I didn’t take the conventional path to database Continuous Delivery (CD).
CD for databases is a really interesting problem, and when you get it working it’s beautiful. I’ve spent quite a lot of time playing with differing database CD approaches using various tools. The revealing thing is my perspective on it. I’m not a developer… I’m a pre-sales engineer at Red Gate.
So what is my perspective?
My job is two-fold:
- Work with dev teams outside Red Gate (our customers) to help them get database CD up and running.
- Use the insight I gain to help our dev team build products that make database CD easier for everyone.
I’ve worked with a few teams at Red Gate. Of course, they were all amazing, but some were more amazing than others. ;-P
My current dev team is the most amazing. They are not only practising CD themselves (mostly) but they are also building products to help other people achieve it. I see first hand the benefit of releasing regularly, and I see the exasperation when one of the devs not only breaks the build on the release branch, but then goes on a three day conference leaving it in an broken state the day before ‘Release Wednesday’. (I’m not naming names but you know who you are!)
I also work with many other dev teams (our clients). An average developer may move companies every few years so perhaps they have worked at a handful of organisations spread over a long period. Perhaps a consultant can work with several clients per month. I often work with dozens of teams per week, both remotely and in some cases on site. I work with developers and DBAs around the world in pretty much every business sector from health care to financial services to software consultancy. For example, I am currently in the Netherlands having spent three days setting up database CD at an online retailer.
So why is my perspective interesting?
I see the same patterns again and again. They can be tool based or process based and often they are down to personality clashes or organisational structure. The most astonishing thing to me is how many people around the world are facing the same problems.
In this blog I will discuss some of the things that I find most interesting about working with software development teams and the curious things I see repeated around the world. I am also liable to discuss the database CD pipeline and all the cool things that it entails such as database source control, automated testing, continuous integration and release management.
Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoy the ride!