How To Gain Hands-on Experience in-Information Technology

When it comes to the Information Technology Industry, getting more hands-on experience is one of your most important professional development activities.

In this post, I will explain how information technology workers including business analysts, computer programmers, database developers, data analysts, project managers, software testers and infrastructure / networking professionals can gain extensive, high visibility, career defining hands-on experience!

More Opportunities To Get Hands-on Experience

By far, the number one place to find hands-on project experience in the information technology industry is in web or software development projects!

Now, does that mean that you need to become a software developer?

Absolutely Not!

An enterprise software development project employs a diverse set of software testers, project managers, business analysts, computer programmers, infrastructure specialists, database developers, technical writers, etc.

So, dis-abuse your mind of the notion that software development is primarily a coding or programming effort, because it is not!

Business Analysts / Project Managers

Before a single line of code is written, project managers and business analysts have to gather the specifications and then plan the amount of work that needs to be completed at each phase of the project before handing over the coding to software developers.

Infrastructure Specialists

The Computer Networking / Infrastructure team has to plan or architect the servers, computer networks and workstations that will be used by the entire project team.

They may have to install software testing, development or planning software and they will also have to monitor all the equipment used in building or hosting the software, so that they can guarantee that it is up and running!

Software Testers / Quality Assurance Analysts

After computer programmers finish with their coding, software testers, business analysts or quality assurance specialists have to test the code and assure the client or project sponsor that the software being delivered is reasonably bug free and designed according to specifications.

And while all this is happening, the project managers are busy monitoring the cost and resource usage versus estimates.

With all this mind, here is why software development work provides you with the best opportunities for hands-on experience regardless of your career, industry, domain or background.

Following The Money Trail Works

Better Pay / Compensation

Software development project experience is guaranteed to boost your career options because employers pay more for software development experience regardless of whether the project is outsourced, maintained in-house or developed from scratch.

Software development experience also provides you with better career stability. Since there is so much work available, employers are always looking for or hiring motivated, talented, experienced, skilled workers.

Software development projects are readily available because they cut across all domains and industries!

Highly Portable Experience

Regardless of the industry you work in: healthcare, pharmaceutical (pharma), telecommunications (telco), insurance, banking and finance, securities, utility, customer relationship management (CRM) or sales and marketing, you will find plenty of software development projects.

Software development experience is also highly portable because you can move your experience from one industry or domain to another.

For example, as a business analyst, computer programmer or project manager; you may transition from a web project in the CRM industry to another web development project in the Healthcare / Medical Management industry.

You can significantly improve your chance of getting your foot in through the door even when you don’t have the required domain experience by gaining web / software development experience because that is portable across industries, jobs, careers or domains!

For example, even when you transition from a software development career to a business analyst or project management career, your software development background will still be relevant or useful helpful to your new project or employer.

Why Is There So Much Work In The Software Development Industry?

The software development industry employs professionals from a wide, extensive and varied background.

There is a lot of software development project work available because:

1. Software development projects cut across the mobile, desktop, web, system development industry
2. A large number of software development projects fail which means that software development projects last longer than they are expected to
3. Websites are now integral to the marketing and sales functions of many organizations which means that funding website development is a top priority
4. Organizations are constantly retooling or upgrading their websites because of competitive forces, marketplace or technological changes

So, if you are looking for a well-paying, portable, cutting-edge career, start building your web / software development project experience now.

When it comes to the information technology industry, your hands-on experience trumps your certifications or post graduate college degrees.

One Good Reason, Why This Won’t Work For You!

Here is one good reason why you may fail to gain hands-on software development experience … looking for a hands-on position without first taking the time to gain the requisite knowledge or skills that will qualify you !

Hear me now, I do not recommend you walk up to an employer and ask for a position for the purpose of gaining hands-on software development experience … except if you are truly qualified to be on the team.

Look, regardless of the position you are interested in: business analysis, computer programming, project management, software testing, etc., you must first take the time to study for the position before you start working on getting hands-on experience.

Why? because without the prerequisite knowledge, you have little or nothing to offer the employer, who therefore, has no incentive to hire you.

Why Is Knowledge A Prerequisite For Hands-on Experience?

When it comes to gaining knowledge, what matters is whether you have the requisite knowledge and not how you did you gain the knowledge; college, coaching, training, self study, articles, professional textbooks, on the job, etc.

Here is why you must gain the requisite knowledge first before you start focusing on building hands-on experience:

• Can You Perform?: software project teams typical focus on delivering working software and not on mentoring or coaching team members.

  So, without the requisite knowledge, you will be a liability rather than an asset to the team since you won’t be able to keep up with the pace of work.

  Furthermore, you may even slow others down who stop and try to help you or wait upon you to deliver.

• Return On Investment (ROI): don’t assume that an employer will pay for your hands-on software development experience because most employers want a quick return on their investment (ROI).

  This is because of the costs associated with training information technology (IT) professionals which makes employers picky about who gets to work on their projects.

  You are going to be limited in your ability to gain software development experience, if you do not first take the time to learn your discipline: business analysis, computer programming, project management, etc. so that you are prepared to run when the right opportunity presents itself.

This article is #1 of a 2 article series. The second installation of this article (part 2) may be viewed here …

You may review the references for this article series below.

References

1. Learn more: The Most Important Thing on Your Resume
2. Learn more: Which Courses or Certifications Guarantee A Job?
3. Learn more: Can Certifications Take The Place Of Experience?
4. Learn more: How To Get Computer Programming Experience
5. Learn more: Stuck in a College Mindset After Graduation
6. Learn more: Which Software Development Life Cycle Is Best?
7. Learn more: Can You Perform? Prove It!
8. Learn more: This Type Of Hands-On Experience Can JumpStart Your Career!

What Is The Toughest Challenge Facing Your Career?

Visit the Shopping Cart, Click Here

ABOUT TRAINING & COACHING COURSES

• Business Analyst Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Business Analyst Video Training


• SQL Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Hands On, SQL + RDBMS Video Training


• Software Developer Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Software Developer Video Training


• Data Analysts Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Hands On, Data Analyst Video Training


• Get Hired Fast - Online, Web Based, Resume + Job Search + Interview Video Training


• Become A Leader Coaching - Develop hands-on experience, gain domain expertise, solve industry problems, Stand Up and Be Noticed, market your career using PULL instead of PUSH techniques!

Visit our Shopping Cart

How To Choose A New Career

After witnessing the challenges in the lives of professionals dealing with under-performance, under-achievement, stress, anxiety, career stagnation, anger, depression or financial failure; I decided to write this article on how to make better career choices.

Choosing the right career is important because you spend the major part of your day (9 to 11 hours) at work. If you make the wrong career choice, you will put yourself in a painful, challenging situation.

So, choosing the right career ranks as one of the most important decisions you will ever make in your life.

Here is my review of the right and wrong ways of choosing a career.

Recommendations

You may choose a career based on the recommendation of family members, friends, colleagues, college counselors, coaches or other professionals.

Recommendations from friends or family are usually well-intentioned but they are sometimes based on the individual’s limited experience, fears, personal interests or hearsay.

Some common examples include recommending a career because a brother, sister, father, mother or family friend is in that same profession.

Apart from career coaches or counselors, most people making career recommendations do not actually assess the strengths or weaknesses of the individual who they are making the recommendations for. Rather, they are solely focuses on what they perceive to be the opportunities in the industry.

However, you need to determine that the individual making a recommendation is knowledgeable about a wide range of careers or that they are not biased in their recommendations.

Personality Tests

You may decided to choose a career based on your personality type.

For example, If your personality leans towards that of an introvert, you may decide to choose a career in computer programming instead of project management.

On the other hand, if you are an extrovert, you may choose a career in technical recruiting, account management or sales.

Choosing a career based on your personality is effective because it factors in your strengths and weaknesses.

For example, if you train for a career that your personality is ill-suited for, you will find it hard to get a job or succeed at the job if you are hired.

If your personality does not match the profile required for the job, you will find it hard to convince employers to hire you, even if you have strong educational qualifications!

You may read more about personality types in this post titled: “What Is Your Personality Type?”

Self Interest Or Hobbies

You may choose adopt a hobby or a recreational pastime as your career.

For example, you may start programming as a hobby before deciding take up a formal, full-time computer programming career.

Turning a hobby into a full-time job is effective because you are choosing to build your life around “what you love doing or your passion“, instead of some other shallow reason!

Education

You may decide to pursue a career that is aligned with your college major or educational background.

That can be is okay as long as you don’t limit yourself to what you learn or did not learn in college.

Choosing a career based on a college major is not always effective because, what you get from college in some cases is a good theoretical education but not necessarily the strong functional education, knowledge or skills required by employers.

You may not be making an informed decision if you base your career choice on your college coursework because the two may not be closely aligned.

I get a lot of questions along these lines, for example; from MBA graduates who assume that the MBA course work is the same as that of business analysts!

Fact is, your college major or degree does not help, hinder, limit or restrict your career options.

You may read more in this post titled: “Stuck In A College Mindset After Graduation”

Financial Reward

A lot of professionals choose their careers based on the perceived financial reward, salary or compensation.

Here is what they miss; regardless of the career you choose, if you are a top performer, your income will grow and exceed the average salary paid to professionals in your industry!

If you are really good or exceptional at what you do, you will be paid well regardless of your profession or career.

So, while you may choose a career because for financial reasons, a better path may be choosing to become a top performer in a career you really love!

So, if earning more money is important to you, identify the factors that lead to high performance in your career and then work on becoming a top performer as quickly as possible.

You may read more about top performers in this post titled: “Can You Perform? Prove IT!”

Prestige

Do you know someone who is in a particular profession like medicine or law because of the prestige attached to that profession?

The problem with choosing a career because of it’s prestige is that what seems prestigious right now may not feel prestigious in a few years or when the glamor of that profession wears off and you are back to the daily grind!

Remember that getting a prestigious job may not make you happy or successful in the long run because your happiness is governed not by the prestige others attach to your career (an extrinsic factor) but by how much you enjoy doing your job (an intrinsic factor).

Lifestyle

Your lifestyle may dictate your choice of careers. For example, if you are a stay-at-home parent, you may not want to commute daily to work.

Keep in mind that certain lifestyles are more available in some careers than others.

