You have learned many new techniques and best practices that you can take back to the office and use in your work to gain immediate improvements. But if you’re only interested in applying a handful of specific, tactical advantages, then you’ll miss out on the most exciting trend in the IT industry – our data-driven future. Share insights and inspirations in this talk with Kevin Kline, a founder and president emeritus of the Professional Association for SQL Server, to discover the broader trends that are pushing data professionals into greater prominence and strategies you can use to become the most respected, influential, and credible member of your organization’s technical staff.

1. THE MOST IMPORTANT IT PERSON IN
THE ROOM:
WHY DATA EXPERTS OWN THE FUTURE
#ITDEVCON
Kevin Kline, SQL Sentry
Director of Engineering Services, kekline@sqlsentry.com
Microsoft SQL Server MVP since 2003
Email, Twitter , Facebook, LinkedIn @ KEKline
http://blogs.sqlsentry.com/kevinkline/

2. Tuning blog: http://www.sqlperformance.com/
Normally $10. Get them free at http://SQLSentry.com/ebooks.

3. AGENDA
• What’s the context?
• Others in IT
• Power in the Narrative
• An Epiphany in the Haystack
• Secret Ingredients in the Sauce

4. CONTEXT
Top 10 professions according to Bureau of
Labor Statistics.
• #5 best IT jobs
• #12 best overall jobs
Businesses are now better understanding
the value of data.
• FaceBook and LinkedIn
• Google
15% growth year-over-year, meaning
demand.
40% attrition expected in the next 10
years, according to Unisphere Research,
meaning supply.
• Older workers retiring
• Middle-aged workers moving up and
out
How are enterprises responding?
• More consultants
• More outsourcing
• More H1B visas
• More unskilled/accidental DBAs
• Sometimes more pay

5. OTHERS IN IT
Is it all IT people or is it just me?

6. Database Admins? BI/BA? Data Scientists?
Yes, always, every time.
Developers?
Sometimes yes. Sometimes no.
Email Admins?
An email is an email.
Network Admins?
It’s all TCP/IP packets to me.
System Admins?
It’s just hardware.

7. POWER IN THE NARRATIVE
Data tells a story. And that empowers us.

9. MEMORABLE
IMPACTFUL
PERSONAL

11. DATA
+
STORY

12. =
Intellectual Connection
Emotional Connection

13. What’s the story?
Why are we making this decision?

14. AN EPIPHANY IN THE HAYSTACK
Three stories: the Ghost Map, the Turing Test, & the FiveThirtyEight

15. THE GHOST MAP

20. #ITDEVCON

21. #ITDEVCON

30. THE TURING TEST

38. THE FIVETHIRTYEIGHT

41. Gartner / The
Economist
1. Data is the “oil” of the 21st
century.
2. Proprietary algorithms are
the “refined” fuel.
3. Together, they are a means
of acting on data to solve
specific problems via direct
action.

42. SECRET INGREDIENTS IN THE RECIPE
Four things MIPs do frequently

43. BECOME THE MIP
Deep
domain
knowledge.
Data as
story.
Story within
a narrative.
Memorable,
Impactful,
Personal.
Tech skills
+
team
values.

44. THE ENTERPRISE ARCHITECTURE QUESTION
• If we can choose from a vast number of data platforms,
which should we use?

45. RECAP