I’ve been working on this personal project since early this year. If you’ve been following my blog posts, my articles on MSSQLTips.com or even my presentations at various events, you know that my area of expertise is on SQL Server high availability and disaster recovery. I’ve compiled years of experience and exposure with SQL Server and related technologies to prepare this online course, some of which were delivered to events and conferences worldwide. One of my personal favourite is the topic on Database Recovery Techniques where I vividly recall delivering my presentation at Microsoft TechEd Southeast Asia back in 2007 in a room full of about 200 attendees where my demos failed dramatically. Imagine trying to present on the topic of database disaster recovery when the most important thing that you need to do was the very thing that you forgot to do. It was the basis of a previous blog post on delivering presentations.

But this is more than just an online course. It is my commitment to continuous personal growth. It’s also an expression of faith and taking risks. I’ve experienced a lot of failures in my entire career, one of which is the now defunct BlogcastRepository.com website where I hosted my very first attempt at creating video lessons on SQL Server 2008 back when it was still in CTP. Part of preparing this online course is realizing that it may or may not work, similar to what happened with the video lessons I recorded for BlogcastRepository.com. But I set aside my fears and decided to work on it anyway – skipping holiday weekends and possible movie nights. I even had to put down my digital camera for a while to focus on this project. This online course contains within it several parts of who I am – the risk taking, fearful, committed, and dedicated individual who chose to persist despite his failures.

This is just the beginning. I’m still experimenting and trying out a couple of ideas. But I have an offer to make. If you’re a SQL Server DBA who is serious about taking your skills and career to the next level and willing to help someone else in the process, let me know how I can help.