For example, a freelancing lifestyle is more accessible to a computer programmer than say … a project manager.

And a technical recruiter or sales rep is more likely to spend time driving from office to office, meeting clients than say … a business analyst.

You may also have noticed that professionals in sales are more likely to travel for their work than computer programmers.

So, if you really must have a certain lifestyle, you have to do due diligence and choose the type of career that supports that lifestyle.

Mobility

Do you know someone that choose a career simply because that is what was locally available and that person has no intention of ever leaving his or her city to get a job?

If you cannot afford to relocate to a different city because of the associated financial costs, the cost of leaving your social / family network or the challenge of starting out in a new city, you may be limiting your career options.

Just remember that you don’t have to feel constrained to jobs or careers that are locally available.

Moving to a different city may bring much needed fresh perspective, energy and opportunity into your life!

Learning Curve

You may choose a career because it has a shorter or longer learning curve.

If you choose careers with longer learning curves (e.g. C++ programming career versus C# programming) you will have to wait for a longer time to get a job.

On the other hand, choosing a career with a shorter learning curve means that you will be ready for work sooner or faster.

If you do not realize that each career path has a learning curve attached to it, you may make the wrong career choice or fail at your career transition.

You may read more about “learning curves” in this post titled: “Oracle Or Microsoft Access, Which Is Better?”

Handicaps

If you discuss your career options in terms of “what you cannot do, what you are afraid of doing or worried about”, then you are motivated by fear or handicapped when it comes to choosing a career!

Don’t choose a career because of fear, worry, anxiety, worry, outsourcing, layoffs, recession or bad news.

Instead, choose a career based on what you love doing, your hopes, dreams, visions, goals, good news and other more positive factors.

You may read more about “passion” in this post titled: “Why Successful People Are Passionate About Their Jobs”

SWOT Analysis

SWOT Analysis allows you to compare your strengths and weaknesses, the threats, disruptive changes and opportunities in the environment.

SWOT Analysis is one of the most effective ways to choose a career because it helps you make an unbiased, fact-based decision by balancing your strengths and weaknesses (internal factors) against threats and opportunities (external factors) in your environment.

Why this list is not exhaustive, my hope is that you will use to evaluate your decision making process when it comes to choosing careers. That way, you will have a better, more fulfilling and happier life.

What Is The Toughest Challenge Facing Your Career?

Visit the Shopping Cart, Click Here

ABOUT TRAINING & COACHING COURSES

• Business Analyst Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Business Analyst Video Training


• SQL Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Hands On, SQL + RDBMS Video Training


• Software Developer Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Software Developer Video Training


• Data Analysts Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Hands On, Data Analyst Video Training


• Get Hired Fast - Online, Web Based, Resume + Job Search + Interview Video Training


• Become A Leader Coaching - Develop hands-on experience, gain domain expertise, solve industry problems, Stand Up and Be Noticed, market your career using PULL instead of PUSH techniques!

Visit our Shopping Cart

How To Jumpstart A Stalled Career!

It has been said that to “keep doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results is the very definition of insanity.“

On the other hand, “if you want something you have never hard, you must do something you have never done!“

So, if your career is stagnating, step back and take an honest look at your work.

Is your work everything you had hoped for?

If the smell of fresh-brewed coffee is the biggest reward after you walk through the office door each day, it’s time to truly perk up your daily grind and reboot your career.

Broaden Your Horizons

One way to jump-start your career is to volunteer for assignments that are outside of your comfort zone or take on additional roles that are valuable to your organization.

For example, you may take on some project management responsibility if you are in a more technical role, so that you can become a better-rounded candidate.

And as a project manager or a business analyst nothing stops you from getting more technical skills, because this makes you more hands-on than your contemporaries.

Adding more skills, both technical or management, can only help you in the long run.

• Read this post “Do Business Analysts Need Computer Programmer Skills?“.

• Read this post “What Software Skills Do Business Analysts Need?“.

Upgrade your Skills

One of the areas that all professionals need to stay on top of is; “their skill-sets!“

Like it or not, information technology skills are susceptible to losing their value because technology is always changing or evolving.

Read this post … “The Most Important Thing on Your Resume“.

Do What You Love

One of the reasons why your career is stagnating may be that you’re not doing work that you are passionate about. So, you’re bored, and it shows.

But your managers probably don’t realize the problem; and so, instead of working with you to get to the right place, they keep you in the same job, afraid to give new assignments and responsibilities to someone who, quite frankly, doesn’t seem to want to be there.

So the question to you is, “are you doing what you really want to do with your life?” If you find that you’re not, you need to figure out what makes you happy and do it!

Perhaps what you love to do involves working with a new technology, or on another team / company, or taking on a new role / career.

It’s likely that, you’ll need to re-train to learn the required new skills, but you should never let something like that stand in your way.

It may take time and effort to change your career, but it is likely that you will continue to under-perform or be unhappy until you start doing something you love.

Are You In The Right Place?

Studies have shown that, usually, a person’s workplace is not the reason they are not moving up – quite frankly, it usually has more to do with them, rather than the place where they work.

But some organizations are better suited for certain career paths than others.

For example, if you’re a computer programmer, your greatest challenge comes from developing new software applications.

If the work given to you is mostly that of maintaining software systems, you may find yourself getting bore as you repeat the same maintenance tasks over and over again.

Does your company have a technology focus?

That isn’t to say that your company needs to be a technology giant or software development company; because we can’t all work for companies like Microsoft, Google or Apple.

Rather, what you should ask yourself is, “does your company recognize the value of technology or leverage it extensively for the day to day operations of their business?“

Do You Have A Career Path?

Everyone wants to have the opportunity to grow in some way in their work.

Even if you don’t want to move into management, you may want to move into a project management role?

Asking yourself what it is you want to do long-term, and then examining whether or not your company is going to be able to help you get there is something everyone needs to do at some point in their career.

In the end, only you can determine what it is that will jump-start your career.

It might take new skills, or new responsibilities, or even a new job altogether, but there’s not much point in delaying the inevitable.

Other challenges may be phrased with questions like “how can I promote myself”, “what should I do in life”, “what career I should choose” because professionals frequently rethink or regret their choices in these areas.

Here are some of the tips for overcoming regrets and getting more control over your career.

BOOST YOUR CONFIDENCE

If you have lost your confidence, you can take it back. Irrespective of your profession, you can regain your confidence any time.

Change your statements from “I can’t do it to I can do it or I can at least try“.

Change your statements from “I did wrong to I did better than before and I’ll do better again“

Change your statements from “Will this idea work? to No idea is bad“

You should replace your pessimistic thinking or talking with a more optimistic apprach or conversation.

Think of yourself as a professional in your department and your confidence will start growing.

THINK MORE ABOUT YOUR CAREER OPTIONS

Working at different jobs or roles will help you build a better understanding of your skills, experience or the opportunities out there.

Search for new opportunities and don’t restrict yourself to just one conventional or traditional career. Keep your options open and you’ll succeed at work.

Read this post … “Is Tunnel Vision Killing My Career?“.

Consider working as a volunteer to get different experiences as this will eventually help you decide the best career for yourself.

WORK ON YOURSELF CONSTANTLY

One of the best ways to boost your confidence is by updating your resume each time you complete a project.

The next thing is stay up-to-date with changes in your industry using the internet, journals, electronic papers, online classes etc.

If you are preparing for a job interview, first have an interview session with your self; answering questions like “why do I want this job“, or “why am I qualified to do this job“, etc.

Your answers should reflect a strong self confidence, positive mental attitude and personal competence.

Try to practice quick answers; lasting for not more than couple of minutes.

Talk with yourself in front of the mirror and give these answers.

This will surely help you in your interview and it will eventually increase your confidence as well.

PROMOTE YOURSELF

The only way to be successful in a competitive job market is to market yourself constantly.

People with strong marketing skills get the best jobs even when they are less qualified than others.

One way to market yourself is to make a personal, nice looking, business card which you can distribute.

Also, consider using a blog to showcase your skills and expertise.

Finally, join a local networking group that will help you meet people.

GET YOUR FAMILY TO SUPPORT

Many professionals faces obligations and responsibilities related with their family, culture, religion.

But they often find it difficult to spare more time for either their professional or family obligations.

If you are thinking of putting in the extra work that it takes to reboot your career, you should discuss it with your spouse or children in advance, to avoid creating a lot of stress.

Consider asking your spouse for support, because the extra work you may need to invest in your career, may place a burden on your family.

The sooner you can take an honest look at your career, make an objective assessment of your skills and prospects and make the necessary adjustments, the sooner you will begin to experience a more satisfying career.

What Is The Toughest Challenge Facing Your Career?

Visit the Shopping Cart, Click Here

ABOUT TRAINING & COACHING COURSES

• Business Analyst Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Business Analyst Video Training


• SQL Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Hands On, SQL + RDBMS Video Training


• Software Developer Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Software Developer Video Training


• Data Analysts Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Hands On, Data Analyst Video Training


• Get Hired Fast - Online, Web Based, Resume + Job Search + Interview Video Training


• Become A Leader Coaching - Develop hands-on experience, gain domain expertise, solve industry problems, Stand Up and Be Noticed, market your career using PULL instead of PUSH techniques!

Visit our Shopping Cart

Is Learning Sql Online So Hard?

Learning new Information Technology (IT) skills is typically thought of as painful because the Study Textbooks used in the Information Technology (IT) industry are usually written by geeks for a geeky, hard-core, technical audience.

This is why one of the challenges facing professionals today is how to overcome the difficulty, complexity or high learning curves typically associated with learning new Information Technology (IT) skills.

Keeping in mind that Sql or Database skills are useful in any industry including financial, insurance, banking or information technology sectors, wouldn’t it be really helpful if learning Sql or databases was made easy?

Sql Boot Camp is the interactive online training course for SQL beginners, advanced database professionals or managers who want a better or more productive online sql learning environment.

Sql Boot Camps Online Training Courses makes learning SQL Query Writing better and easier and here is why:

Are your Sql Courses for Beginners or Advanced Practitioners?

Our Online Sql Courses cover what you need to know about database design, database development, beginner to advanced SQL query writing.

