Why write about my IT Heroes? Somebody has to dammit. Because my IT Heroes aren’t the the Linus Torvalds, Tim Berners Lees, Bill Gates' or Steve Jobs' of this world. No sir!
My IT Heroes are those dedicated, tireless, unsung heroes who spend every spare minute of their lives, posting solutions, contributing to forums and updating their blogs for the benefit of those of us too lazy, slow witted or just too plain old incompetent to figure things out for ourselves. Most importantly, they’re people who share their expertise for free; when it’s quite evident they could be charging for it. They’re the sort of people who’ve got me out of more than a handful of sticky situations where I’ve contemplated hanging up my IT hat, getting a paper route and moving back in with my parents.
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| Pinal Dave: IT Hero, Legend |
First and foremost amongst these, has to be, in my opinion, the irrepressible, unsurpassable,
unbelievable, unrivalled SQL Authority: Pinal Dave.
Now, I love SQL. Who doesn't? But no one loves SQL like Pinal Dave loves SQL. And you can take that to the bank, bucko.
According to his online resume, Pinal Dave (pronounced ‘Pinul Daway’), ‘has written over 2200 articles on the subject on his blog at http://blog.sqlauthority.com. Along with 8+ years of hands on experience he holds a Masters of Science degree and a number of certifications, including MCTS, MCDBA and MCAD (.NET). He is co-author of three SQL Server books -SQL Server Programming, SQL Wait Stats and SQL Server Interview Questions and Answers. His past work experiences include Technology Evangelist at Microsoft and Sr. Consultant at SolidQ. Prior to joining Microsoft he was awarded Microsoft MVP award for three continuous years for his contribution in the community.’
But Pinal's work is not just a digital paean to relational databases and all their splendour, worthy as that may be an exercise in itself. First and foremost, Pinal’s site is a community asset and go-to place for those of us lacking his mad skills on the SQL front.
By his own admission he started his blog as a repository for scripts and solutions he was working on, and only found out later that these where visible to others on the net. Spurred on by unexpected feedback on a SQL script he was working on, Pinal has over the subsequent seven years, gone on to co-author 10 books on the subject. Pinal's site is like an Aladdin's cave of scripts, solutions levels of enthusiasm for his subject matter that make you want to get out there and build SQL scripts all day long.
Its people like Pinal who remind you that you're not just someone toiling away in an industry or sector, but that you're part of a community of people who are - by and large - creative, intelligent, filled with curiosity and dedicated to solving problems and fixing things. The SQL Authority blog epitomises the sort of thing that great about the net, community building, collaboration, knowledge sharing. The sort of thing that don’t get much attention from the media because it’s not about making a gazillion bucks, or wildly sensationalist.
In a recent post celebrating the seventh anniversary of his blog, Pinal thanked everyone who had visited his site and made it such a success over the years. No Pinal Dave. THANK YOU.
