Kristyna Ferris turned down grad school, learned Power BI, moved into the data world - and never looked back. In this chat with Steve Jones, Kristyna explains why she did it, what she's learned, and even why her first DBA changed her password!

Plus: being a Microsoft MVP, the importance of self-learning, being inspired to get involved with the community, and Kristyna's passion for Lego, movies, and more!

Data on Wheels: https://dataonwheels.wordpress.com/

Watch or listen to every episode of the Simple Talk podcast: https://www.red-gate.com/simple-talk/podcasts/

Taking the initiative. Prioritizing relationships. Doing the work nobody else wants to do. These are just some of the elements that contributed to Chris Yates' rise from a developer to a DBA and, eventually, a Senior Vice President. As he explains to Steve Jones, "you are the CEO of your own brand."

Also in the episode: discover Chris' thoughts on AI, the importance of community, and the one thing he'd now do differently if he were to start from scratch.

Watch or listen to every episode of the Simple Talk podcast:
https://www.red-gate.com/simple-talk/podcasts/

Simple Talk, and the Simple Talk podcast, is brought to you by Redgate Software:
https://www.red-gate.com/

Are engineering teams quietly accepting more risk? Redgate's 2026 State of the Database Landscape report reveals that people are increasingly willing to accept more risk to be more productive and take full advantage of AI's capabilities.

Steve Jones, Kellyn Gorman, Grant Fritchey and Pat Wright share their thoughts on that in today's episode. They share stories from their own careers, debate on whether the decline of the DBA 'gatekeeper' role has weakened security practices, how AI is amplifying the problem - and much more.

Read the 2026 State of the Database Landscape here: https://www.red-gate.com/solutions/state-of-database-landscape/2026/

Watch or listen to all episodes of the Simple Talk podcast at: https://www.red-gate.com/simple-talk/podcasts/