You do not need previous knowledge of Sql or Databases before you enroll in our Sql Courses because you will be taught the concepts in a step-by-step, easy to understand,beginner to advanced level fashion.

The Sql Courses managed by our online learning management environment (LMS) are presented in such a way that you only learn an advanced-level course after you are taught and tested on the fundamentals of the preceding Sql Courses.

For example, you won’t get to learn subqueries until you have learnt the basics of INNER JOINS / OUTER JOINS and other SQL fundamentals.

And you won’t be tasked with developing a database until you have mastered relational database principles like Normalization, Referential Integrity or Entities.

How Do You Teach Your Online Sql Courses?

However, we teach our Sql Courses using Videos and not textbooks.

Videos are definitely easier to understand keeping in mind that Information Technology (IT) textbooks are typically hard to understand or follow.

After each video lesson is completed, your video is placed in your own private reference libraryso that you can watch it as often as you want on any day.

Another advantage that watching videos has over reading textbooks is that concepts like Sql Query Writing or Database Development can be demonstrated more easily in Video format than by reading about them from a textbook.

So, even if you are watching one of our more advanced Sql Courses and you realize that you have forgotten some of the preceding lessons, you can easily visit your reference library and watch those videos again!

How Do I Learn Sql More Easily or Better?

Our online SQL Courses are designed for working professionals who want a better, faster or easier way of learning SQL Query Writing or Database Development.

Repetition in training is the key to skill mastery.

To master any new skill you need to repeat the same set of tasks multiple times or in different ways, each time testing the underlying concepts, until it sinks in and becomes second nature … and that is exactly what our Sql Courses will do for you!

Lets take a Sql Course like Normalization and work through how you will learn it faster or better.

First, you will be presented with a Database Video on Normalization. You can discuss any concepts after watching the Videos privately with your Course Instructor or publicly with your discussion Database study group members.

Next you may be asked to work on a Handson Database Normalization project based on the principles taught on the Sql Videos.

After you submit your project back to your course instructor using the Assignments tab of the Learning Management System (LMS), you may get additional feedback on the correctness or comprehensiveness of your normalization practices or move on to the next lesson which may be a Practice Test or Quiz on the concepts you learned on the Videos.

You may even receive multiple Sql Videos, practice tests, quizzes or projects for a single Sql topic like Normalization.

Presenting Sql Courses using repetition helps you learn from different angles until you make the internal connections required for comprehension or skill mastery.

Research has shown that practice tests help you to learn new concepts better or more easily.

So, when we present a Sql video course, we also include practice tests that show you the correct answers.

As you review the concepts, you will be given the opportunity to repeat each quiz as many times as you want or until you really understand that topic!

Finally, we also teach our Sql Courses using practical handson-assignments that improve your ability to perform on the job.

Not only do we use Videos and then Quizzes to improve your understanding, we actually give you projects that build on everything that you have learnt so that you actually get it!

There is probably nothing that beats the combination of handson projects, practice tests and Sql videos when it comes to learning Sql online, OK?

Do You Want An Interactive, Advanced Online SQL Training Course?

One of the key distinguishing features of our Sql Courses is the availability of private coaching.

Say that you watch a Sql video on normalization, take all the quizzes and work on the handson assignments and you still don’t get it (which is not likely), you can actually post a private message for your course instructor, who will be able to correspond or walk you through that same material.

This experience is like that of having a private Sql coach and a Sql trainer in one and the same course!

This feature can come in handy when you want to discuss the applications of our Sql Courses to challenges you are facing in your organization without making those details public.

For example, you may be designing a database with a lot of complex relationships (like what obtains with healthcare databases), you may post a question about applying referential integrity rules to our public discussion forums for other like minded database professionals to discuss or post your challenges on your private discussion forum for your course instructor only!

Keeping in mind, that the billing rate of a database professional is anywhere from $50/hr. to $75/hr.

The value in this private coaching feature alone can pay for your investment in your Sql course!

How Relevant Is My Online Sql Course To Learning Oracle, Sql Server or Microsoft Access?

Our Sql Courses are based on Sql Server and it will work for you regardless of your version of Sql Server.

1. If you have a Windows Vista or Windows 7 computer, you will be given access to a free, fully functional version of SQL Server on your own computer.

2. If you are on a MAC or you cannot afford to buy a Windows Computer, you will be given access to a web-based, private SQL Server database installation.

3. You will also be taught database design from scratch and because of that, you will learn how to design relational databases independent of any vendor or database environment.

Sql Boot Camp is taught using SQL Server because it offers all the relational database features that are in the Microsoft Access database and in-addition, it also offers you the ability to manage your data more reliably and with a higher guaranteed level of performance.

SQL Server is also a professional, enterprise grade database that affords you the ability to write advanced SQL Queries or design databases that support any level of complexity.

Finally Sql Server is unusual as an enterprise grade database because it offers a lower learning curve which means that you will learn an enterprise database in less time or put your skills to work more easily.

Click here to read my review of Learning Enterprise Database Platforms

What Will Learning Sql Do For Your Career?

Here are few of the reasons why you may want to consider learning Sql or Databases.

1. Learning Sql gives you one authentic, recognized, popular enterprise software that you put on your resume.
2. Learning Sql gives you mastery over one database which is relevant to any Information Technology (IT) careers including business analysts, computer programmers, project managers, financial analysts.
3. Mastering a database provides you with the ability to query databases directly without depending on third party departments, vendors or other professionals.
4. Learning a database opens the door to working with other database management systems including Oracle, Microsoft Access, MySQL, IBM DB2, etc.
5. Learning Sql Databases gives you a skill that can help you get your foot in through the door of the Information Technology Industry.
6. Mastering Sql makes you more productive on the job because you will be able to recognize or solve Sql / Database problems quicker, better and more easily or before they bog down your system.

Do you want to learn or master a database regarded by the Information Technology (IT) Industry as enterprise, high-performing, reliable and scalable? If you answered yes, click here to sign-up for Sql Boot Camp

What Is The Toughest Challenge Facing Your Career?

Visit the Shopping Cart, Click Here

ABOUT TRAINING & COACHING COURSES

• Business Analyst Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Business Analyst Video Training


• SQL Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Hands On, SQL + RDBMS Video Training


• Software Developer Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Software Developer Video Training


• Data Analysts Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Hands On, Data Analyst Video Training


• Get Hired Fast - Online, Web Based, Resume + Job Search + Interview Video Training


• Become A Leader Coaching - Develop hands-on experience, gain domain expertise, solve industry problems, Stand Up and Be Noticed, market your career using PULL instead of PUSH techniques!

Visit our Shopping Cart

Oracle Or Microsoft Access, Which Is Better For Me?

Are you matching your strengths to your opportunities or are you just being ideological … interested only in following your own ideas even when they won’t get you any results?

Here is a situation that illustrates the challenges of being ideological versus being results oriented. It is a situation that illustrates the challenges of learning an enterprise software like Oracle compared to a poor man’s database like Microsoft Access.

Are you wondering about who this situation involves? You are safe my friend because today, I will mainly be talking about me

When I started out in the industry, my first priority was to get my foot into the door.

My goals were:

1. To transition my career without incurring a lot of additional debt
2. To learn a marketable skill so that I could get a job quickly
3. To get myself into a position where I would be in high-demand by delivering excellent results

There were a number of career paths that looked promising and I looked into them all. Here a few of them:

Business Analysis

The business analyst career path was mostly available to systems analysts or management consultants people or poorly defined.

By poorly defined, i mean that it depended on the whims of hiring managers (it was subjective and depended on the employers needs or definitions) and so, there was no very clear or direct path to becoming a business analyst (this was in the ‘90s).

Network Administration

I had worked in network administration in an internship job right after college. My duties entailed helping support a Lotus CC:Mail/ Novell Netware Network

Based on my own first-hand experience, I ruled out computer networking primarily because I realized that I was not passionate about that industry.

Systems Programming

While in college, I had tried to learn C/C++ and I also decided that it wasn’t my thing because it took a long time to develop a fully functional software using C/C++

Based on experience, I knew that I wouldn’t be able to master C/C+ in a few months or get a job easily.

My finding was that it would take a number of years to become really expert or highly skilled at C/C++.

I was also certain, that even when I became highly skilled, I still won’t be able to deliver stellar results based on C/C++.

In case you’re interested, read my thoughts on choosing C/C++ as a programming language here…

Enterprise Database Software

I investigated getting an entry level job in SAP / Oracle / IBM or some other enterprise software since that is where it seemed that the big bucks where being made. In the 90’s, the major database players included IBM, Oracle, Microsoft.

Oracle was very popular in the enterprise database computing circle. However, learning Oracle was no small feat.

I mean that installing Oracle on your own local computer for learning purposes was not an easy proposition even for experienced oracle professionals because companies hired senior / experienced Oracle consultants just to install and setup Oracle correctly on their servers.

In addition to that, Oracle was targeted at the enterprise buyer which meant that purchasing a full-featured Oracle license for an individual like me without corporate sponsorship … was simply beyond my budget!

In addition, even if I raised the money to buy an Oracle License, I would have to spend additional weeks installing Oracle correctly by myself or else hire an Oracle database consultant to install it (Oracle database consultants billed anywhere from $60/hr. to $120/hr.)

And assuming that I overcame the hurdle of buying an Oracle license and then installing Oracle, I would still have to figure out one more thing about Oracle … how to learn Oracle!

You see, Oracle was one of those complex enterprise software application that had a really high learning curve.

The chances that I was going to learn or master Oracle in time enough to get a job was very low because professionals who had been working with Oracle for years where still struggling to understand it … it was that complex!

So, tell me, what will you have done if you were in my shoes?

Did I fixate on learning Oracle … even though I knew professionals that worked with Oracle for years were still struggling to get to a comfort level with it?

Absolutely not! One of the Oracle professionals that I was personally acquainted with had started working with or learning Oracle while we were still in college.

By the time I was evaluating learning Oracle, this professional (a lady based in the United Kingdom) was just getting comfortable with Oracle … and that is after working with it for 8 to 10 years!

So, I decided that the Oracle database and many of the other popular enterprise software applications available at that time had too high a learning curve!

Yes, I know that everyone’s situation is different and yes I understand that “what is good for the goose is not always good for the gander“.

