Kirsten Benzel

DBA-Developer, SurveyMonkey

Kirsten Benzel is a SQL DBA-Developer, voracious reader of SciFi, and wannabe photographer. She received her BA in Philosophy from Northern Arizona University.

Failing to find a position as a town philosopher, Kirsten joined the information technology ranks with GoDaddy in late 2005 and began working with SQL Server pulling mail lists with business intelligence in 2007. She moved to a SQL development role in 2011 and has been a happy hybrid of Developer, DBA, and Engineer ever since.

Kirsten moved to the Bay Area in 2012 and joined SurveyMonkey in March of 2014. She's currently living in San Francisco with her boyfriend who works at Square, and one extraordinarily grumpy orange tabby named Zeke. When not working you can find her exploring the city, hunting for sea glass, or doing CrossFit.

@SQLSnark [email protected]

Kirsten’s Recent activity

Amazing Week at PASS Summit 2014

Nov 12, 2014

Last week was my first PASS Summit, and there are just no words for how amazing it was. PASS Summit is something you have to plan for. I used the schedule builder way in advance to cherry pick my sessions, then to...

A SQL Server Woman In Tech: Thank You Good Men

Oct 13, 2014

Up until last week, I thought I was a unicorn: a woman who had never experienced gender-based harassment in the workforce. There are no chips on these shoulders, no axes to grind. However, after talking to many former...