Finally, after 3 years of wanting to make it to Pass Summit, the planets aligned and I was able to go. So far it has been a great experience. However, it once again reiterates the magnitude of the Data World that appears to be forever expanding.
If "drinking from a fire hose" depicts an image in your head of someone overwhelmed and water splattering everywhere, it accurately represents how this week has felt. The sessions have been plentiful, and the coffee the main fueling source.
The goal was to understand what's new and exciting inside SQL, analytics tips and tool, Big Data, but primarily what's happening with Azure. I'll just go ahead stand up and get this out of the way......"Hi, my name is Erald and I am a cloud-oholic..." I have drank the Azure Kool-Aid and am a firm believer that cloud simply makes business sense in many cases. I am a tenant of both AWS and Azure, although I find preference within Microsoft.
This week has been a combination of "....ok i know what they are talking about and am already on my way of doing it....." and "....holy cow, I have no idea what they are talking about and start noting down topics to look up". It's a bitter sweet feeling understanding that as an IT professional, I am not completely lost inside a profession that frequently turns over. I believe that the sessions have improved my ability to better architect my future projects as well as avoid many pitfalls from a very experienced community.
It is my goal that in the near future I expand on what I have learned but also, showcase some wins or fails as I transition some of our internal systems up into Azure. Excited to continue to learn, but am not really looking forward to the inevitable "hard lessons" that lie ahead.
Thanks to The Furniture Mart USA for sending me to this awesome event, and can't wait to continue to learn from future events.