But my situation was that I was married and I had to pay my bills.

Even though my wife was willing to support me, I wasn’t okay with asking her to take care of all the bills while I went on a multi-year learning trip.

Not only that,I had been out of college for a few years and didn’t want to risk taking another 8 to 10 years to learn a new career!

And I definitely didn’t want to start a career that would require such an expensive re-training that I would have to go deeply in debt!

Put yourself in my shoes and tell me what you would have done if faced with my situation keeping in my objectives which were:

• To learn a marketable skill in a short time: I had to learn a marketable skill so that I could easily get a job and get out of unemployment.

• To be prudent or save money: I had to pay my bills and account for all sorts of living expenses, while paying for my own re-training.

• To get into a line of work where I could easily become competent: I needed to learn a skill that I would become an expert at in a reasonable short time.

What will you have done in my shoes … because I choose Microsoft Access!

In those days, a lot of professionals looked down on Microsoft Access as a sort of poor man’s relational database even though Microsoft Access had a lot going for it at that point in time.

Low Cost of Learning

Microsoft Access was available as part of the Microsoft Office family of products.

The cost of a Microsoft Office / Access license was as low as $300. And I budgeted an additional $100 for buying Microsoft Access textbooks from the local seller … Barnes & Noble. I would never forget the price that I paid for my very first Microsoft Access Book … just $49.50.

So, for less than $500, I was guaranteed that I would learn or master Microsoft Access … which was great news for me as an unemployed newbie IT professional!

Low Learning Curve

It took me between 30 and 60 days to study or master Microsoft Access from textbooks. After which I spent my remaining time, taking Microsoft Access practice tests and building relational databases.

In my first job interview test administered by a local staffing agency in Tulsa, Oklahoma, I scored above 90% and got hired into the systems / data analysis department of a local e-commerce firm with a starting salary of $15/hr.

Accelerated Time To Market

By my third month of working with Microsoft Access, I had completed a project that was estimated to last about 6 weeks in 2 weeks.

Because I could achieve those sorts of results, the IT Manager called a recruiting firm without my knowledge or permission and advised them to find more challenging work for me … which they did!

By my third month, I was billing $76,000/yr. and my billing rate continued to increase with time!

Dear Friend,

What I have learnt is that the only thing that stops us from achieving the results we want is our limiting belief systems or self-imposed mental boundaries.

So, what works and what doesn’t?

1. Don’t hang your career on getting a recognized certificate or diploma

   That is so old school! The only thing that matters is your ability to perform on the job … and no accredited degree or diploma or program can confer that to you.

   In other words, you either learn or know how to get the job done or you don’t.

2. Don’t get stuck learning any vendor’s software

   Because I got my foot in through the door, I have since had the chance to learn or work with Oracle and IBM enterprise databases at the employer’s expense!

   Learning Microsoft Access first actually made it easier for me to learn or work with SQL Server, Oracle and IBM databases later on.

   Remember that you are the one that makes the job work and not the software, vendor or qualification.

   I have seen professionals who want to become business analysts get stuck on learning an enterprise requirement management software like IBM Rational RequisitePro.

   These good folks forget that many employers can’t afford the licensing costs of the same software that they are hung up on and they also forget that requirements management is first and foremost a set of principles or techniques and not a software!.

   If you learn requirements management techniques you can for example document requirements using Microsoft Office or your employer can purchase any of the myriads of requirements management software in the market.

   So why are you so hung up on learning IBM Rational RequisitePro as if that makes you a business analyst?

3. Learn a marketable skill

   One of the biggest challenges facing professionals is the right choice of a career. I know that because I get asked that question every day

   I’ve seen professionals get stuck with programming skills that are not marketable like mainframe programming or C/C++.

   In one instance, a C/C++ programmer with a computer science college degree after being unemployable for 3 years got the very first job he interviewed for … after I coached him on C#, ASP.NET and .NET Framework.

   His mistake that of failing to learn a marketable skill. The good news is that it only cost him a few months to rectify that mistake. And, once he fixed that, his career was back online again!

Here is my last advise to you on this point, make sure that you are pragmatic and not ideological about your career choices.

If it is looking like you are getting stuck on the path you are on, carefully evaluate all the other alternatives available to you.

What Is The Toughest Challenge Facing Your Career?

Visit the Shopping Cart, Click Here

ABOUT TRAINING & COACHING COURSES

• Business Analyst Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Business Analyst Video Training


• SQL Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Hands On, SQL + RDBMS Video Training


• Software Developer Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Software Developer Video Training


• Data Analysts Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Hands On, Data Analyst Video Training


• Get Hired Fast - Online, Web Based, Resume + Job Search + Interview Video Training


• Become A Leader Coaching - Develop hands-on experience, gain domain expertise, solve industry problems, Stand Up and Be Noticed, market your career using PULL instead of PUSH techniques!

Visit our Shopping Cart

What Personality Types Are DBAs?

This post about the personality types of database administrators (DBAs) is in response to Sandra’s question.

Sandra, thank you for taking the time to tweet a number of my posts, I appreciate you

Personality types like the Jung Myers-Briggs Type are used to describe the psychological characteristics of an individual.

For example, the famous Myers-Briggs has 16 personality types grouped as: Extroversion vs. Introversion, Intuiting vs. Sensing, Thinking vs. Feeling, and Judging vs. Perceiving.

In this post, I will describe some of the personality types of database administrators (DBAs).

• Detail Oriented

  DBAs need to pay detailed attention to the performance of all their databases.

  This attention is required because production databases need to be monitored constantly for changes in performance, security holes and reliability.

  For example, if a DBA publishes a script without reviewing its performance, the production database may slow down unacceptably or even crash!

• Reliable

  DBAs have well-established work habits. They typically come to work early and leave late.They often support the production system on evenings and weekends.

  The entire organization may depend on the DBA to support and keep their databases running at all times, so DBAs have to be reliable and available especially when they are on call.

  Finally, DBAs are timely or punctual and they plan their work out into the week because they often have a routines or a series of tasks to perform on a daily or weekly basis.

• Protective

  DBAs are protective of their charge and they dislike other non-DBAS running scripts directly on their databases without their supervision.

  DBAs will go to lengths to protect the integrity of their data. They will execute manual scripts in transactions, carefully verify the results before they commit results or rollback their database operation.

  DBAs may get quite upset if someone performs an unauthorized action on their database even when that action is harmless. In other words, their database systems is protected turf or off-limits!

  DBAs take the view that if anything that can go wrong, it will go wrong … so they are always taking extra precautions or backups before making changes just in case something goes wrong on their database!

• Analytical & Handson

  DBAs are very handson and pragmatic folks who are not afraid to get their hands dirty by any chance.

  In answer to a problem, challenge or threat facing the database systems, they will often roll up their sleeves, formulate a hypotheses and start researching causes by querying log files, executing sql scripts, restoring and analyzing backups etc.

  DBAs typically review all the stored procedures or sql scripts submitted by database developers or computer programmers for compliance, performance or safety considerations.

  Imagine poring over the equivalent of 90 pages of printed stored procedure scripts on a daily basis?

• Strong Technical Mastery

  DBAs have strong technical mastery and are highly skilled at relational database design, database development, database maintenance or administration, server or network administration and programming.

  DBAs frequently have to write custom database stored procedures or scripts using languages like C/C++, Perl, Python, C# or VBScript!

While these are not all of the personality traits of a DBA, it is time to an informed guess as to the personality type of a DBA using Myers-Briggs.

The personality type of a DBA is: ISTJ Introverted, Sensing, Thinking, Judging).

Let’s take a look at what this means on the Myers-Briggs scale:

1. Introverted – likes to work alone, seeks to understand the world, prefers depth over breadth
2. Sensing – trusts facts and data, accepts the world as it is, prefers practicality
3. Thinking – is detached, logical, factual, causal, consistent and follows a given set of rules
4. Judging – gains control through planning, focuses on results

If you are interested, click here to take the Myers-Briggs personality test.

What is your personality type on the Myers-Briggs scale or any other?

What Is The Toughest Challenge Facing Your Career?

Visit the Shopping Cart, Click Here

ABOUT TRAINING & COACHING COURSES

• Business Analyst Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Business Analyst Video Training


• SQL Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Hands On, SQL + RDBMS Video Training


• Software Developer Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Software Developer Video Training


• Data Analysts Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Hands On, Data Analyst Video Training


• Get Hired Fast - Online, Web Based, Resume + Job Search + Interview Video Training


• Become A Leader Coaching - Develop hands-on experience, gain domain expertise, solve industry problems, Stand Up and Be Noticed, market your career using PULL instead of PUSH techniques!

Visit our Shopping Cart

in demand database jobs

This post answers a question submitted to [Ask IT Career Coach], a Career Advice Column that offers practical answers, help or solutions for your most challenging career situations.

What Are The Entry Level Requirements For Database Professional Jobs?

A reader from Rockville, Maryland wants to become a database professional and is concerned about age-based preferences, discrimination, educational qualifications and entry level hiring requirements for database professional jobs!

What is your opinion regarding online it degrees? More specifically, Master’s degrees in database technology?

Eons of time ago, I took a bunch of Y2K programming courses in college (Assembler, COBOL, PL/1 and the like) and almost became a computer programmer.

As life has it, I pursued a different career. Now towards the twilight of a profession that is in decline, I reconsider working in IT again.

My degrees are in Psychology, not computer science, but I am considering an online master’s degree in database technology as an efficient way into a field with growth prospects.

My principal concern is regarding employers: 1) with multiple non-computer degrees in Psychology combined with a Master’s degree in an IT field be seen as competitive against computer science graduates?

2) Is there a preference for younger, college graduates in entry level jobs rather than 2nd career baby boomers?

What Are Employers Looking For In Entry-Level Database Jobs?

Educational Requirements for Entry-Level Database Jobs

The question is: “how do non-IT degrees compare to computer science degrees“?

My answer is that the primary concern of employers is not your number of IT degrees or non IT degrees but your practical ability to work with databases.

In other words, you are asking the wrong question because getting more database degrees does not satisfy employers. What satisfies hiring managers is practical database development or management skills.

Practical database development or management is not the core focus of computer science or information technology colleges. Because these institutions focus on teaching the abstract science or passing on the theoretical knowledge.

