The Recording
The Panelists
- Kevin Feasel
- Mala Mahadevan
- Mike Chrestensen
Notes: Questions and Topics
From Infrastructure DBA to Performance Tuner
Our topic for the night was from an anonymous user. Summarizing the question:
I am currently an infrastructure DBA for an MSP. I’m wanting to gain experience with Performance Tuning SQL Server. My job is an old-school infrastructure DBA job; we handle Data protection and High availability/DR.
What’s the best next step in my career to gain experience in performance tuning? Would trying to get on a consulting firm be the best bet for gaining experience in performance tuning? Or would I already need to be very good at performance tuning to even get hired on at a consulting firm? Also, what’s life like working for a consulting firm—that is, work-life balance, or working nights and weekends?
We covered quite a few points in this discussion. First up, some recommendations on books that I’d recommend for people really digging into performance tuning, as well as one video series that Mala recommended.
- SQL Server 2022 Query Performance Tuning
- T-SQL Fundamentals
- T-SQL Window Functions
- SQL Server Execution Plans
- Joe Sack @ Pluralsight
We also covered life in four stereotypical types of roles: full-time employee, contractor, consultant for a large firm, and independent consultant (with some points around boutique consulting). As always, the specifics of any role are critical and we could only cover generic statements of concept.