The Buzz on Guerrilla Training Classes

1  What attendees are saying

Mark Cwetna, Schwab (2013):

"It was a profound honor to attend your Guerrilla Data Analysis Techniques class this past week.  I can't think of enough accolades to describe your level of commitment to education, your in-depth knowledge of performance technologies, analysis techniques and your infectious desire to instill quality in every word/idea.  In my lifetime you are one of the rarest breeds of educators that I've ever had the good fortune to have experienced.  I now have the confidence, tools and educational prowess to go forth and spread the good word.  From the depths of my being I offer you my profound gratitude for sharing your knowledge with me.  I will do my best to honor you and the field of capacity and performance to the best of my abilities."

Maulan Byron, Comcast (2013):

"The GCAP class is frankly the best performance class I have attended. The first 2 days alone were worth the price of admission. It was focussed and detailed with very relevant examples. I'll be back for the GData class."

Joshua Jin, Database Architect (2012):

"The Guerrilla Capacity Planning class is a fantastic class. Dr. Gunther has a unique ability explaining the complex Queuing theory in such way that we all can comprehend without much difficulties.  He taught the class with passion. After attending the training, I feel that his book contents are much easier to read. To enhance the learning, Dr. Gunther demonstrated using Queuing Networks and solving PDQ problems in R.  For IT capacity professionals, this class prepares you with knowledge, insight, and tools to be successful.  It is highly recommended!"

Arun Kejariwal, Netflix (2012):

"I enrolled to Neil's Guerrilla Data Analysis class based on the recommendation of my colleagues at work. The discussion about USL and queuing models apply to various scenarios was insightful. The discussion about Guftanson Trend and how it compares to Amdahl's Law was interesting. Last but not the least, I learned about new ways of data visualization. The fact that Neil shares his scripts is a big plus."

Greg Rogers, Schwab (2011):

"The fractal analysis of Oracle query response times [in the Guerrilla Data Analysis class] was awesome. It, along with Principal Components Analysis and machine learning, were worth the price of admission!"

Gary Little, NetApp (2011):

"Putting together a trip report about recent GBoot and GCaP performance training. I'd forgotten how enjoyable it was. Thanks @DrQz"  [You're welcome. ¹  —njg ]

Asa Hendrick, SunTrust Bank (2011):

"If your looking for training that will challenge your presumptions and help you to think in new ways, Guerrilla Capacity Planning is an excellent choice. In short, Dr. Gunther provided an excellent foundation and a new perspective that will improve my effectiveness as a Capacity and Performance engineer."

Thyya Ung, CoreLogic (2011):

"It was an eye opening learning experience taking your class."

Glenn Lockwood, U.S. Cellular (2010):

"I especially enjoyed the first-hand war stories that make the GDAT lessons come alive. The progression of topics was brilliant. I found myself pondering questions about digital filters and neural nets as analysis tools only to find the topics covered subsequently. Even the coverage of significant digits and rounding applies to current problems I am asked to provide leadership and guidance on as a software engineer."

Henry Colonna, Quest Diagnostics (2010):

"Having taken your Guerrilla Data Analysis Techniques course I understand the beauty of mathematics and statistics in resolving complex capacity and performance issues. Your course provides a baseline in developing capacity reporting that is meanful to senior management. Also, I have R as a new tool in my arsenal to assist me."

Ben Krein, AWeber (2010):

"Recovering from a week at Guerrilla Capacity Planning. Thanks again for the excellent and challenging class!"

Carl Davis, Oracle (2009):

"The Guerrilla Capacity Planning class was by far the best technical class I have been to. Dr Gunther made the class interesting by telling war stories from his many years in the business and as a leader in the field of capacity planning. I would strongly advise taking this class. There is no substitute for getting the knowledge from the true expert in the field. I can't wait to put this knowledge to practice. I look forward to take more classes from Dr Gunther."

Joshua Barratt, Media Temple (2009):

"Even though I have over 10 years of practical experience building and running production systems, I left this class with a much deeper understanding of how, fundamentally, to analyze questions of performance, scale, and capacity. I got some practical skills that I was able to apply during the week of the class itself, as well as a good introduction to a family of tools (like PDQ and R) that, while they'll take some time to master, are already proving useful."

Bryan Le, IBM (2009):

"This course was outstanding. i really like the way he laid out the concepts and gave examples of how to apply the concepts from his own consultant experiences. I also like the model approach to performance management and capacity planning."

Greg Smyth, Facebook (2009):

"Great course, I'll never look at certain graphs in the same way again...

Mark Monaghan, Terraprova (2009):

"When I am rummaging about in the bowels of systems, in a never ending test/measure/tweak/tear at my few remaining hairs cycle in pursuit of maximum performance, it is difficult to remember that a view from a bit further back might be in order. The GCaP class was refreshingly practical and presented techniques and concepts that will be useful in determining where to focus my efforts and provide clients and management with information that can be readily grasped by all but the densest nudniks. And let us not forget the Universal Scalability Law. This in itself is worth the price of admission. Throw in the never ending flow of calories and the very relevant anecdotes and what you have is an informative and enjoyable week that far surpasses any other industry class I have attended."