However employers are not hiring for theoretical knowledge because that is mostly relevant in the academic world!

What employers are hiring for is extensive hands-on practical skills and experience in modern database management software including MySQL, Oracle, SQL Server or Microsoft Access.

Age-based Requirements for Entry Level Database Jobs

Your age can only stop you from getting hired if you are incompetent at what you do!

If you are just average, you will get a job regardless of your age. If you have excellent skills or hands-on experience, you will be able to market yourself at a high billing rate regardless of your age!

Besides, focusing on your age is a sure way to waste your time or energy because there is nothing that you can do about your age!

However, there is a lot that you can do about your skills or your level of competence and that should always be your primary focus!

Just so you know, the Information Technology (IT) Industry is a talent driven, performance hungry, skills intensive field.

In other words, your only concern should be to keep your skills relevant, sharp or marketable.

Just do these things and you will always be employable in the database or technology world!

Database Professionals Career Advice Column

In this post, I answered the question of what employers are looking for in entry-level database professional jobs.

If you have any question about this, be sure to post it as a comment on this page and I would answer it for you.

What Is The Toughest Challenge Facing Your Career?

Visit the Shopping Cart, Click Here

ABOUT TRAINING & COACHING COURSES

• Business Analyst Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Business Analyst Video Training


• SQL Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Hands On, SQL + RDBMS Video Training


• Software Developer Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Software Developer Video Training


• Data Analysts Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Hands On, Data Analyst Video Training


• Get Hired Fast - Online, Web Based, Resume + Job Search + Interview Video Training


• Become A Leader Coaching - Develop hands-on experience, gain domain expertise, solve industry problems, Stand Up and Be Noticed, market your career using PULL instead of PUSH techniques!

Visit our Shopping Cart

Database Administrator (DBA)'s Job Description

In this issue, I will be answering a question submitted by a reader on “The Roles, Responsibilities or Job Description of Database Administrators (DBAs)“.

You can Ask IT Career Coach your toughest or most pressing questions and I will answer it fully just as I am answering this reader’s question below!

If you enjoy reading this post, please be sure to … Share this Post with Friends

Here is the reader’s question::

About The Database Administrator’s (DBA) Job Description

I am a final year BE student interested in developing a career in DBA

Can you tell me the future prospects for DBA jobs and do i need to have a good knowledge of programming like C,C++,java,.net etc to be a DBA?

And I have also heard that getting jobs in DBA as freshers is very tough and companies don’t prefer DBA as freshers.

The Duties, Roles And Responsibilities of Database Administrators (DBAs)

The Database Administrator (DBA)’s job comes with a lot of responsibility and because of that, a lot of experience is usually required for the job.

This is the reason why Database Administrators tend to be seasoned database professionals and not entry level database professionals.

With that in mind, your first goal should be to learn database development first and then get a job where you can work your way up to becoming a DBA by first proving your competency as a database developer first.

Does A DBA Need To Know Scripting Languages?

DBAs are not computer programmers so they do not need to master every facet of programming with C/C++, C#, Java, .NET, etc.

However DBAs also need to write scripts for database maintenance jobs in a specific programming language.

For example, DBAs importing data into a SQL Server database may need to know enough of the Visual Basic scripting language (VBScript) to write some of the Extraction, Transform and Load (ETL) or Data Transformation Services (DTS) tasks required for the Extraction, Transformation or Loading (ETL) process.

Does A DBA Need To Know SQL Programming?

Though DBAs are not required to master computer programming, the normal day to day DBA duties may involve extensive programming in SQL.

For example, a DBA may have to write fairly extensive programming solutions in the SQL Language as part of stored procedures or some other database script.

It’s important to note that each relational database platform has its own native programming language (T-SQL, PL/SQL, Access SQL, etc.)

Introducing The DBA’s Job Description

Here is a quick overview of the database administrator’s (DBA) job description.

The database administrator or DBA is responsible for maintaining the database, applying the patches and upgrading the database.

The DBA is also responsible for maintaining the security of the database.

Here is some additional information on the roles and responsibilities of a DBA:

• The DBAs responsibilities includes installing the database on a production system.

• The DBA role tends towards supporting production, staging or quality assurance databases and rarely sandbox or developer databases.

  Supporting Sandbox or developer databases are usually part of the database developer’s job description.

• The DBA is also responsible for maintaining the uptime or availability of production databases.

  DBAs have to monitor production databases regularly or respond to any database issues by bringing down the database or taking the database offline.

• The DBA’s roles, responsibilities and duties also includes monitoring or optimizing the performance, security, backup, recovery or integrity of database management systems.

This post was written in answer to a question submitted by a reader on “The Database Administrator’s Job Description.

If you have a question, be sure to post it here as a comment on this post or submit it to: [Ask IT Career Coach].

How To Become A Database Administrator?

The first step in becoming a database administrator is to learn SQL Query Writing, master relational database design and development and study advanced sql topics.

Database Administrator’s tend to be highly skilled database developers and are usually promoted from within. What that means is that in all likelihood, you would start out as a database developer, gain a lot of experience and then move up the ranks or get promoted to a database administrator (DBA).

What Is The Toughest Challenge Facing Your Career?

Visit the Shopping Cart, Click Here

ABOUT TRAINING & COACHING COURSES

• Business Analyst Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Business Analyst Video Training


• SQL Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Hands On, SQL + RDBMS Video Training


• Software Developer Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Software Developer Video Training


• Data Analysts Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Hands On, Data Analyst Video Training


• Get Hired Fast - Online, Web Based, Resume + Job Search + Interview Video Training


• Become A Leader Coaching - Develop hands-on experience, gain domain expertise, solve industry problems, Stand Up and Be Noticed, market your career using PULL instead of PUSH techniques!

Visit our Shopping Cart

database careers in demand

The 7 Top, In-Demand Database Careers

Database skills are foundational to jobs in the IT Industry.

By that, I mean whether you’re a business analyst, software tester, project manager, software developer or even a web designer, you’ll be using relational database and sql query writing skills at some time in your career.

Database or SQL skills are also important because they position you for multiple careers paths ranging from that of the database developer to the data mining professional.

Career Paths for Database Professionals

Here is a comprehensive list of database career paths and their respective roles, duties, responsibilities and skill sets.

1. Relational Database Developer Career

   This is one of the foundational database careers in the sense that you can hardly qualify for other database career path without a strong relational database design & development foundation.

   Database developers are responsible for designing, architecting or developing relational databases using a database development tool like Microsoft Access, SQL Server, MySQL or Oracle.

2. SQL Developer / Query Writer Career

   This is the another foundational database career in the sense that you will need strong SQL query writing skills regardless of your role, job or designation in the IT Industry.

   SQL Developers or Query Writers are typically responsible for updating, deleting, creating or manipulating the data contained in relational databases using a database programming or query language known as SQL.

   There are several dialects of SQL marketed by database vendors and each dialect is executed in the database using an administrative front-end tool like SQL Server’s T-SQL Management Studio.

3. Database Administrator (DBA) Careers

   DBAs are responsible for keeping the database up and running for the company’s operations.

   DBAs are also responsible for installing, configuring and maintaining the entire database infrastructure or platform in their organizations.

   In addition, DBAs secure their databases from unauthorized access, manage the storage available on databases and optimize their performance.

   DBAs are found in organizations that store and maintain their own data in-house using relational database management systems like SQL Server, Oracle and MySQL.

4. The Report Writer Career

   Report Writer Career paths are equally important in the database industry.

   Report Writers need to have strong relational database and SQL query writing or development skills.

   The Report Writer’s responsibility includes designing, developing, scheduling and distributing database reports.

   Report Writers utilize tools like Crystal Report Writer, Business Objects, Microsoft Access or SQL Server Reporting Services for their work.

   Report Writers also tend to spend a good amount of time collecting requirements or presenting their reports to stakeholders, executives, management, business analysts or software developers.

5. Data Analyst Career

   The Data Analyst career is frequently confused for a purely statistical career path.

   Data Analysis roles actually utilize SQL query writing, relational database development and statistical data analysis skills.

   In the IT industry, the information accessed and analyzed by data analysts resides in relational databases. So, data analysts have to also master the relational database and sql query writing path of their careers as well … and not just the statistical skills.

   A lot of people struggle with the distinctions between purely statistical careers and the database analyst careers … don’t be one of those!

6. The Data Warehousing / Business Intelligence (BI) Career

   BI and Data Warehousing careers require skillsets that are almost opposite to that of the relational database developer.

   While traditional database developers focus on their normalization skills, data warehouse / BI professionals do the exact opposit by developing enterprise, de-normalized databases.

   Another key difference is that while traditional database developers typically create Online Transaction Processing (OLTP) databases, data warehousing / BI professionals focus on building Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) databases.

   The BI / Data Warehousing professional’s responsibilities also include creating and delivering multi-dimensional reporting tools using Business Intelligence tools like Oracle’s Business Intelligence (BI) or Microsoft’s SQL Server Buisness Intelligence platform.

   From a responsibility standpoint, the data warehousing / BI professional is responsible for aggregating the data from multiple corporate databases (developed by database developers) into enterprise, corporate databases.

7. The Data Mining Career

   Data Mining careers require a rigorous background, education or training in specialized computer-based data mining algorithms or techniques.

   Data Mining professionals run algorithms like Neural Networks, Classification, Regression, Segmenattion, Association or Sequence Analysis algorithms on large databases.

   Traditionally, data mining professionals had to have a strong background in mathematics, statistics and computer science because they often had to create data mining algorithms from scratch!

   But these days, vendors like Microsoft are placing analytics and even data mining within the hands of every motivated database professional through out-of-the-box data mining algorithms like those of SQL Server’s Data Mining Suite.

The foundational skills required for database careers are taught in the SQL Boot Camp and the additional statistical data analysis requirements for data analysts taught in the Data Analysts Boot Camp.

If you are interested in gaining one of the most verstaile IT career skills, you should register for either the SQL Boot Camp or the Data Analysts Boot Camp (which includes all the courses in the SQL Boot Camp and additional statistical, data analysis training.)

The only thing left … is to take your SQL / Data Analysts training knowing that relational database development, SQL query writing and statistical data analysis skills will help advance your future for a long time!

