The Year 2012 has been Very Exciting with lots of exciting stuffs in various areas including Blogging, Trainings/Sessions, Personal, and Professional Life. Below is a quick run down of various activities in 2012, which also includes the progress I have made on the resolutions taken in the beginning of 2012.

Community Contributions

Microsoft BI Community is a very awesome community and this community which includes Websites, Blogs, Forums, News Groups, Technical Webinars, and Summits etc. is very helpful. This community has helped me to get up to speed on SQL Server and other Microsoft Technologies, which I have got into, and it’s still helping me even today!

I always wanted to give back to the Microsoft BI Community, which has helped me in various different ways during different stages of my IT Career, and as an effort in that direction, I try to contribute to the community in various forms including Blogs, Forums, Trainings, and Sessions etc.

Below is the list of activities in 2012 towards Contributions to Technical Community in general and Microsoft BI Community in particular.

Blogging

One of the major activity during 2012, around blogging, was that I moved my blog to my own domain http://DattatreySindol.com. It’s been more than 3 years since I started my blogging journey in August 2009. This blog has come a long way and helped me in Sharing technical stuffs with community, Learn/Explore new things, Improve my Blogging Skills, Connect with various experts in the Microsoft BI Community, and a lot more.

Initially my blog was on Blogger @ http://MyTechnoBook.blogspot.com, which I then moved to another location on Blogger @ http://DattatreySindol.blogspot.com, which I then finally moved to http://DattatreySindol.com in April 2012. I plan to keep my blogging consistent in the coming year (s) by sharing my learnings and learning from each one fo you.

Here is a quick look at my Blog’s Statistics:

• # of Followers: 140+
• # of Likes on Facebook Page: 50+
• # of Daily Page Views: 125+ (As of 30th November 2012)
• # of Posts Published in 2012: 70+
• Visitors from 126 countries visited my blog in 2012

Here is a quick look at the distribution of visitors who visited http://dattatreysindol.com in 2012.

Here is a list of Technical Series I have written during 2012:

• Tips, Tricks, Techniques, and Shortcuts to Improve Productivity, and Design and Coding Skills
• Links, References, and Learning Resources on SQL Server 2012 (code-named “Denali”)
• SQL Server Analysis Services Interview Questions and Answers
• PowerPivot for Excel Tutorial (In Progress)

Apart from my blog, I also submit Tips and Articles on www.MSSQLTips.com and www.BeyondRelational.com. Below is a list of my submissions on those two sites.

Submissions on www.MSSQLTips.com

• SQL Server: Windows Services for SQL Server
• SSRS: Cumulative Aggregates in SQL Server Reporting Services
• SSAS Interview Questions: Part 1: Questions on Basic Concepts, Data Sources, and Data Source Views
• SSAS Interview Questions: Part 2: Questions on General Dimension Concepts and Types of Dimensions
• SSAS Interview Questions: Part 3: Questions on Dimensions, Hierarchies, and Few Related Properties
• SSAS Interview Questions: Part 4: Questions on Measures, Actions, and Storage
• SSAS Interview Questions: Part 5: Questions on Aggregations, Translations, Perspectives, and Security
• SSAS Interview Questions: Part 6: Questions on Deployment, Processing, Querying, and Accessing
• SSRS: Handling Large Number of Categories in a SSRS Pie Chart
• SSRS: Different ways to create Custom Colors for Charts in SQL Server Reporting Services
• Importing Data from Different Data Sources into PowerPivot for Excel
• Creating Linked Tables in PowerPivot for Excel

Submissions on www.BeyondRelational.com

• SQL Azure: GETDATE() and GETUTCDATE() produce the same output on SQL Azure Database
• SSIS: SSIS Allows Creating Tasks with Same Name in Different Scopes
• SSIS: Text Inside the SSIS Expressions is also Case Sensitive
• SSMS: Easy way to Learn Keyboard Shortcuts in SSMS by Enabling ScreenTips
• SSMS: Specifying Port Number in SSMS while Connecting to Remote SQL Server

Forums

Forums is another area where I have always tried to be consistent and have done some contributions in that area. Below is a quick snapshot of my activities on TechNet Forums.

Feedback Submitted on Microsoft Connect

Microsoft Connect is a great place to submit feedback and report bugs related to Microsoft Products. I have submitted the following cases (feedback):

• SSDT – While choosing to show/hide toolbar in top ribbon, it lists Report Toolbar twice
• SSIS 2012 – Ability to Replicate Environments and Copy Variables Across Environments in Catalog

Trainings

Took a couple of trainings in the following areas during 2012:

• SQL Server Business Intelligence
• SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS)
• SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS)

Sessions

• T-SQL Enhancements in SQL Server 2012
• Introduction to SQL Server Query Processing

Professional/Career Development

Certifications

Taking up certifications was one of my top priorities in 2012. I have successfully completed the 70-448 & 70-452 certification exams and I am now a Microsoft Certified IT Professional (MCITP).

Trainings Sessions

• Attended class room training on OBIEE
• Attended various online trainings/courses (mostly on Pluralsight) related to SQL Server, Windows Azure, and Big Data etc.

Learning is fun and it’s a continues process, and there is no end to it. Learning start on the day we are born and ends on the day we leave this human body!!

Contests

I have participated in few online contests and I was lucky enough to win a contest on Pinal’s Blog and received a set of 5 books of Joes2Pros series (Vol1 through Vol5). Read the full story here.

Technology Competence Building

While we work on the technologies that we have known for years and continue to become stronger in those technological areas, it is also important to learn and explore the new tools/technologies to keep pace with the newly introduced technologies, which inturn helps us in providing better solutions to a given business problem and serve our customers better. As part of this effort, I have been learning and exploring the following new technologies/concepts and I still continue to explore them:

• Big Data (Specifically Microsoft’s Big Data offering – Hadoop on Azure)
• Windows Azure (SQL IaaS)
• PowerPivot
• Power View

Reviewing My Resolutions at the End 2012

In the beginning of 2012, I had made few resolutions, and I have been reviewing them on a quarterly basis to do a quick check on where I stand. My resolutions were in different areas including Certifications, Blogging, Forums, Trainings/Sessions, and Weight Loss etc. and I have improved in pretty much all the areas, though there is a lot of scope to make the things consistent in each of these areas. Weight Loss is something that I need to work on with priority

Contact Me & Connect with Me

Feel free to contact me for any technical queries or any guidance on learning Microsoft BI. Use the Contact Form to write to me.

I am also available on Social Networking sites, so feel free to connect with me on any of the below sites (where I am most active).

• Twitter (@dattatreysindol – https://twitter.com/dattatreysindol)
• LinkedIn (http://www.linkedin.com/in/dattatreysindol)

Note: At the time of sending connect request, please provide a quick one liner on how you know me (through this blog, any other online forum etc.), so that it will help me in controlling spam/fake connect requests

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Thank You All

Finally, I would like to THANK YOU ALL for your encouragement through various modes of communication (online/offline). It helps me stay motivated and continue sharing the knowledge.