Visualizing Travel data in Tableau

Tableau has made a name for itself partly by using the freemium business model. This is what vendors do to get you to use the product. In the case of Tableau, their platform allows you to use a free version of the product with the catch that you must save to the cloud for all to see. Sounds like a good trade-off.

So I went ahead and collected data from https://travel.trade.gov/, which by the way, is in serious need of a design makeover. Sorry, but just calling it like I see it.

Telling The Story with CTE's

I can divide the history of my knowledge of SQL in two ages, before and after Common Table Expressions (CTE's). I shake my head in disbelief when I think of all the times I could have used CTE's and used subqueries instead. To think that many years ago I was in a conversation and I said "I don't like subqueries" but didn't know there was a better way. I was still new with SQL and I found a subquery like a hole to another dimension. But the skill of SQL seemed to be measured in the ability to manage multiple nested subqueries so I had to learn the hard way. Having the mind of a developer, I am more interested in being able to make sense of what the query is doing based on its readability.

Book review: The Phoenix Project

The full title of this book is The Phoenix Project: A Novel about IT, DevOps, and Helping Your Business Win, and it was authored by Gene Kim, Kevin Behr and George Spafford. This book is a story of the difficult transformation of a company's Information Technology department, and how they are able to go from an outdated, inefficient model of IT management, to being a critical part of the business, by beating the odds and by being knowledgeable and resourceful.

SSRS vs PowerBI at SQL Saturday Tampa

I attended SQL Saturday Tampa on February 24, 2018. If you've never been to a SQL Saturday event, probably your first reaction is to think why would you give up your favorite day just for the sake of work? But it's not like that at all. It is a dynamic experience, and depending on where it is, it can be very rewarding.

My only recommendation (and that goes for any conference) is that you go early and get your registration figured out. When you go early, you can plan out your day and also have more opportunities to meet people, not to mention catch the earlier sessions. But this is something I learned the hard way.