What Is The Toughest Challenge Facing Your Career?

Visit the Shopping Cart, Click Here

ABOUT TRAINING & COACHING COURSES

• Business Analyst Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Business Analyst Video Training


• SQL Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Hands On, SQL + RDBMS Video Training


• Software Developer Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Software Developer Video Training


• Data Analysts Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Hands On, Data Analyst Video Training


• Get Hired Fast - Online, Web Based, Resume + Job Search + Interview Video Training


• Become A Leader Coaching - Develop hands-on experience, gain domain expertise, solve industry problems, Stand Up and Be Noticed, market your career using PULL instead of PUSH techniques!

Visit our Shopping Cart

Microsoft Access Developer Career

The Microsoft Access Relational Database has been around for a while and it is used in many businesses, Information Technology (IT) Teams and organizations.

Microsoft Access is commonly used in building desktop software applications, data analysis programs and corporate databases where the number of records are as few as 2 billion records or the number of users who access the system at any one time are as few as ten concurrent users.

The ease with which Microsoft access database developers create functional relational databases, add data entry forms, build reports and distribute their database projects to multiple users creates a market for skilled Microsoft Access Relational Database developers.

However, Microsoft Access database solutions are not well suited for web, distributed, enterprise or large database development projects leading. Because of this, Microsoft Access database developers have to transition their skills to enterprise database development systems like SQL Server and Oracle at some point in their career!

This series of articles reviews the the merits and demerits of Microsoft Access database development and offers a transition plan or career path for updating Microsoft Access Database Development Skills.

The Case for Microsoft Access Developer Careers

1. Easy of Use – Microsoft Access is one of the easiest relational database platforms used in business because of it’s intuitive graphical user interface (GUI).

2. Office User – Microsoft Access is also popular with business or power users. It is relatively easy to install, configure and use on a desktop, laptop or home computer which makes it a winner for many.

3. Low Support Costs – Unlike enterprise databases like Oracle or IBM DB2, Microsoft Access databases do not need dedicated database administrators.

   The Microsoft Access developer (you) in this case is also the Microsoft Access Database Administrator unlike enterprise databases where there tends to be a split between the duties of the database administrator and the database developer.

4. Data Entry Forms – Microsoft Access is a unique database for office environments because it comes with a set of forms for building data entry (entering, editing, deleting, updating) forms.

   This feature eliminates the costs and complexity associated with typical software development projects based on Oracle, IBM DB2 and other enterprise databases.

5. In-Built Reporting Capability – Microsoft Access also incorporates the ability to generate simple or complex, customized reports.

   However, the Microsoft Access Reporting feature is not a full fledged reporting tool like Crystal Reports or SQL Server Reporting Services.

   The ease or simplicity of designing and building reports in Microsoft Access eliminates some of the complexity or costs associated with building external reports using enterprise reporting tools.

6. In-Built Application Development Environment – Microsoft Access is a flexible database software that allows you to customize or write full-blown software programs using the popular and easy to learn programming language known as VBA or Visual Basic for Applications.

   Many database developers actually use the VBA feature of Microsoft Access to jump start their programming careers by learning VBA and then transitioning to other programming languages like Visual Basic!

7. Graphical SQL Query Building – Writing SQL is made easy in Microsoft Access because of it’s Graphical Query Designer which allows you to join tables and add filters or clauses to them.

   You can also see or modify the generated SQL query using a a flavor of SQL known as Access SQL or Microsoft Access’s in-built Query Wizards.

8. Data Analysis Tool – because Microsoft Access allows you to build tables, data entry forms and reports quite easily, it is commonly used as a Data Analysis tool.

   Using Microsoft Office Access, you can for example, design a survey, create a table to store the data, build a simple data entry form, build a report and then give multiple users access to your reports or application.

9. External Database Access – database developers who are unfamiliar with enterprise databases like Oracle or SQL Server access them through a Microsoft Access database

   This is partly because the Microsoft Access database developer can connect, query or modify the data in an enterprise database without having to leave the safety and comfort of the familiar Microsoft Access environment!

10. Multi User Access - Microsoft Office Access supports a limited number of users accessing or modifying it’s data at the same time.

    It is sometimes seen as a better choice for data analysis projects where multiple users have to update, edit, delete or work with the same information while retaining each individual’s ability to rapidly prototype, build or extend it using forms.

As you can see, there are many reasons why the Microsoft Access Database Development tool is common, popular and frequently used in all sorts of database development, reporting, data analysis and software development projects.

To get started, there are many situations that Microsoft Access is not suited for.

Microsoft Access database developers are sometimes not comfortable with enforcing proper database design practices or writing complex subqueries, complex joins within Microsoft Access.

That is why database developers frequently resort to taking strong SQL Query Writing + Database Development Classes (like at the Data Analyst Boot Camp) after first falling in love with Microsoft Access.

Microsoft Access still limits database developers despite it’s powerful, and flexible relational database engine.

Hence the need to upgrade or transition to enterprise relational databases.

In the next article, I will discuss both the limitations of Microsoft Access as database development tool and the reasons for upgrading to an enterprise database like SQL Server.

If you are interested in becoming a better database developer by mastering relational database and SQL query writing, you can enroll Online at the DataAnalystBootCamp.Com

What Is The Toughest Challenge Facing Your Career?

Visit the Shopping Cart, Click Here

ABOUT TRAINING & COACHING COURSES

• Business Analyst Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Business Analyst Video Training


• SQL Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Hands On, SQL + RDBMS Video Training


• Software Developer Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Software Developer Video Training


• Data Analysts Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Hands On, Data Analyst Video Training


• Get Hired Fast - Online, Web Based, Resume + Job Search + Interview Video Training


• Become A Leader Coaching - Develop hands-on experience, gain domain expertise, solve industry problems, Stand Up and Be Noticed, market your career using PULL instead of PUSH techniques!

Visit our Shopping Cart

Learn the Right Way!

Database careers are a mystery to those on the outside! This is partly because the work done by database professionals is not as visible as that done by professionals like business analysts or project managers.

So, in this series, I will discuss database or SQL careers by answering questions such as:

• What do database / SQL jobs involve?

• What is the database / SQL industry like?

• What are the career options for database or SQL professionals?

• What challenges do database or SQL professionals face?

• Why would anyone recommend database or SQL careers?

I would start by recommending that you master working with relational database and SQL

Why Do I Recommend Learning SQL / RDBMS?

1. Shorter Learning Curve – SQL and Relational Database careers in Microsoft Access, MySQL and SQL Server have a shorter learning curve compared to business analyst or computer programming careers!

   So, if you are just entering the workforce and you don’t have strong software development or business analysis or project management skills, I recommend that you start learning SQL.

   Click here for more information on how to learn SQL or Relational Databases.

2. More Portable Skill – SQL or Database professionals are employed in most industries because databases are essential to business operations.

   SQL professionals are usually not restricted to a specific industry or domain. SQL skills can also be ported from one platform like MySQL to another like SQL Server in a reasonable amount of time.

   One good thing about mastering SQL or Relational Database is that your knowledge stays relevant over long periods of time.

   That’s why participants in the SQL Boot Camp build strong relational database skills as a foundation for their long-term SQL or database careers.

   Click here for more information on the career portability.

3. Constantly In Demand – My consulting career accelerated when I mastered a relational database product known as Microsoft Access in the nineties!

   Microsoft Access made database design and development so easy that everyone including office users, business analysts, data analysts, project managers and business users all started creating databases.

   The databases created by these power users worked for a while until they started failing because of poor relational database design.

   That is when I usually got called … to clean up the mess made by everyone else!

   Now the database industry has changed. Microsoft Access is no longer the de-facto office database because corporations now store data in enterprise databases like SQL Server.

   So, you need a strong understanding of relational database design and development for enterprise database jobs.

   So, click here to start learning proper relational database design and development principles.

4. Lighter Technical Skill – SQL or Relational Database skills are sometimes required for business analyst job openings

   SQL / RDBMS skills are also considered required skills for software development, data analyst, report writing and business intelligence jobs!

   SQL / RDBMS are either a “nice to have” or required skill because tech workers are expected to manipulate or interact with databases without asking for assistance!

Note that, lack of good SQL or Relational Database skills can create problems for your career because it’s a frequently used technical skill! So, click here to get started … why waste more time?

What Is The Toughest Challenge Facing Your Career?

Visit the Shopping Cart, Click Here

ABOUT TRAINING & COACHING COURSES

• Business Analyst Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Business Analyst Video Training


• SQL Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Hands On, SQL + RDBMS Video Training


• Software Developer Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Software Developer Video Training


• Data Analysts Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Hands On, Data Analyst Video Training


• Get Hired Fast - Online, Web Based, Resume + Job Search + Interview Video Training


• Become A Leader Coaching - Develop hands-on experience, gain domain expertise, solve industry problems, Stand Up and Be Noticed, market your career using PULL instead of PUSH techniques!

Visit our Shopping Cart

Learn SQL Online - The Easy Way!

SQL, also known as the Structured Query Language is used to query, retrieve and extract data from relational databases or define and create relational database structures including tables, views etc.

SQL skills are in-demand partly because of it’s portability. A skilled SQL professional can work on a wide variety of relational database platforms including Microsoft SQL Server, IBM’s DB2, Oracle, MySQL, Microsoft Access, Dbase, Foxpro.

What is the Demand for SQL Skills?

SQL skills are useful in a number of careers including database developers, report writers, business analysts, computer programmers, web developers, testers, data analysts, etc.

Is Learning SQL Hard?

SQL has a shorter learning curve when compared to other skills like business analysis or computer programming or testing. Part of the reason is that SQL is a well-defined, standardized language that has been around for a number of years.

What are the Career Options for SQL Professionals?

There are several career paths available to skilled SQL professionals. Some of the popular SQL career options or specializations including the:

1. Data Warehousing Career

2. Data Analyst Career

3. Database Developer Career

4. SQL Developer Career

5. Business Intelligence Career

6. Web Data Analyst Career

7. Database Administrator (DBA) Career

8. Database Mining Career

9. SQL Report Writer Career

Is Learning SQL Hard?

SQL has a shorter learning curve when compared to other skills like business analysis or computer programming or testing. Part of the reason is that SQL is a well-defined, standardized language that has been around for a number of years.

