Purple Frog Systems

  • Wearing Four Hats at SQLBits 2017

    I know there are lots of great blog posts already out there from great people sharing their experiences from SQLBits. However, I hope none of them can offer an account quite as unique as mine from this years event. Why? Well, most people go to SQLBits as attendee’s to learn, network and socialise. This certainly applies to me. But ‘attendee’ was just 1 of my 4 hats (roles) at SQLBits 2017. In this post I’d like to…

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  • My SQL Relay 2016

    In 2015 I attended a SQL Relay day in Birmingham, as a humble attendee with a colleague. I sat on the edge of my seat in every session soaking up all I could from the speakers. I remember being in awe of these technical rock stars that gave their knowledge to the community. A community that was strongly bonded and recognised by many sponsors. In 2016 the humble attendee was long gone. I was now heavily involved supporting operational…

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  • Using Hyper-V and PowerShell to Create the Perfect Developer Workstation

    So the second challenge I faced after unboxing and plugging in my new workstation at Purple Frog Systems was software. Having customers using all versions of SQL Server from 2005 onwards I didn’t want to tie myself to a particular version locally and I also didn’t want the hassle of running lots of different SQL Server services all on the same host operating system. Especially if I wanted to use Windows 10 as my host, which as we…

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  • My Introduction to the SQL Server Community

    Once I was blind, but now I see! In the early part of 2015 (I think) a work colleague and friend suggested that on Thursday evening I attend the SQL Server Midlands User Group. The event was completely new to me, I’d never before ventured outside my professional comfort zone, or even had any appreciation that there was such a gathering about SQL Server locally. Anyway, I registered and got some more details. The event was currently ran…

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