SQLskills Blackbelt Base Camp – Class of 2024
UPDATE: This Base Camp Event has COMPLETED! Thank you to all who attended, participated, and contributed to this fantastic series! Congratulations to all of you who have achieved your SQL Server 2019 Blackbelt Badge and are working on your SQL Server 2022 Blackbelt Badge.
Original page content below:
We know that finding time for training is difficult in and of itself. Add “recorded courses” and some people just can’t stay motivated. Or, their offices don’t give them time. Or, you think, you’ll have lingering questions that will go unanswered. Or, there’s just no schedule or forcing factor to keep you going (ok, the badges are cool but you still have to be motivated). So, we’ve come up with a plan! We’re calling it our Blackbelt Base Camp – Class of 2024.
Starting in October 2023 and running through June 2024, we will have required course materials each week to review. Each week will represent roughly 1 full day of training. We recommend that you set aside 2 hours per day (same time every day or you pick!). But, we want you to BLOCK IT ON YOUR CALENDAR. We want you to get sign-off from your manager. We want you to be able to LEARN – effectively. If you’re constantly being interrupted, you won’t retain the content. However, if you can focus – even for just 2 hours a day – you can truly absorb the content and help make it stick!
Furthermore, at the end of each course, we will have an open Q&A with at least 2 or 3 SMEs (Subject Matter Experts) on hand to cover any of your remaining questions!
Background
Our online courses were recorded as “half” days. Each day followed this general pattern:
- 90 minutes of lecture
- Up to 30 minutes of Q&A
- 30 Minute break (not recorded)
- 90 minutes of lecture
- Up to 60 minutes of Q&A
Your Review / Study Schedule
Each day, we recorded roughly 4 hours of content with some courses requiring more Q&A time and others less. We recommend watching these as they were recorded and follow that same pattern:
- Monday: Watch the first 90-minute lecture plus 30-minute Q&A (of one “course day”)
- Tuesday: Watch the second 90-minute lecture plus up to 60-minute Q&A (of that same “course day”)
- Wednesday: Watch the first 90-minute lecture plus 30-minute Q&A of the next day
- Thursday: Watch the second 90-minute lecture plus up to 60-minute Q&A of that same day
- Friday: Use your allotted time to review content that you want to go back through or that’s particularly important to you. Use this time to go through additional links / resources / demo scripts. Write-up a summary for the week and send yourself an email with your questions. Hopefully, you’[ll get these questions answered over the coming weeks of that same course but if not – send us your questions in email by the Friday before the open Q&A date (just so we can make sure to consolidate questions and/or create materials – if needed).
The Entire Base Camp Schedule
More specifically, the schedule will look like this:
IEAzure: COMPLETED
- Week of October 2, 2023 – Review Day 1 (M/T) and Day 2 (W/Th) of IEAzure
- Week of October 9, 2023 – Review Day 3 (M/T) and Day 4 (W/Th) of IEAzure
- Week of October 16, 2023 – Review Day 5 (M/T) and Day 6 (W/Th) of IEAzure
- Tuesday, October 24, 2023 – Open Q&A Day (EMAIL Q&A BY EOD Sunday, October 22, 2023: please send questions to training@SQLskills.com with the subject: IEAzure Base Camp Open Q&A Questions)
UPDATE: We are also adding an IEAzure to the END of this sequence so that a few more folks can “hop in” and join us for our Base Camp from IEPTO1 to IEAzure (at the end).
SHORT BREAK: No required review for 1.5 weeks. (IMPORANT: For folks in the US, IEPTO1 runs through Thanksgiving. Some people will happily review during this time while others may take time off. Please consider this in your schedule. You might want to use some of this break to being reviewing IEPTO1 early!
IEPTO1: COMPLETED
- Week of November 6, 2023 – Review Day 1 and Day 2 of IEPTO1
- Week of November 13, 2023 – Review Day 3 and Day 4 of IEPTO1
- Week of November 20, 2023 – Review Day 5 and Day 6 of IEPTO1
- Week of November 27, 2023 – Review Day 7 and Day 8 of IEPTO1
- Week of December 4, 2023 – Review Day 9 and Day 10 of IEPTO1
- Tuesday, December 12, 2023 at 10am PT – Open Q&A Day (EMAIL Q&A BY EOD Sunday, December 10, 2023: please send questions to training@SQLskills.com with the subject: IEPTO1 Base Camp Open Q&A Questions
WINTER BREAK: No required review until January. (Depending on your schedule, you might also use this time to get ahead?)
