OK, in my quest to blog more often, I realized I have the perfect thing to blog about today… stuff I did that I haven't yet told you about. :) :)
At TechEd US, Paul and I were on a panel created to debunk some of the more common questions/concerns when setting up High Availability. It's an interesting panel and I think there are some particularly interesting moments based on the strange turns the discussions take… but, overall, it's expecially good for people seeking a 100-200 level overview of HA (Clustering, Database Mirroring, Replication, Log Shipping) with a few other related topics (Database Snapshots and Backup/Restore). Here's the direct link to the recording: http://mfile.akamai.com/14853/wmv/microsofttec.download.akamai.com/14853/TechEdOnline/Videos/08_NA_ITP_TEOPanel_57_low.asx. And, here's a general link to everything TechNet so that you can check out TechNet Radio, TechTalks, etc. there's some really great stuff out there: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/default.aspx. Have fun!
Also at TechEd US, I hung out for a bit in the bloggers lounge…when it was just about to end, it turned out there was a "Women in Tech" panel starting – in which I was then asked to join in. I have to admit that I'm sometimes reluctant to get involved in these because my general (and this is *very* general) opinion is that it doesn't matter if you're a woman or a man (wait – wait – let me explain!!). What I mean by this is that the key to ANY job is that you have to enjoy it. You need to find something in it that's exciting. If you can do that – then you'll be good at your job… plain and simple. If you don't like it (regardless of whether you're a man or a woman) then it's never going to be satisfying and/or you're never going to get ahead. Having said all of this, I do have to admit that I find it especially exciting when I do find other women that can geek out and really enjoy doing this whole IT thing (like MLB, Kate Gregory, Stacia Misner, Julia Lerman, Kalen Delaney, Eileen Brown). So, I don't really intend on actively trying to get more women into technology but the fun part about this panel was the fact that a lot of us talked about how children these days are already way more into IT – without realizing it (our girls asked what film was recently because we were scanning a lot of negatives… and, can you imagine any of our lives without cell phones??). And, my hope, is that if people find ways of getting more into IT (and computers/digital stuff – in general) at an earlier and earlier age… then maybe more kids (girls as well) will find a passion in IT. Here's a link to the panel from TechEd: http://mfile.akamai.com/14853/wmv/microsofttec.download.akamai.com/14853/TechEdOnline/Videos/08_NA_ITP_TEOPanel_67_low.asx.
And, here are a few resources regarding Women In Technology:
- WITI – Women In Technology International: http://www.witi.com/
- Women in Technology Organization: http://www.womenintechnology.org/
- Womin in Technology (a government funded project): http://www.womenintech.com/
- Girl Geek Bloggers: http://www.geekgirlblogs.com/Home.aspx (which has a lot of links to other orgs – including the City-based "Girl Geek Dinners" like London Girl Geek Dinners, etc.)
And, I think that's it for now…
Thanks for reading,
kt