PASS Day 1 - PreCon with Brent Ozar

If you’re not familiar with PASS, Monday and Tuesday are reserved for pre-conference (precon) sessions. These sessions are all day sessions, and this case, a technical session. It’s a lot like drinking water from a fire hose.

So the focus of this session was Query optimization in SQL2019 and SQL2022. I learned quite a bit and realized how much more I need to learn. In fact, I’m kind of thinking I’m going to spend a good time focusing on Query Optimization. I can certainly apply that in my current role. Which means I probably need to spend sometime getting deep into writing SQL queries.

One of the major takeaways I walked a way with was how SQL is handling ORM applications. Think SQL written by things like entity framework that look like queries running “dynamically” - i.e. hidden from SQL and contained in the app code. I was shocked that we need to embrace parameter sniffing to better optimize these queries. There is going to be a lot to dig into.

By the end of the day, I was fried. The only complaint I had was the room was pretty warm and stuffy. I went back to the hotel and just relaxed. I needed that time to recharge, it’s an introvert thing. Brent made a similar statement at the beginning and I have to admit, it was refreshing to hear someone else say it.

One of the things I appreciated about Brent’s session is he used an app for us to ask questions with. It was so nice not to have raise your hand and shout, plus you could think it out and review before submitting.

So much to dig into when I get back.