Twitter – #Meme15

It’s the middle of January already and most people are curled up under a blanket by the fire, trying to keep warm. I, however, live in Florida where it’s (relatively) warm and I’m putting together this #Meme15 post. #Meme15 is a blog series thought up by Jason Strate (blog | twitter) that gives us a place to discuss a common topic and how that topic affects us personally.

This month, we have been tasked with answering one, or both, of these two questions:

1. Why should average Jane or Joe professional consider using twitter?
2. What benefit have you seen in your career because of twitter?

Well, I joined Twitter back in 2009 and was basically using it to follow people that I thought were interesting (@SteveWoz, @LanceArmstrong, etc). You know – the way the rest of the world uses Twitter. I was looking to get more and more involved in the SQL community and Brent Ozar (blog | twitter) told me to look at connecting with SQL people on Twitter. I was sceptical at first because I wasn’t sure what SQL people tweeted about apart from how big their database was and how many times they had to shrink it per week. Boy, was I wrong. I quickly got connected with some very smart people who were friendly and helpful. I attended many SQL Saturdays and started meeting these people in real life and built up some great friendships within the community.

In 2011 I was fortunate to be able to go on the second SQL Cruise (blog | twitter) and had an absolute blast. If ever anyone feels like taking a great learning vacation, SQL Cruise is the way to go. I feel that the experience was enhanced due to the Twitter friends that I had made.

I returned from the cruise refreshed and a little bit smarter. Not long after that, I received a job offer from Pragmatic Works Consulting. I’d been discussing the opportunity with them for a few months by then and the time had come for me to take the next step in my career. I am currently involved in authoring the upcoming Professional SQL Server 2012 Administration book. I am also currently putting together a 4-day SQL Server 2012 training class and will be recording the class for SSWUG in the near future. I will also be presenting the material at SQL events around the country. The success that I enjoy is due, in part, to the help and support I have found from the SQL people I interact with on Twitter. Thank you to all those people from the bottom of my heart.

To some people, Twitter may just be a place where they can find out when and where celebrities are having lunch. To me, it is a network of like-minded individuals that interact with each other for the greater good of the community. Even if it’s mostly about bacon.