Interview with a SQL Server Expert and Wiki Ninja - Prashanth Jayaram

Welcome to another interview with a Wiki Ninja! It's database time, as we interview...

Prashanth Jayaram Prashanth Jayaram's avatar

Let's look at some of Prashanth's stats! Prashanth has had an incredible impact on the community:

  • 39K Recognition Points
  • 31 TechNet Wiki Articles!
  • 1,065 Wiki Edits
  • 432 Wiki Comments
  • 1,099 Forum Answers

And here are some of Prashanth's Wiki articles:

Let's get to the interview!

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Who are you, where are you, and what do you do? What are your specialty technologies?

Hello, my name is Prashanth Jayaram, and I was born in a small town called Shimoga, Karnataka, India. I’m living in Appleton, WI, U.S.A with my family (Wife – Ambika and twin angels Pravitha (Meaning Hero) and Prarthana (Prayer)). I am a DB Technologist having 11 Years of experience. I'm currently working as a Manager – Delivery service [Cognizant Technology Solutions (C.T.S)]. I've more than 11 years experience in designing and implementing SQL and NoSQL projects. Have developed in-house SQL Server Monitoring Solution (PowerSQL) and it's been implemented across 25+ client projects. I have developed “PowerWin” ”, a solution to monitor and administrate Windows Servers. The beta version is released and it’s tested across various clients in our practice. My specialty lies in designing & implementing High availability solutions and cross-platform DB Migration. The technologies currently working on are SQL Server, PowerShell, Oracle and MongoDB.

Prashanth at the office, with his wife and daughters:

prashanth_familyatoffice    

What are your big projects right now?

I’m a SQL server certified (MCTS and MCITP), Oracle certified (OCP) and Hardware and Network certified (A+)  and preparing for NoSQL certification. Have complete several virtual courses on NoSQL technology. Also, working on DB Monitoring Solutions Whitepaper. Recently completed the migration from Oracle to SQL 2012. Database consolidation and database migration to SQL 2014/2016 is our priority for 2017.The next version “PowerWin” is going to be released in the first quarter of 2017. My next article “The JSON in SQL 2016” is on its way.

   

What is TechNet Wiki for? Who is it for?

TechNet WIKI is all about collaboration of great ideas, in-depth information of research, platform to learn and share knowledge, stage to work with a different class of technologist. It’s a technical layer for current/future references of great ideas.

It’s an ocean where the ultimate source is knowledge and sharing. It’s for every IT engineer. There will be a room for improvement at every stage and at every level. When you share your knowledge with a different class of people the experience that we are going to gain is immense so I would recommend it for everyone who wants to stay healthy and active in the IT era.

 

What do you do with TechNet Wiki, and how does that fit into the rest of your job?

When you work in any organization, you are tied to boundary. When you tend to explore and have a passion or eagerness to share knowledge then TechNet WIKI is a great platform to help other people which in turn build ones confidence to perform better in the current role.

During my daily schedule, I will sneak into TechNet forums to read answers posted under various categories which give a different perspective and dimension to my ability to perform and do a quality work. On my free time, I spend time in writing article and blogging. 

Prashanth's daughters:

prashanth_daughters

What is it about TechNet Wiki that interests you?

It’s the quality, depth, and constructive feedback helps in many ways. It has an indirect effect of growing individually in our current roles.

 

In what other sites and communities do you contribute your technical knowledge?

I have written well over 150 articles on my personal blog. I also spend time in the following forums

·       SQL Server Central,

·       Toad World SQL Server,

·       DZone

·       c-sharpcorner

             

On what articles have you collaborated with other community members on #TNWiki? What was that experience like?

Have edited various articles of other community members, It gives a great pleasure when its accolade by author and gets a recognition and positive feedback in the center stage from experts and judges.  The idea is to improve the quality of the article hence irrespective of your area of interest spending time with other articles gives a different dimension and idea to write a quality article. I got various hints and tips by reading and editing other articles. On posting article in the TechNetWIKI  Facebook page helps  to get instant feedback that will help the author to improve his writing skills and work on building a quality  article.

                 

On what Wiki articles do you spend most of your time?

I spend my time mostly on PowerShell and SQL Server database related articles. I love to collaborate the power of PowerShell with SQL Server.

                   

What are your top 5 favorite Wiki articles?

All Wiki articles are favorites for me! I love the articles written by Ryen Kia Zhi Tang, and by Ronen.

Here are some of my favorites:

Visual Studio Code: Getting Started with PowerShell https://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/35780.visual-studio-code-getting-started-with-powershell.aspx

SQL Server: Getting Started with MS SQL Server on Ubuntu https://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/36376.sql-server-getting-started-with-ms-sql-server-on-ubuntu.aspx

Database Engine: Dynamic Data Masking https://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/31419.database-engine-dynamic-data-masking.aspx

SQL-Server(s)-inventory-excel-csv-console-using-PowerShell-smo-and-rmo https://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/34886.sql-server-powershell-export-server-inventory-to-csv.aspx

PoSH - DiskSpace GUI Tool https://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/34900.powershell-disk-space-gui-tool.aspx

             

Who has impressed you in the Wiki community, and why?

Every contributor in the community who shows real passion impressed me a lot. It's a time to say thanks to some great contributors:

Ed Price – For his character, humble nature and motivating many technical enthusiasts like me

Shanky – for his sound knowledge on SQL Server and helping community with great quality answer

Ronen – The way he conduct himself in managing and administrating the forum is truly amazing

Peter Geelan – Great attitude to keep the site clean and helping many WIKI authors

Syed Shanu - For giving frank opinion, feedback, zeal to contribute to the community

Richard Mueller – warrior of the community

Hillary Cotter – Great knowledge and great contribution towards Replication technology

Brandon Williams – Quality answer towards replication technology

Jingyang Li  - Great T-SQL expert

Visakh – T-SQL and BI Guru. I love his quality answers

Peter Laker – For his valuable time and great contribution by playing various roles of the forum

Ken Cenerelli – for his great writing

Saeid Hasani – For his work on configuring HA SQL 2014 Alberto Morillo - Your contribution to the community is significant and greatly admired by me all the time.

And to SanthaKumar, Kamlesh, Sandeep Shekhawat, Sabah, Chen V, Gaurav Kumar Arora, Chilberto, Waqas Sarwar, Mandar Dharmadhikari, Abhishek, Venu, Vivek Jagga, Bhushan Gawale and list continues.. for their great contribution.

             

Do you have any tips for new Wiki authors?

Read and follow the TechNet WIKI guidelines, which will solve various unknown issues at later stages of the community

Read few articles before writing a new article!

Post your article in the Facebook group to get valuable feedback. There is always a room for improvement to write quality articles.

Make sure you nominate the article in the monthly Technet GURU competition!

 

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I love it! Those are some great tips for new Wiki authors. Posting in Facebook and entering it in Guru will help you get feedback, get eyes on your article, and to get it into the community more! Great advice!

Thank you, Prashanth for all your contributions to our community!

As to everyone reading this, please join me by posting your thanks to Prashanth, in the comments below!

 

Jump on in! The Wiki is Warm!

- Ninja Ed