From Zero to Hero: Accidental SQL Server DBAs Survival Guide

Many SQL Server DBAs didn’t choose the role, it chose them.

This session is a practical, no-nonsense survival guide for developers, IT professionals, and support engineers who suddenly find themselves responsible for keeping SQL Server alive, secure, and performant.

Rather than deep internals or theoretical tuning, this talk focuses on what you need to know on day one, week one, and month one to avoid the most common (and painful) mistakes.

You’ll learn how to:

> Secure a SQL Server instance without locking yourself out
> Design backup and restore strategies that actually work when things go wrong
> Implement essential maintenance to prevent slowdowns, corruption, and outages
> Monitor the right signals so you can spot problems before users do
> Troubleshoot common performance and availability issues with confidence

By the end of the session, attendees will leave with:

>A clear mental model of what a SQL Server DBA is responsible for
> A practical checklist they can apply immediately in their own environments

> The confidence to respond calmly when something breaks — and fix it properly

If you’ve ever been told “you look after the database now” and weren’t sure where to start, this session will help you move from firefighting to control, and from accidental DBA to trusted SQL Server hero.

Understand the core responsibilities of a SQL Server DBA Learn practical, real-world techniques for backups, maintenance, monitoring, and troubleshooting Build confidence as an accidental DBA by knowing what to prioritise, what to automate, and how to respond calmly and effectively when problems occur.