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Dave Mason Interviews Chrissy LeMaire

Dave Mason recently interviewed Chrissy LeMaire on topics Powershell:

[Dave]: It’s natural to have bias toward the tools and technology we know, which can lead to spirited debate. Most of the time, it’s friendly and thoughtful. I’ve been getting a sense of “us and them” regarding T-SQL vs PowerShell. Do you get that sense too?

[Chrissy]: Yes, which has been pretty surprising to me. As a PowerShell MVP, it sometimes feels like fellow DBAs may see me as an invader of SQL territory, when in fact, I’ve been a DBA for 17 of the 20 years that I’ve been in IT. I even updated my Twitter profile to make it clear that I’ve been a SQL Server DBA since 1999. I believe this issue will resolve itself as DBAs begin to see how PowerShell can make their jobs way easier. I’m also hoping that mySQL Server Migration script, which has no T-SQL (or even C#) equivalent, will be as persuasive as it is useful.

I remember reading an article in SQL Server Magazine back around 2002 that made the case for DBAs to learn T-SQL and other scripting languages. My first thought was “Wait, there are DBAs that don’t know T-SQL?” I always thought T-SQL was part of the job description, and it’s the same now with PowerShell. This belief was further enforced by the fact that when I was getting started with PowerShell and SQL, Simple Talk’s Phil Factor and Laerte Junior already had a ton of stuff out there and a few books about SQL Server and PowerShell had already been written. I thought I was late to the party.

This is a fun read; check it out.