The idea of a User Group has evolved over the years. 20-30 years ago before the Internet was what it is today local User Groups were a way for people to share a common interest. Now though with so many message forums methods to share information online it could be said that the local User Group is dead. This notion however was very much disproven when SQL PASS and all of its many linked groups disappeared last year.
So how does it work and who should jump in?
Well to answer the first question that’s really anyone’s guess… With the pandemic still upon us meetings and sharing information will continue to be online for the unforeseeable future, though the hope is that we will meet in person eventually. We can host virtual meetings through Zoom or Teams and continue the conversation through message forums and shared content.
As for the who, well anyone! The notion of database development, to say nothing of administration, being condensed into one or two ancillary classes tucked into most Computer Science degrees really leaves much room for students or new DBA’s to learn more about this amazing part of the IT infrastructure. So the WHO part of this question is really anyone with an interest in this field.
Meetings are still yet to be determined, but if you would like to jump in and help please post let me know. For now I’ll run the sit as a personal blog, but once we get some momentum I’ll step back as more of a caretaker.
Thanks —
Sam Alexander – samalex@me.com