TSQL Tuesday time hosted by Ewald (https://sqlonice.com/tsql-tuesday-96-folks-who-have-made-a-difference/) and quite simply one man has morphed me into who I am today – Paul Randal. Over two years ago I was a one of many that had the chance to be mentored by him. It lasted just under one year and the effects were huge for me.

I remember once we exchanged some emails and we set some common goals Paul gave me a list of SQL Server topics that he expected someone of where I wanted to be to know about. Quite simply I hardly knew anything (I still don’t but I have improved). Back then I never even heard of a concept called the tipping point!

After spending months reading and self-learning I had enough, it felt like I was hitting my head against brick walls and that is where my technical skills changed because over the following year I decided to invest in myself and attend ten days’ worth of training with SQLskills.

I learnt loads, I came back to my place of work and applied what I knew and started tuning things that I thought were too broken. The next thing you know I was up for promotion due to high levels of performance all from the knowledge I gained from the courses, which I probably would’ve never attended if it wasn’t for the mentoring scheme. From those classes I met other passionate people who then encouraged me to also show my passion. Those classes had like a snow-ball effect on my life, in a good way!

The best thing about it all? If I ever had a question after all the training and mentoring Paul always answers and by the way, he still does – so thank you Paul.