Thoughts on #SQLFamily

This is the second time I've participated in the "Meme Monday" blog events that have been brought to us by Tom LaRock (blog | @SQLRockstar). The topic is on what "SQL Family" means to us. A few things popped into my head as soon as I read it, and I'm happy to share them:

First and foremost SQLFamily means there's **people you can count on** for help, no matter what time it is. Twitter definitely makes this possible, because there's always people in our family awake in some part of the world, online and chattering about something. The #sqlhelp hash tag makes it even easier to accomplish this.

Another thing that's made me feel special about our SQLFamily since the very beginning was the sense of equality between members. There's a very wide range of skills between all of us, from those who are just getting started in the database world all the way up to the experts that write books, documentation, and exams for everyone. I'm very proud to say that I've never witnessed any form of elitist behavior, and it's really nice to know that those at the top of the food chain haven't forgotten that they started off at the bottom at one point too.

Finally, like any other type of family, there's plenty of encouragement going around in our SQLFamily. It's an incredibly supportive and accepting environment. When someone does something awesome like pass a certification exam, give a presentation or publish an excellent blog post, there's always plenty of hi-fives and love to go around. To me it's a lot like the "cool kids club" in grade school, except membership is really and truly open to everyone. That's why I love it so much.