T-SQL Tuesday #34 – Help! I Need Somebody

Invitation from Rob Volk.

n the beginning…


SQL Server has changed a lot since I started with it.  <Cranky Old Guy>Back in my day, Books Online was neither.  There were no blogsGoogle was the third-place search site. There were perhaps two or three communityforums where you could ask questions.  (Besides the Microsoft newsgroups…which you had to access with Usenet.  And endure the wrath of…Celko.)  Your “training” was reading a book, made from real dead trees, that you bought from your choice of brick-and-mortar bookstore. And except for your local user groups, there were no conferencesseminarsSQL Saturdays, or any online video hookups where you could interact with a person. You’d have to call Microsoft Support…on the phone…a LANDLINE phone.  And none of this “SQL Family” business!</Cranky Old Guy>

Even now, with all these excellent resources available, it’s still daunting for a beginner to seek help for SQL Server.  The product is roughly 1247.4523 times larger than it was 15 years ago, and it’s simply impossible to know everything about it.*  So whether you are a beginner, or a seasoned pro of over a decade’s experience, what do you do when you need help on SQL Server?