Want to Learn SQL

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Permalink Reply by Kevin Jenkins on October 25, 2008 at 11:33am

Hi Rachel,

It is difficult to offer advice based on the limited background information. Are you a recent grad? Or have you been working in a different discipline for a number of years? Are you even working in the IT industry? Do you have any business analysis skills?

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Permalink Reply by Rachel on October 26, 2008 at 11:01am

I graduated in 2002. I worked for two years doing clerical work (which included working with databases, but not writing sql). I am not in the IT industry which is why I'm having a very difficult time getting in.
Since this post, I've decided to sit for the first actuarial exam. Hopefully once I take one actuarial exam I can get a job in the actuary field, which should give me opportunity to branch out and work more in depth with databases if I choose.

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Permalink Reply by Krishna Pulipati on November 26, 2008 at 10:32am

Hi Rachel, I teach SQL. I live in NewHampshire. Not sure where you are?

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Permalink Reply by Rachel on November 26, 2008 at 11:55am

Hi Krishna. Well, I am all the way across the country in Washington State. So, that probably won't work... but that's a good idea. I'm beginning to think I will have to take some classes to learn it since it looks like at this stage of the economy no one is going to be willing to let me learn on the job.

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Permalink Reply by M. Edward (Ed) Borasky on January 21, 2009 at 3:56pm

A lot of this is going to depend on what sort of hardware you have available, what operating system it is running, and what kind of job it is you want. But it's possible to learn SQL on your own without spending a lot of money.

There are a number of different databases out there. Unfortunately, each has its own dialect of the SQL language. So you need to start somewhere. Since you have Access, I'd recommend staying with the Microsoft world and downloading the free version of SQL Server, which I think is called SQL Server 2005 Express. I think there are also SQL Server books that include CDs of SQL Server 2005 express.

Another thing you might try is Ruby on Rails. Ruby on Rails is a web application development framework. It uses something called an "object-relational-model" (ORM) to translate from a domain-specific language describing the data and relationships to a database schema and the queries to create, read, update and delete entries. There are dozens of books on the subject, but the best one is the "original" -- "Agile Web Development With Rails". Ruby, Rails, and the most popular databases used with them -- MySQL, PostgreSQL and SQLite -- are all open source and freely available on the Internet.

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Permalink Reply by Rachel on January 21, 2009 at 6:19pm

Thanks so much for the info! That is very helpful. I just started a job as a data analyst. I won't touch the databases outright for now, but all the developers work onsite so hopefully I'll have an opportunity to reach out and start learning how it all works. I will also probably have the option to help with query writing. Not in SQL necessarily, but getting the basics will help and then from there hopefully I can again work with the developers and programmers to see how those queries get translated and used. I fell like I'm at least in a better starting place. While I won't have direct contact I am at least now in a place that works with this stuff and will have many more opportunities this way.

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Permalink Reply by Michael Tuckman on November 26, 2008 at 9:47pm

Rachel,
From an experience standpoint based on the road I have traveled you do not necessarily need a DB degree to work as an analyst or a programmer. I started in QA and questioned the engineers on how they fixed things and how tables went together and then graduated to working the help desk for the same company. several years later and I was hired by a former coworker to develop SQlL based on what I had taught myself. there is a product called learnkey that is a pretty good product for learning code and this may help. lack of formal work history can be overcome by some proven skill

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Permalink Reply by Rick Bloomberg on March 10, 2009 at 7:47am

Hello,
Finding myself in a transition period from being the "Computer Guy" to something else I am pursuing the Microsoft certification path starting with my current MCTS: SQL 2005 and working toward the MCITP certifications available. I am currently working toward the Administration certification and plan to do the Developer next looking at what I consider to be a logical progression. After the developer I plan to work toward the BI certification and then...
I just recently got my MCTS from self-training and plan to do the others the same way.
Hopefully the long hours of study will pay off when I get my MCITP to add to my resume.
Hope this helps

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Permalink Reply by Mark Statkus on December 1, 2009 at 5:48pm

Rachel,
I started off working at a company that did E-Learning courses for the front desk and night audit at a hotel(s). Most places I've worked rely probably more than they should on Excel and other things like Word more than they should. So anytime I'm ever new to a job or department I immediately head towards data-loss and ways to make it better.
So my angle, though more Web Developer centric - got my foot in the door with SQL Server, which lead me to build my own Learning Management Server and get the access to a real DBA which taught me a ton of stuff. From there I got into doing realtime Authoring of content, Login/validation/registration, etc... All the way to logging usage traffic for support. All this took a mix of ASP, PHP, SQL Server or MySQL and HTML/Flash based front ends to provide a full solution. But to prove it to my management, I had to demo the benefits of rolling our own tool, which meant burning a little personal time. Soon as you do something great though, get ready for a sea of requests.

Having the certifications/networking, or getting your foot in the door and knocking it off its hinges has my vote.

Good Luck

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