Brent answers the age old question “Who is Brent Ozar?”. Cecil asks Brent how he went from developer to DBA to entrepreneur. Brent talks about what it’s like to be your own boss and Richie shares why he’s not an independent consultant. Cecil asks Brent what kind of skills Brent needed to grow in order to build his business. Brent shares what it was like hiring his first employee. Brent shares what’s next for Brent Ozar Unlimited.

Links

Brent Ozar Unlimited

Bio

Brent Ozar loves to make SQL Server faster and more reliable.  He created sp_Blitz® and sp_AskBrent®, and he loves sharing knowledge at BrentOzar.com. He holds a bunch of certifications and awards including the Microsoft MVP award.

Elijah tells us the story of how he became a part of the Dave Ramsey Team. He shares with us how employee well-being and family life are a part of the company’s core values. Cecil asks about financial tips for technical folks. Elijah explains how to take “baby steps” to get out of debt. He highlights other options such as investing and setting up an emergency fund. Richie ask how did the Every Dollar app came about. Cecil asks Elijah’s thoughts on the evolution of web development. Elijah talks about a metric he calls JS IQ. Elijah gives us a peek into his family from things like homeschooling, his daughter’s paintings and even family dates. He talks about doing the Code.org day of code. Elijah discusses making the decision to homeschool and various challenges his family faces.

Links

Every Dollar
Dave Ramsey
Scratch
Code.org
Swim America

Bio

Elijah Manor is a Christian and a family man. He works at Ramsey Solutions (@daveramsey) as a senior front-end web developer. He is a Microsoft ASP.NET MVP, ASPInsider, IE userAgent, and a Pluralsight author. He enjoys blogging at http://elijahmanor.com and tweeting (@elijahmanor) about the things he learns.

Cecil starts the conversation asking Stacey if she is a gadget geek. Stacey shares about disconnecting and being analog. Cecil asks Stacey her thoughts on the Internet of Things. Cecil is terrified that his devices are talking to each other. Stacey talks about her passions especially Young Gamemakers. Stacey talks about her love of biking and what she does to relax. What in the world is SkrillTRex?

Links

Young Gamemakers
Researcher says can hack GM’s OnStar app, open vehicle, start engine
SkrillTRex

Bio

Stacey Mulcahy is a technical evangelist at Microsoft focusing on making the web a more interesting place. She is an international speaker, teaches kids how to code with www.younggamemakers.com and is a consumer of cupcakes. She can be found ranting on her blog at www.thebitchwhocodes.com

We start off with Ptah talking about living in Luxembourg and Atlanta. Cecil and Ptah talk about the early days of Flash and using the Swift tool. Richie asks about Ptah’s involvement with WordPress and how he became a WordPress contributor. Ptah discusses some of the interesting projects going on in the local WordPress community. Richie asks how the WordPress community has affected his life. Ptah starts by sharing the transitions he’s made as a WordPress developer. He then discusses speaking at various events and also working with the local WordPress community. Cecil inquires on what are the use cases for WordPress and how easy it is for beginners to customize. Ptah talks about the various plugins already built that handle concerns such as event management and online marketplaces. Ptah shares the details of his motorcycle accident, his path to recovery, and how the WordPress community stepped in to help. Richie asks about how he life has changed since. Ptah talks about the aftermath and how he’s been able to cope. Richie and Ptah talk about the merits of a good technical community.

Show Notes

WordCamp Miami

WordPress

Actionscript

Swift

Bio

Pirate Dunbar is a Full Stack JavaScript Architect and Professor of Computer Science at Miami Dade College. Ptah speaks over 10 languages, teaches people how to code and is on a mission to write software that impacts a billion people within the next decade. When he isn’t traveling or contributing to open source, you’ll often find him learning about ALL THE THINGS and teaching the next generation in universities, conferences and community events. To learn more about his journey, you can follow him on twitter @ptahdunbar or piratedunbar.com.

Jonas talks about programming apps with Xamarin and starting his own user group. Cecil asks Jonas how he got his passion for technology. Jonas shares his first job experience and how he created his own business. The panel discusses what it’s like to work on a problem when your exhausted and Jonas shares how difficult it is to get a coconut. Jonas explains what an Argentine barbecue is and how the “asado” is a family tradition. The crew wraps up with the panel discussing games, soccer, and everyone’s favorite toy….Lego.

Links

Asado
South Florida Xamarin User Group

Bio

Jonas Stawski is a husband, father of three, a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP), and an all around geek with over a decade of experience building and architecting .NET applications for clients of all sizes. He runs his own company that focuses on custom development for Mobile, Web, and the Cloud. Jonas is very passionate about software development and loves to write articles and speaks technical conferences. When he’s am not in front of a computer hacking away, you can find him enjoying time with my family, playing sports (specifically the real football) and games. You can find Jonas on the web at http://jstawski.com or on Twitter at @jstawski

This episode begins with Luis sharing the story of wow he met his wife when he was asked to replace her work computer. Richie asks about what Luis is pivoting his career. Luis then tells us how he got into working with SQL Server and BI. Afterwards, he discusses getting into Data Science and Machine Learning. Luis defines Data Science and Machine Learning for our listeners. Cecil ask how big is big data. Luis talks about building his confidence to where he’s able to speak publicly about his new found knowledge of Data Science. Luis talks about sharing his learning plan and progress with his wife. Richie asks Luis about differences he’s noticed between living in South Florida versus Atlanta. We then talk about various attractions we’ve visited in the Atlanta area.

