It’s time for a new meme! My good friend Jason Strate (twitter | blog) wants us to blog on the 15th-ish of each month. The first topic is: Blogging. Why did I start blogging? Why do I keep doing it?
Why I Started Blogging
It was 2009. I realized there was a SQL community. I was reading blogs, lurking on forums, attending a user group, and tweeting. I was also asking a lot of questions. I even managed to come up with a few solutions. Once, I was telling my friend Ted Krueger how I solved a problem. Ted asked, “Jes, that’s great – why don’t you blog it?” I started thinking about it. I wrote down problems I solved. I wrote down things I’d learned.
But I didn’t want to blog. What did I know about SQL? What could I blog that hadn’t been written about before? Why would anyone ever read my blogs? These are the thoughts I had that held me back.
Eventually, I gave in, and started my own WordPress blog. My first blogs were, quite frankly, awful. It was almost nine months before I wrote a blog post I’m proud of today. It takes a lot of practice and a lot of effort to be a good writer, and be a good blogger, particularly on technical topics. But I persisted, and I watched my writing improve, along with my blog stats.
For historical record: my first Reporting Services blog post.
Then Ted had a bigger challenge for me, and started asking me to join LessThanDot.com. Again, I didn’t want to. There was no way I could blog at the level they were – they were far smarter, and more experienced. But Ted didn’t give up, and in December 2010 I started here.
Why I Blog
I love helping people. I love solving problems. I love writing. Blogging enables me to fulfill all of those.
It helps me document the solution I found to a problem. It helps me learn new things. It helps me contribute to the awesome SQL community.
Jes Borland is a Premier Field Engineer - SQL Server for Microsoft, where she is a trusted technical adviser, deep technical support, and teacher for her customers. Her experience as a DBA, consultant, and 5-time Data Platform MVP allow her to help the business and the IT teams reach their goals. She has worked with SQL Server as a developer, report writer, DBA, and consultant. Her favorite topics are administration, automation, and performance. She frequently presents at user groups, SQL Saturdays, and other community events. She is also an avid runner and chef.
