It’s Tuesday, it’s time for weekly round-up #47.  As an introduction, if you follow me on twitter (@StrateSQL), you’ll know that throughout the day I tweet out some links of things I find interesting.  While these links aren’t the answer to life, the universe, and everything, they do share a few things about SQL Server and other topics that people that follow me may find useful. The links included in this summary are those prefixed with ”Reading” and are items I’ve read over the past few days, usually after hours when sharing would be less than useful, and spaced out to avoid spamming.  The content of the links usually pertain to SQL Server, technology, and career topics; which I think others would find useful.

Most Popular Link

The most popular link last week was one that has to do with certifications.  Funny thing about certifications, if you were paying attention over the weekend, you’d have seen that Microsoft retired the Masters and Architect level certifications.  So the question to consider, are certifications worthwhile?

Reading: "What Drives IT Certifications?" http://t.co/64UiJMZk7B #certification

— Jason Strate (@StrateSQL) August 29, 2013

Last week’s top 20 “Reading” Links

Along with the top link, here are the top twenty items relating to SQL Server, technology and careers that were sent out last week.  If you missed them throughout the week, here’s the opportunity to get caught up on some items that other’s read after I linked them out.

1. What Drives IT Certifications? [48 clicks]
2. When To Leave Your Programming Job [31 clicks]
3. Wrap inserts in a transaction for faster performance [30 clicks]
4. Do You Make These 3 Common Mistakes and Get Lost in Procrastination? [25 clicks]
5. CHOOSE in SQL Server 2012 [21 clicks]
6. SSMS – Enabling Ctrl+R Shortcut to show or hide query results/messages pane [17 clicks]
7. Joins are Commutative and SQL Server Knows it [15 clicks]
8. Scaling the Database: Why You Shouldn’t Cluster on GUIDs [15 clicks]
9. Inside SQL Server Latches – Bob Ward [14 clicks]
10. Improving performance by using SET STATISTICS IO [13 clicks]
11. How to Create an SSIS Auditing Framework [12 clicks]
12. I’m using simple recovery, so the log file isn’t important right? – SQL Server with Mr. Denny [11 clicks]
13. SQL Server Partition Management Utility: Part 1 [9 clicks]
14. The Accidental DBA (Day 19 of 30): Tools for On-Going Monitoring [8 clicks]
15. Optimized Non-clustered Index Maintenance [8 clicks]
16. The Accidental DBA (Day 24 of 30): Virtualization High Availability [7 clicks]
17. 10 Tips for Efficient Disaster Recovery [7 clicks]
18. PowerView and System Health Session–CPU health [6 clicks]
19. Why Windows Azure SQL Database May Be Right For You [5 clicks]
20. Report Model (SMDL) Alternatives in SQL Server 2012 [4 clicks]

Other Stuff Shared

Of course, no week would be complete without a few off-topic links.  These have nothing to do with technology or your career, but they are interesting and worth a second look.

1. Well, this photo is creepy [40 clicks]
2. California Begins Confiscating Legally-Purchased Guns [22 clicks]
3. The One Thing Holding You Back [16 clicks]
4. Earn It. [11 clicks]
5. The Power of Gratitude: 5 Simple Tips That Will Help You [8 clicks]
6. Big Ole’ Smelly Fart – Achy Breaky Heart Parody [8 clicks]
7. Exploding Actresses 02 – Love Movies [6 clicks]
8. Jay Z & Justin Timberlake vs. Ivan Gough & Jebu – Holy Kukatu Grail (Hardwell MashUp) [5 clicks]
9. The Bacon Weave Choco Taco [5 clicks]
10. Experimenting with Social Media [2 clicks]
11. DVBBS & Borgeous – TSUNAMI (Original Mix) [2 clicks]
12. Avicii – Wake Me Up (Official Video) [2 clicks]

Got something you think I should read and share, leave a comment below.  Also, if you want to see all of the links that were tweeted out last week?  Then follow the links on my tumblr blog or subscribe to it’s RSS feed. https://twitter.com/StrateSQL/status/369250373820637185