers of transformational change. A skilled, quality DBA can truly help a company meet its objectives, obtain competitive advantages and gain efficiencies. David is passionate about what he does, about delivering results, and about sharing his skills.
Why do you think you should win the Exceptional DBA Award?
I would be truly humbled to win such a wonderful title and while it is hard to say why I would be more deserving over any other person, I would like to say I truly bring passion and diligence and accuracy and quality to my work. I strive to understand the actual business of my employers and to implement technical solutions. The work I have done has transformed company cultures, it has provided efficiencies, it has delivered sound solid management information, it has provided competitive advantages. I truly believe IT is not merely there to "keep the lights on" but should be at the forefront of a company's strategy fulfilment. Without data none of this is possible. Without an exceptional DBA managing that data, safeguarding it, loving it, feeling it, being one with it, none of this is possible.
Vote for David >>