Joe Lenart, AETNA (2009):

"I thought your Guerrilla Capacity Planning class was highly insightful and full of great techniques that I can apply immediately within my occupation as a Capacity Planner. Your real-life examples and anecdotes have not only awakened my mind to what to look for in situations that may be crucial in quickly identifying capacity-related problems, but they were entertaining enough that I expect the benefit of your experience will stick with me for a long time to come. Your simplified, yet mathematically accurate equations (as you proved to us in class) were much easier to understand and apply to real workplace situations than much of the Ph.D thesis-level examples in other books. As a result they are tools that will help me improve my understanding of complex architectures and to better support them in short order. I have already talked to my management about coming back for your follow-up course, and have also spoken to the manager of our Performance Lab, as I believe the techniques that you outline will be useful in helping my team to work with them to design better application performance tests. Thanks for your time and insights. I look forward to attending Guerilla Capacity Planning—The Sequel."

Stefan Parvu, Sun Microsystems, Finland (2008):

"The GCaP class is highly recommended to any System Administrator or System Service management personnel. Finally a class not about a software product in particular but about concepts and methodologies of what is Performance Analysis and Capacity Planning. Simple applied to our todays economy the GCaP is a must for anyone involved in Capacity Planning and Performance Analysis. GCaP served me as an example in building System Data Recorder, a proof of concept around GCaP, which helps you look to your data center: analyzing certain workloads, consolidate where is the case, ultimate saving energy."

Vladimir Begun, Oracle (2008):

" 'We are the champions, ....' [quoting the Queen song in the context of "Go forth and Kong-ka!"]. Seriously, it (Guerrilla Boot Camp) was great! I really like how you approach the issues; simplicity but not over-simplification. The examples from your own experience are real gems in the "crown" of the class. You know one cannot learn how to manage people from a person who never managed a company and achieved something. That's why I picked your class. When one wants to learn something he should go not just for the information but from the right person as well. Very good atmosphere, a clear and horizon-expanding presentation of actual experiences in the capacity planning. About right for a jump-start! Eager to attend the Level II class."

Tim McCluskey, Independent (2008):

"This (Guerrilla Boot Camp) course was excellent! A very practical approach to performance analysis, with real-world examples. Neil does an outstanding job getting the material across with the utmost of simplicity. I recommend this class to anyone who wants to gain the basics skills necessary for capacity and performance management. I look forward to attending his other courses."

Scott Roberts, UPS (2008):

"Your work hits a fundamental truth; you're absolutely right in that most capacity planning systems cost far too much and are too complex for current development and implementation cycles. Using your methods I've developed a new capacity planning workflow using Excel and Perl::PDQ which saves a few months of work each year."

Scott Christensen, MBA, PMP (2007):

"Thank you for providing such a great class on Capacity Planning. I am still thinking how great of a class it was. The class is by far the best class that I have had, including previous capacity planning courses. Having previously studied physical science, the connection of modeled data to physical models proves to be very useful. Your choice of accommodations and geographic proximity is excellent."

Paul Puglia, Merrill Lynch (2006):

" Guerilla Capacity Planning is one of the best courses I've taken."

Moses Chu, Kaiser Permanente (2006):

"After I come back (from the class), I have attended a 12 hours long Data Center project through the past weekend. After the work, I thought about the theory and practice you have shared from your past years experience. I would call this class a total value for Capacity planners. The experience that you shared is particular worthwhile and eye opening. I want to thank you for hosting such a event."

Paul Cao, Hewlett-Packard (2006):

"It's one of the best training classes I ever had (it's number one on my list)."

Henry Colonna, Quest Diagnostics (2006):

"In general, it was a great course that provided a lot of information I needed to report response time numbers. Also, It provided a lot of information too how the capacity tool that I use works internally. I am looking forward to start to use PDQ to produce refined models and use it with my present toolset. (ps, I went to the grocery store this week and discovered that I will never look at a grocery line the same again!!) ... Thanks."

Allen Blackburn, IBM (2004):

"I'd like to thank you again for the class. I really learned a lot! I was so excited to get back and try out the MVRA ('noisy fingers') that I immediately started working on a script to collect the 6 different types of data."

Stuart Plotkin, MetLife (2004):

"Thanks a lot for the class, it was really great. I think it was brilliant how your were able to zero in on key concepts and drill them in to our heads."

Greg Rogers, Compaq (2001):

"I did learn performance and CP methods I'd not previously encountered."

Ken Ward, Sprint (2000):

"I found your 'Guerilla Capacity Planning' course to be the most in-depth and interesting of all similar courses I've attended over the years and, I continue to be impressed with your follow-up emails and information."

Jeff and Eric, NetGain (1998):

"Thank you for the great instruction. We are already applying it. In thanks, we thought you might enjoy this book ( The Goal via Amazon.com) ... it's about bottleneck indentification and adaption in a factory floor ² and a bit of a love story."

Irwin Kraus, Amdahl Corp. (1995):

"Useful? Are you kidding? Your treatment is by far the clearest and most pragmatic I have ever seen."

2  Comments where attribution has been lost to the mists of time

• "Probably the most mind-expanding presentation I've seen."
  
  
• "You have a gift for visualization and presentation!"
  
  
• "I like the idea that someone in this world works with math like Dr. Gunther does."
  
  
• "You seemed to stir up quite an interest in a topic which most people would prefer to ignore on the grounds that it is 'too hard'."
  
  
• "What is hard to come by, is a person with both specialist knowledge and the ability to convey it to others. You've demonstrated this uncommon combination of qualities."
  
  
• "Thanks for one of the best [lectures] that has been presented to [our] group."
  
  
• "The simplified queueing theory in itself was worth the price of admission!"
  
  

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