Randolph West
Senior Content Developer, Microsoft
Calgary, Canada
Randolph West (they/them) writes about the Microsoft Data Platform, having worked with SQL Server since the late 1990s. When not writing about technology, you can see them acting on the stage and screen, or doing voices for independent video games. Former five-time Data Platform MVP and charter member of the Azure Data Community Advisory Board. Founder of the Calgary Data User Group. Connect with Randolph on Twitter, or buy their books on Amazon.
Links
Area of Expertise
Database administration through the ages
Join me on an exploration of what it means to be a DBA in the modern era, and how your existing skills can be leveraged, no matter the platform. Maintenance plans, monitoring, even disaster recovery all work in pretty much the same way across Windows, Linux, Azure SQL DB, and containers.
Then when you go back to work, you will have a starting point on how to modernize your existing environment and future-proof your career.
Back to the future with Temporal Tables
Back to the Future is the greatest time travel movie ever. I'll show you how temporal tables work, in both SQL Server and Azure SQL Database, without needing a DeLorean.
This quick session covers point in time analysis, reconstructing state at any time in the past, recovering from accidental data loss, calculating trends, and auditing.
How does SQL Server store that data type?
If you've ever been curious about how each data type looks on your storage subsystem, this is the session for you. We'll step through each data type, and how the hex looks at the storage layer.
You will understand why certain data types are better choices than others. I'll show you a few surprises, and settle an old score with DATETIME.
Breaking out the hex editor might automatically qualify this as a 500-level session depending on your appetite for nerdy goodness, plus you should be able to use this information for data recovery (like I have).
Queering up your database: a look at inclusive table design
If you’ve ever used a true / false value to represent gender in a database, this session is for you. I’ll talk about small changes you can make to be more inclusive in your database design—with the least amount of effort—that can make all the difference to the people using your systems.
Temporal Tables in 10 minutes
Temporal tables are a very useful way of tracking changes made to table data. Join me as I take you through the highlights.
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