I'm Speaking at the PASS Data Community Summit Nov 8-12, 2021!

 

If you haven't heard, the PASS Data Community Summit is coming up Nov 8-12, 2021. It's a free conference hosted by Redgate Software. The Summit is the largest gathering of Microsoft Data Platform professionals. Speakers will cover data management, analytics, architecture, and professional development. 

The full session list is available here.

My session is "Hitting The Bricks: An Introduction to Databricks". It is intended for people who have never used Databricks but would like to learn about it to see if it's something that they should add to their systems. Since it's a pre-recorded session, you can watch it at any time during the PASS Summit. Since I am scheduled for a live 30-minute Q&A session related to the session on November 11th at 5 PM Eastern Time, I suggest you watch the session prior to that time so you can come to the Q&A session with questions. The Powerpoint and demo notebook will be available on the PASS Data Community Summit page around that time as well. 

Register here! and see you at the Summit.

Renewed my Azure Administrator Associate Certification!

 

I'm happy to say that I passed the renewal assessment for my Microsoft Certified: Azure Administrator Associate. 

In December 2020, Microsoft changed the renewal process to help learners stay current - those with an active certification which was within 6 months of expiring could take a free online assessment to renew their certification. The assessment can be retaken multiple times free, but you have to wait at least 24 hours before retaking it. On the renewal page for the certification, Microsoft provides links to Microsoft Learn training directly related to the assessment content, so you will know exactly what topics to study. 

It's definitely a less stressful way to take the exam: you can take it using own machine in the comfort of your home - no driving to a test center and using an antiquated "testing computer" covered in other people's schmutz. And you can't beat the price: free. 

Be sure to renew your certifications when they are close to expiration.