What is the Future Like for SQL Professionals?

Because an increasing number of companies are storing, or analyzing more of their corporate data, the demand for SQL or database skills will continue to increase.

What Are The Benefits of Learning SQL?

There are several reasons why learning SQL will help your career or your job. Some of these are:

1. Reliability: You can get the answers you need from the database yourself without relying on others query writing or data interpretation abilities.

2. Productivity: You can get more work done by yourself by saving your employer the costs of hiring additional resources.

3. Portable Skills: You gain skills that are portable or useful for a wide number of employment situations, job postings and business problems.

Registration for SQL Classes Begins Now

Enroll here to begin your SQL Training

What Is The Toughest Challenge Facing Your Career?

Visit the Shopping Cart, Click Here

ABOUT TRAINING & COACHING COURSES

• Business Analyst Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Business Analyst Video Training


• SQL Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Hands On, SQL + RDBMS Video Training


• Software Developer Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Software Developer Video Training


• Data Analysts Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Hands On, Data Analyst Video Training


• Get Hired Fast - Online, Web Based, Resume + Job Search + Interview Video Training


• Become A Leader Coaching - Develop hands-on experience, gain domain expertise, solve industry problems, Stand Up and Be Noticed, market your career using PULL instead of PUSH techniques!

Visit our Shopping Cart

Ask IT Career Coach

If you are interested in learning more about SQL Skills or becoming a Database Professional, send inyour questions now and I will answer them for you … right away!

Your questions may be about how to get a database developer job or how to improve your SQL query writing skills or how to become a database developer.

Perhaps your question is about how to get back into the database career track after a period of unemployment or about how to learn the relevant database skills for your job or employer. Whatever they are, go ahead and send in your questions and I will answer them for you.

Send in the issues, questions or challenges facing you and I would take care of the issues holding you back.

I may answer by writing a new article that addresses your concern or by posting a comprehensive answer to your question or …

If the challenge facing you is a pressing personal situation … I will answer it without posting your contact information or any publicly identifiable information.

Send a Question on:

• How to Transition into a Database Career or SQL Programming Career

• How to Gain Hands-On Database Experience

• How to Secure your Database Career By Performing On The Job

• How to Improve SQL Skills or Get Cutting Edge SQL Query Writing Experience or Get an In-Depth Knowledge of Relational Databases

• How to Become a Freelance Database Consultant

• How to Transition your skills between different Database Platforms

• How to Learn SQL Easily

• How to Choose between Different SQL Career Options

• How to Analyze or Present the Information contained in Databases

I will take care of the concerns or challenges facing you, so go right away and post your questions below:

What Is The Toughest Challenge Facing Your Career?

Visit the Shopping Cart, Click Here

ABOUT TRAINING & COACHING COURSES

• Business Analyst Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Business Analyst Video Training


• SQL Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Hands On, SQL + RDBMS Video Training


• Software Developer Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Software Developer Video Training


• Data Analysts Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Hands On, Data Analyst Video Training


• Get Hired Fast - Online, Web Based, Resume + Job Search + Interview Video Training


• Become A Leader Coaching - Develop hands-on experience, gain domain expertise, solve industry problems, Stand Up and Be Noticed, market your career using PULL instead of PUSH techniques!

Visit our Shopping Cart

Learn Sql Online - The Easy Way!

SQL Boot Camp is the hands-on, beginner to advanced level guide to learning SQL online.

You are shown, instructed or coached on how to write best-practice SQL code in an instructor-led, convenient and interactive web-based SQL course.

You gain mastery of SQL query writing, database design or database development by practicing as you learn from sql instructors using multiple videos, quizzes and hands-on database projects.

Why Learn SQL Online?

Databases are everywhere and virtually every firm or organization has multiple databases.

Because companies everywhere use data, access data or store data in databases, the relevance, future and demand for SQL skills is guaranteed!

You need to learn SQL so you can access the facts stored away in databases by yourself … without relying on someone else to access the data for you

You also need to learn SQL so you can build databases used in transactional or analytical software or web-based applications.

What Do You Want To Know About Learning SQL Online at SQL Boot Camp?

1. You can register for SQL Training from any home or office location.

   • You can take your training from home or the office because your SQL Training will be available online through videos, a web-based learning management system (LMS) and SQL trainers who will help you gain critical, hands-on SQL, Database Design and Database Development project experience.

2. You gain improved database skills Or hands-on SQL expertise.

   • After you enroll in SQL training, the web based training software creates a new training schedule for you and then sends you a personalized e-mail with links to your SQL videos or Database lessons, assignments or quizzes.

   • You are assigned a number of days for each SQL trainng video, SQL quiz, SQL assignment or hands-on database design or development project.

     You may however complete your work earlier or later than scheduled based on your own schedule.

   • You can submit your SQL projects back to a live SQL course instructor using a feature of the SQL training program.

   • Your SQL course instructors review and grade each of your database projects or provide personalized help, assistance or corrective feedback.

   • Your SQL skills are sharpened through multiple quizzes and your grades are automatically dsiplayed in a secure, private online report card.

   • Your understanding or progress at learning SQL is constantly monitored or evaluated and you are given various opportunities to practice as you learn!

3. You Retain Access to SQL Training Videos After the Course Is Completed!

   • You retain FULL and PERMANENT access to ALL SQL training videos after training is completed.

   • The SQL training videos will remain accessible through the “Resources” Menu on the training portal.

4. Online SQL Training Is Flexible, Convenient, Affordable

   • Yes, you are given ample time to complete each SQL training module including the SQL training videos or SQL practice tests or hands on SQL projects.

   • Yes, you can login for SQL training at any time.

   • Yes, you may pause your SQL training any time because of work or life commitments.

   • Yes, you may pause your SQL training without any penalty.

   • Yes, you do not have to begin or complete your SQL training at the same time as everyone else.

   • Yes, you do not have to login at the same time as everyone else or at a specific time of the day or night.

   • Yes, your SQL training is a “go at your own pace“, anytime, anywhere, anypace training. Yes, you can take some of your training at work (during lunchtime) or at home (after dinner) or on the road (from your laptop)!

5. No Entrance Examination Or Pre-requisite Courses Required

   • Your SQL training will walk you step by step … from utter beginner to advanced level without any prior SQL background.

   • Your SQL course instructors do not assume anything about your background, so you are taken through the basics and then taken to the advanced-level SQL courses.

   • Your SQL training Videos are all hands-on, instructional videos … which means that you learn by simply watching the SQL course instructors.

   • The SQL training videos cover both theoretical topics and practical requirements for Database Design or Database Development or SQL Query Writing.

   • You do not need extra time to prepare for SQL training before registering because all the preparation, foundational topics or pre-requisite knowledge is in-built and included as part of your SQL training courses.

6. You Determine The Pace Of Your SQL Training

   • Yes, you can accelerate or speed-up your SQL training or customize your SQL learning to suit your own study time.

   • Yes, you can finish SQL training in more time or less time than the estimated duration.

   • You can control your SQL training pace or customize it to your personal preferences. So you don’t have to start or finish at the same time as everyone else.

7. SQL Boot Camp’s Learning Management System (LMS) Shortens Your Learning Curve

   • The scheduling, tracking, monitoring and management of all SQL Boot Camp’s training content is done through modules in-built into the SQL training program.

8. You Don’t Need To Install Additional Software Programs to Watch SQL Training Videos

   • You don’t need to install additional software programs to view the SQL training videos online.

   • SQL Boot Camp uses a web-based training system that allows you to view the SQL training videos anytime from any location.

   • All the necessary software training features are already built into your SQL training system so, you don’t need to mess around with tiresome software installations.

   • … And yes, that means you don’t need to worry about browser requirements either!

What Is The Toughest Challenge Facing Your Career?

Visit the Shopping Cart, Click Here

ABOUT TRAINING & COACHING COURSES

• Business Analyst Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Business Analyst Video Training


• SQL Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Hands On, SQL + RDBMS Video Training


• Software Developer Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Software Developer Video Training


• Data Analysts Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Hands On, Data Analyst Video Training


• Get Hired Fast - Online, Web Based, Resume + Job Search + Interview Video Training


• Become A Leader Coaching - Develop hands-on experience, gain domain expertise, solve industry problems, Stand Up and Be Noticed, market your career using PULL instead of PUSH techniques!

Visit our Shopping Cart

In-Demand SQL Skills

Don’t miss out on TODAY’S opportunity to enroll in SQL BOOT CAMP at a 50% discount using the promotional code: SQLTRAIN because today is the Last Day!

Another SAVINGS PLAN available TODAY is the Job Search + Resumes + Interview Coaching at a 15% Discount.

With this plan you may add the SQL Boot Camp Training Plan to the Job Search + Resume + Interview Coaching Plan today and get an immediate savings of 15%.

