After a career of spanning 20+ years as a generalist in tech, I wanted to create a blog to focus specifically on my adventures in the data realm. I started programming early on by creating an address book using Access for my database and Visual Basic 3 for the front end. I eventually released it for others to use through a website known as NoNags.
My first internship right out of high school involved checking data from printed data sheets against a SQL Server database. While in that role, I was assigned to work with a contractor, who was migrating an Access application to SQL Server with a Visual Basic 6 front end. He saw how much I took to data and wanted to learn more, so Rich introduced me to the Oracle database administrator to learn more about Oracle versus SQL Server. I was hooked professionally!
That was in the 90s. Here we are in 2023! I’ve gone through many adventures as a generalist – tech support, administration, developer, and instructor. In administration, I started with web server and database administration – focusing on IIS and Apache webserver and SQL Server 6.5 to SQL 2002. Later on, I taught a course in SQL Server 2012 Administration.
I’ve also done a lot of work with SSIS and ETL with other tools, from the late 90s on. In addition to moving data, I’ve also built many reports for Crystal Reports and SQL Server Reporting Services.
Due to my generalist nature, I have also stood up a SQL Server Reporting Server for a manufacturing firm, supporting reporting for HR, accounting, and the shop floor management.
Nowadays, I have fun exploring data with various programming languages – including Python, R, SQL, C#, Java, and JavaScript.
This blog will capture my many adventures in the data realm!