The largest city in Kentucky, and one of two first-class cities, stands Louisville. It’s one of the oldest cities west side of the Appalachian Mountains, and is home to the Kentucky Derby, Kentucky Fried Chicken, and the University of Louisville. Louisville’s airport is also the site of United Postal Service’s worldwide air hub.
If you’re here over memorial day weekend Louisville hosts the largest annual Beatles Festival, Abbey Road on the River. In the summer they have Shakespeare in Central Park. The Frazier History Museum is the only museum outside of the UK that has a collection of Royal Armories artifacts. As well as the Kentucky Science Center being the largest hands-on science center (in Kentucky). Fan of Muhammad Ali? The Muhammad Ali Center opened November 2005 and features his boxing memorabilia.
Tell Me a Little More
Chris Yates and John Morehouse (who happens to run this blog) both help to run the Louisville, KY user group.
When did you begin your professional career?
C: The year 2000
J: 1998 as an intern for Mutual of Omaha.
What’s a normal week at work like for you?
C: Help lead a talented DBA team in supporting an enterprise wide footprint within the financial district. Meetings abound which means collaboration with other technical units occur. Always keep in contact with John throughout the week as we work toward pushing the Louisville Power BI and SQL user group forward into the future.
J: My normal work week is somewhat chaotic at the moment. I range from helping the application development team architect new databases for their projects to doing performance tuning as well as keeping the lights on.
What was your first IT or computer project that added value? (For example, something that was not a part of school assignment or a learning project)
C: Writing an import job in the medical industry for case management.
J: I built the first web page for the physics department in college. It wasn’t an assignment or anything, I just took interest in it and stood one up somewhere in the 1999/2000 date range.
What sort of career do you think you’d pursue today if you hadn’t chose IT?
C: Law Enforcement; father was a 32 year police veteran when he retired.
J: Something to do in the physical sciences. In college I really enjoyed a health physics class and was looking to pursue that as a career.
When did you come to the area?
C: Lived in Louisville all my life
J: January 2015
What caused you to decide to help as a volunteer leader?
C: After attending my first PASS Summit in 2011 I knew that I had to give back. PASS changed my career over the course of these last six years and if we reach one it will be worth the effort.
J: It’s always been in my nature to help others so when I had the chance to reboot the Omaha SQL Server user group in 2007, the rest is downhill from there.
What is the IT community like in your town?
C: Thriving. It has grown over the last 2-3 years.
J: The DBA market in Louisville, KY is very strong at the moment. As for other IT careers, I can’t speak to that.
What do you enjoy doing in the area?
C: Being active, I enjoy running and any and all sports. Spending time with family at various events around town.
J: I enjoy hanging out with my kids for the most part. There are also a number of good-eats-type-places so I like to enjoy food that you can only find here.
What do you recommend visitors to your town do on their own #sqlvacation?
C: Experience downtown 4th street, Complete the bourbon trail, Explore the historic districts, Catch a Louisville Bats game, Hit Churchill Down and the museum, Louisville Science Center, Drive out to Bardstown (40 min or so) and take a tour of My Old KY Home.
J: Take in a Louisville Bats game (if they are sports fans), or the Mega Caverns under the city. The distillery tours are also very popular and fun to do. Even if you aren’t a drinker you get to learn about the process of how bourbon is made. Pretty cool stuff.
Enter the #SQLVacation 2017 Contest!
Have you set your vacation plans for the summer? If so, share them with the #SQLFamily community and on social media using the hashtag #SQLVacation for a chance to win an awesome apron and ThinkGeek gift card! Visit the SQL Vacation page for more contest details.
Contest ends July 29th, and you don’t want to miss it. Happy Summer!
-Kev
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