Steel City SQL and Birmingham .NET Meetup are please to host as part of their upcoming {dev = data} DAY event one of two pre-conference training sessions on Friday, August 19th. This pre-con will feature our own SQL Server MVP Robert Cain as he presents Zero to Hero with PowerShell and SQL Server.

There are two kinds of people in the SQL Server world. Those who are using PowerShell, and those that will be. In this session you'll learn how to become one of the "cool kids" using PowerShell. The day will start with an introduction to PowerShell, basic usage and cmdlets. Next we'll dive into programming scripts in PowerShell, starting with the basics of loops, conditional logic, and functions, and moving right along to creating your own reusable modules.

The real meat of the day comes next, learning how to interact with SQL Server from PowerShell. Both the SQL Provider and SMO (SQL Management Objects) DLL library will be covered in full. Most importantly you'll learn how to read the online SMO library documentation and how to convert the examples into PowerShell syntax. The day will culminate by building a reusable module for working with many SQL Server common tasks, such as T-SQL code generation, or performing health checks on your servers.

The day will wrap up with a look at Pester, the new open source PowerShell testing tool. You'll see how to test all the code you generated during the day. Don't be left behind, learn how to leverage the power of PowerShell in your SQL Server environment

Robert C. Cain (http://arcanecode.com) is a Microsoft MVP, MCTS Certified in BI, and is the owner of Arcane Training and Consulting, LLC. He is also a course author for Pluralsight, and co-author of 4 books.

A popular speaker, Robert has presented at events such as the SQL PASS Summit, TechEd, CodeStock, and numerous SQL Saturdays. Robert has over 25 years’ experience in the IT industry, working in a variety of fields including manufacturing, insurance, telecommunications and nuclear power.

Registration includes the full day of in-person training with Robert as well as lunch. Please note that registering for the pre-con does not register you for the {dev = data} DAY free training event on Saturday, August 20, 2016, but you can do so at devdataday.com

Registration check in will begin at 8:00am and Robert's session will start promptly at 8:30am.