Links

World of Coke
Georgia Aquarium
The R Programming Language
The Python Programming Language

Bio

Luis Figueroa is Solution Architect with BlueGranite and Microsoft V-TSP. Luis is focused on delivering business solutions that leverage the Microsoft BI ecosystem of products. His area of expertise is Data Warehousing and Business Intelligence. With 10+ years of experience in the field, Luis has delivered data management solutions for companies across many industry verticals. Luis is also a contributor to many local user groups as well as the PASS Data Science Virtual Chapter.

Julie introduces us to Giant Puppy. Cecil asks Julie to describe the process of authoring a book. Julie shares why she authors Pluralsight courses instead of writing books. Julie and Richie reminisce about the problems with Entity Framework version 1. Richie asks what was the genesis of her first book. Julie shares how she became the Entity Framework guru. Julie talks about how she lives the Vermont lifestyle, Doctor Who, Dune, and Guardians of the Galaxy. Sometimes Julie has problems with convertibles.

Links

Julie on Pluralsight
Data Model Patterns Book
Deborah Kurata
Rachel Appel on Away From The Keyboard

Bio

Julie Lerman is the leading independent authority on Microsoft’s ADO.NET Entity Framework and has been using and teaching the technology since its inception in 2006. Julie is the author of the highly acclaimed “Programming Entity Framework” book series from O’Reilly Media with recent editions on Code First (Dec 2011) and DbContext (Feb 2012) . She is well known in the .NET community as a Microsoft MVP, ASPInsider and INETA Speaker. She is a prolific blogger and a frequent presenter at technical conferences large and small around the world, such as TechEd and DevConnections. She also writes articles for many well-known technical publications, including the monthly Data Points column in MSDN Magazine. Julie keeps busy creating training videos for MSDN and Pluralsight.com.

Julie lives in Vermont where she has run the Vermont.NET User Group since 2002 and was a founding board member of the Vermont Software Developers Alliance. You can read her blog at www.thedatafarm.com/blog and her tweets at @julielerman.

In this episode, Gareth shares his passion for Ametuer Dramatics and talks about getting started in high school plays in South Africa. Richie and Gareth discuss history as Gareth gets into his pass time of reenacting the civil war. Cecil asks about the state of technology in South Africa. Cecil and Gareth get into a discussion about South African and Caribbean food. Sadly, our friend Richie is not a fan of the curry. Gareth discusses a few national delicacies, South African wine and also his special Chili. Richie gets educated on the mechanics of cricket. Our panel compares rugby with american football, and discuss the rise in USA soccer

Links

Tech Night at the Ballpark
Brian Lara
Bobotie Meat Pie
Boerewors Sausage
Cornmeal Porridge
Pinotage Grapes

Bio

Gareth Swanepoel is a sysadmin-turned-SQL Server DBA. He has been working in the IT industry doing support and administration for over 20 years. He enjoys solving the complex problems that his clients encounter when deploying SQL Server in a data warehouse environment. He is an accomplished author and speaker. Current projects include contributing content for the SQL 2014 Extended Events book. He also currently serves as one of the PASS Regional Mentors for the US SouthEast region.

Dmitry introduces himself as a software developer and a gamer. He also describes his role in putting on the massive Build conference. Cecil asks Dmitry what’s it like working for the “new Microsoft”. Dmitry shares about what his position as a Product Manager is like and how he produces videos for Microsoft. Richie asks Dmitry what is the difference between a program manager and a product manager. Dmitry shares how he was able to keep evolving and progressing in his career. Richie asks Dmitry how Visual Studio Code came to be. The panel discuss video games and how playing games can be a communal activity.

Links

Tech Night at the Ballpark
Visual Studio 2015
Build Conference
Connect Event
Visual Studio YouTube
Visual Studio Code
Visual Studio Community Edition
Star Wars: The Old Republic

Bio

Dmitry Lyalin has been building software for 16+ years and has worked in various industries including payroll, education, banking, media and more recently Microsoft Consulting & Premier Support. Currently Dmitry works as a Product Manager for Visual Studio team out of Redmond, where he moved to from NYC a few years back. In his spare time Dmitry loves building mobile apps, cloud services and is a very dedicated PC gamer.

Kendall explains how he cooks for his user group every month. Kendal talks about how he got his pilot’s license at 15 years old. Cecil and Kendal talk about their experiences watching Space Shuttle launches. Richie talks about how awesome the Atlantis exhibit at the Kennedy Space Center. Richie and Kendal discuss the new Space Launch System (SLS). Kendal talks about his experience with the NASA Social program. Kendal gives some resources to learn more about space and space flight.

Links

NASA
NASA Socials
Spaceflight Now
Kennedy Space Center
The Year of Pluto – New Horizons Documentary

Bio

Kendal is a database strategist, community advocate, public speaker, & blogger. A practiced IT professional with over 15 years of SQL Server experience, Kendal excels at disaster recovery, high availability planning/implementation, & debugging/troubleshooting mission critical SQL Server environments. Kendal is a Principal Consultant at UpSearch SQL (http://www.upsearch.com), a Microsoft MVP, & President of MagicPASS (http://magicpass.sqlpass.org), the Orlando, FL based chapter of PASS.