IEVLT: COMPLETED
- Week of January 1, 2024 – Review Day 1 and Day 2 of IEVLT
- Week of January 8, 2024 – Review Day 3 and Day 4 of IEVLT
- Tuesday, January 16, 2024 – Open Q&A Day (EMAIL Q&A BY EOD Sunday, January 14, 2024: please send questions to training@SQLskills.com with the subject: IEVLT Base Camp Open Q&A Questions)
SHORT BREAK: No required review for 1.5 weeks.
IEPTO2: COMPLETED
- Week of January 29, 2024 – Review Day 1 and Day 2 of IEPTO2
- Week of February 5, 2024 – Review Day 3 and Day 4 of IEPTO2
- Week of February 12, 2024– Review Day 5 and Day 6 of IEPTO2
- Week of February 19, 2024– Review Day 7 and Day 8 of IEPTO2
- Week of February 26, 2024– Review Day 9 and Day 10 of IEPTO2
- Thursday March 21 (postponed from March 5, 2024) – Open Q&A Day (EMAIL Q&A BY EOD Sunday, March 3, 2023: please send questions to training@SQLskills.com with the subject: IEPTO2 Base Camp Open Q&A Questions)
SHORT BREAK: No required review for 1.5 weeks.
IECAG: COMPLETED
- Week of March 18, 2024 – Review Day 1 and Day 2 of IECAG
- Week of March 25, 2024 – Review Day 3 and Day 4 of IECAG
- Tuesday, April 2, 2024 – Open Q&A Day (EMAIL Q&A BY EOD Sunday, March 31, 2024: please send questions to training@SQLskills.com with the subject: IECAG Base Camp Open Q&A Questions)
SHORT BREAK: No required review for 1.5 weeks.
IECS: COMPLETED
- Week of April 15, 2024 – Review Day 1 and Day 2 of IECS
- Week of April 22, 2024 – Review Day 3 of IECS on MONDAY / TUESDAY
- Thursday, April 25, 2024 – Open Q&A Day (EMAIL Q&A BY EOD Tuesday, April 23, 2024: please send questions to training@SQLskills.com with the subject: IECS Base Camp Open Q&A Questions)
SHORT BREAK: No required review for 1.5 weeks.
IEQS
- Week of May 6, 2024 – Review Day 1 and Day 2 of IEQS
- Week of May 13, 2024 – Review Day 3 of IEQS on MONDAY / TUESDAY
- Thursday, May 16, 2024 – Open Q&A Day (EMAIL Q&A BY EOD Tuesday, May 14, 2024: please send questions to training@SQLskills.com with the subject: IEQS Base Camp Open Q&A Questions)
IEAzure
- Week of May 27, 2024 – Review Day 1 (M/T) and Day 2 (W/Th) of IEAzure
- Week of June 3, 2024 – Review Day 3 (M/T) and Day 4 (W/Th) of IEAzure
- Week of June 10, 2024 – Review Day 5 (M/T) and Day 6 (W/Th) of IEAzure
- Tuesday, June 18, 2024 – Open Q&A Day (EMAIL Q&A BY EOD Sunday, June 16, 2024: please send questions to training@SQLskills.com with the subject: IEAzure Base Camp Open Q&A Questions)
Additionally, on Wednesday, July 24th– we will have a closing Q&A and a what to do next!
NOTE: This has been moved out a few weeks so that you have time to review anything you want… and send us any of your remaining questions. Please send questions no later than Friday, July 19th. Thank you!
In Summary
Look, you HAVE to do work to learn. Just watching something isn’t enough. You need to apply yourself. You need to focus. You need TIME to learn. We’ve got the schedule. We’ve got the content. We’ll get you to base camp. Can you MASTER THE CONTENT and SUMMIT?
“You do not climb a mountain like Everest by trying to race ahead on your own, or by competing with your comrades. You do it slowly and carefully, by unselfish teamwork.” – Sir Edmund Hillary
Let SQLskills be part of your team over the next year; we’ll work together to help you get ahead in your work and career.