Limited Time Offer … Don’t Miss Out

So, let me summarize the SQL Training Offers available to you today:

1. Get SQL Training Only: You can enroll today in SQL Boot Camp using the discount code: SQLTRAIN and save a significant 15%

2. Get SQL Training + Job Search Coaching + Resume Coaching + Interview Coaching: You can enroll today in both the SQL Boot Camp Training and the Job Search + Resume + Interview Coaching using the discount code: SQLTRAIN and also save a whooping 15%

What You Need To Know About SQL BOOT CAMP …

1. Anyone Can Enroll From AnyWhere In SQL Boot Camp:

   • You can enroll in SQL Boot Camp training from any location because the SQL Training is provided online through videos, a web-based learning management system (LMS) and SQL trainers who help you gain critical, hands-on SQL, Database Design and Database Development project experience

2. SQL Boot Camp Sharpens Your Skills And Helps You Gain Critical Hands-On Experience

   • After you enroll in SQL Boot Camp training, the web based training software creates a new training schedule for you and then sends you a personalized e-mail with links to your SQL + Database training videos, assignments or quizzes

   • SQL Boot Camp assigns you a number of days for each SQL video, SQL quiz, SQL assignment or hands on SQL Boot Camp project. You may however complete your work earlier or later than scheduled based on your own schedule

   • SQL Boot Camp allows you to complete an assignment or activity or project and then submit your work back to a live course instructor using a feature of the SQL training program

   • Your SQL Boot Camp instructors are automatically notified whenever you submit a project. Your Instructors can review or grade your work or provide personalized help, assistance or corrective feedback

   • SQL Boot Camp grades your work either automatically (Quizzes) or through SQL Course Instructors (Hands-ON Lab Work). Your SQL Boot Camp grades are automatically dsiplayed in your secure, private online report card

   • SQL Boot Camp automatically monitors your progress and sends out the next SQL training module for more learning or practice

3. You Have Total Access to SQL Boot Camp’s Videos After You Complete Training!

   • You retain FULL and PERMANENT access to ALL of SQL Boot Camp’s training videos after you complete training

   • All of SQL Boot Camp’s training videos or resources remain accessible through the “Resources” Menu on the training portal

4. SQL Boot Camp Is Flexible, Convenient, Affordable

   • Yes, you are given ample time to complete each SQL training module including the SQL training videos or SQL practice tests or hands on SQL projects

   • Yes, you can login to SQL Boot Camp any time … and take your training

   • Yes, you may pause your SQL training at any time because of work or life committments by simply clicking on the “Pause Training” button in SQL Boot Camp’s online, web-based training program

   • Yes, you may pause your SQL training for as long as you want to … or click on the “Resume Training” button to resume training whenever you want to without any penalty

   • Yes, you are not required to start or finish your SQL training at the same time as everyone else

   • Yes, you are not required login to SQL Boot Camp at the same time as everyone else or at a specific time of the day or night

   • Yes, your SQL training is a “go at your own pace“, anytime, anywhere, anypace training. Yes, you can take some of your training at work (during lunchtime) or at home (after dinner) or on the road (from your laptop)!

5. You Are Not Required To Take Any Entrance Examinations Or Complete Any Prerequisite Courses Before Enrolling

   • All of SQL Boot Camp’s training courses are designed to take you step by step … from beginner to advanced level

   • SQL Boot Camp’s Course Instructors do not assume anything about your background, so you are walked through the basics and then taken to the advanced-level topics

   • All SQL Boot Camp’s Training Videos are hands-on, instructional videos … which means that you learn by simply watching the SQL Course Instructors

   • SQL Boot Camp’s training videos cover both the theoretical knowledge and practical requirements of Database Design or Database Development or SQL Queries

   • You do not need extra time to prepare for SQL Boot Camp before enrolling because all the preparation, foundational topics or pre-requisite knowledge is in-built and included as part of each SQL Boot Camp’s training course

6. You Control The Pace Of SQL Training

   • Yes, you can accelerate or speed-up your SQL training course or complete SQL Boot Camp training in a shorter time

   • Yes, you can finish your SQL training in more time or less time than the estimated duration

   • You can control your SQL training pace because the web-based SQL Boot Camp Training Program allows you to run at a more customized or personalized pace. So you don’t have to start or finish at the same time as eveyone else

7. SQL Boot Camp’s Learning Management System (LMS) Shortens Your Learning Curve:

   • The scheduling, tracking, monitoring and management of all SQL Boot Camp’s training content is done through modules in-built into the SQL training program

8. You Don’t Need To Install Additional Software Programs to Watch SQL Boot Camp Videos

   • You don’t need to install additional software progarms to view SQL Boot Camp’s training videos online

   • SQL Boot Camp uses a web-based training system that allows you to view the SQL training videos anytime from any location

   • All the needed software training features are already built into into SQL Boot Camp’s web based training system … so, you don’t need to mess around with tiresome installations before you begin watching the Videos

   • … And yes, that means you don’t need to worry about browser requirements either!

More Information on SQL Boot Camp’s Training

1. Click Here to Read … How to Become a Database Developer

2. Click Here to Read … How to Become a Data Analyst Or Report Writer Or Database Developer

3. Click Here to Read … SQL Training Classes Or Database Courses

Don’t miss out on these limited time discounts because they are ending TODAY!

Right now, you can …

• Go to the Shopping Cart and enroll for SQL Boot Camp only with the one-time promotional discount code: SQLTRAIN

• Go to the Shopping Cart and enroll for both SQL Boot Camp and Job Search + Resume + Interview Coaching using the limited-time promotional discount code: SQLTRAIN

• Use the discount code: SQLTRAIN … SAVE 15% on the shopping cart! for either or two SQL training plans

Click here to get this special discount before it expires

What Is The Toughest Challenge Facing Your Career?

Visit the Shopping Cart, Click Here

ABOUT TRAINING & COACHING COURSES

• Business Analyst Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Business Analyst Video Training


• SQL Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Hands On, SQL + RDBMS Video Training


• Software Developer Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Software Developer Video Training


• Data Analysts Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Hands On, Data Analyst Video Training


• Get Hired Fast - Online, Web Based, Resume + Job Search + Interview Video Training


• Become A Leader Coaching - Develop hands-on experience, gain domain expertise, solve industry problems, Stand Up and Be Noticed, market your career using PULL instead of PUSH techniques!

Visit our Shopping Cart

Top Paying Skills in High Demand

Database Developers are in-demand in the healthcare, telecommunications, financial, manufacturing industries or in firms where data needs to be stored, retrieved or maintained.

• Database developers work with data analysts while importing data from legacy systems into new database structures.

• Database developers work with report developers in designing and reporting on data and business trends.

• Database developers work with system architects or software developers in defining data storage, retrieval or archival systems for business software application needs.

Because many software applications and most businesses are connected to the internet, an increasing number of database developers are needed to handle the growing volume of web usage data or transactional data generated by internet or e-commerce busineses.

Because of the pivotal role of business to business (B2B) and business to consumer (B2C) electronic commerce, there is an increased demand for database developers who can build mission critical, high performing, reliable, scalable databases for retail, service, marketing, sales and other business operations

Database Developer Salary Requirements

Even in a period of economic recession the pay band for database developers goes from $73,500 to $103,000 according to Robert Half Technology. Another survey cites the average salary for a skilled database developer as $84,000 (EIGHTY FOUR THOUSAND UNITED STATES DOLLARS). Click here to see the average database developer salary in the United States.

Database Developer Skill Requirements

There are several types of databases in the market and each requires a specific set of database design and development skills. However relational database design and development skills are the sought after database design and developement skills.

Here are some of the skills needed to become a relational database developer:

1. Logical Database Design Skills

2. Physical Database Design Skills

3. SQL Data Definition Skills (DDL)

4. SQL Data Manipulation Skills (DML)

5. Entity-Relationship (ER) Modeling Skills

6. Indexing, Performance Tuning and Optimization Skills

7. Strong SQL / Data Analysis Skills

Click here to get a comprehensive list of the topics a relational database developer needs to learn or study …

How Portable are Database Development Skills

A database developer with a solid understanding of relational database design development skills and strong SQL skills can work with databases from a wide variety of vendors and database platforms.

Some of the more popular database development platforms that skilled and in-demand database developers may end up working with include:

1. Microsoft Access

2. Microsoft SQL Server

3. MySQL

4. Oracle

5. Sybase

6. IBM DB2

Note: A database developer does not need to get trained in every popular database platform in the market because relational database design and SQL has been standardized to a good degree.

Given a sound understanding or training in relational database design or development and SQL, the database developer can pick up the rest of the skills needed for each database platform while working with it.

So, given that a database developer already knows SQL Server or Transact SQL (T-SQL) and is then presented with a Microsoft Access Database Design & Development project or a MySQL Database Design & Development project, the database developer should be able to apply the same set of logical database design skills and standardized SQL skills to these database platforms while learning the nuances or flavors of Microsoft Access SQL (Access SQL) or MySQL specific SQL

Studying or Learning to Become a Database Developer

Database Developers need to learn or study the Relational Database Design process, the SQL Data Definition Language (DDL), the SQL Data Manipulation Language (DML) and the Database Development process for a specific relational database management system.

The database developer’s educational requirements are covered in the SQL Boot Camp. The SQL Boot Camp is an online, web-based educational training program for database developers who want to learn or study database development. SQL Boot Camp includes an extensive set of:

1. Hands-on SQL Training Videos + Relational Database Design Videos taught by SQL Course Instructors

2. SQL Practice Tests or SQL Job Interview Quizzes that you can use to ace database developer job interviews or improve your retention or understanding of the SQL training videos

3. Hands-On Database Design & Development Projects assigned, reviewed and graded by your SQL Course Instructors

Limited Time – Registration Discount Code

For a limited time only, we are giving away seats on SQL Boot Camp with the registration discount code: SQLTRAIN

To get this discount, enroll here for SQL Boot Camp using the registration discount code: SQLTRAIN.

Note: This is a limited-time offer, so if you are looking for a complete, end-to-end database developer professional training, click here to enroll in SQL Boot Camp using the registration discount code: SQLTRAIN

What Is The Toughest Challenge Facing Your Career?

Visit the Shopping Cart, Click Here

ABOUT TRAINING & COACHING COURSES

• Business Analyst Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Business Analyst Video Training


• SQL Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Hands On, SQL + RDBMS Video Training


• Software Developer Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Software Developer Video Training


• Data Analysts Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Hands On, Data Analyst Video Training


• Get Hired Fast - Online, Web Based, Resume + Job Search + Interview Video Training


• Become A Leader Coaching - Develop hands-on experience, gain domain expertise, solve industry problems, Stand Up and Be Noticed, market your career using PULL instead of PUSH techniques!

Visit our Shopping Cart

Announcing Payment Plans

Our readers have been asking if they can get a payment plan on the Software Developer Boot Camp or the Business Analyst Boot Camp. I am happy to announce that the answer is yes.
In addition the new payment plans include a 50% discount if you sign up right away. This offer expires Midnight, February 2, 2009. So hurry to take advantage of the limited time discount. Click here for more information

Launching The Relational Database (RDBMS) Boot Camp

We are launching the Relational Database (RDBMS) Boot Camp training. This is an online, web based, video based, instructor led, hands on relational database design & development training course. The RDBMS Boot Camp is for professionals who want to learn or master relational database design & development only and are not interested in learning SQL query writing. We are also offering a 50% discount on the Relational Database (RDBMS) course which expires Midnight, February 2, 2009. So, hurry now to take advantage of this offer to jumpstart your relational database (RDBMS) training. Click here for more information

Launching The Job Search, Resume and Interview Coaching Program

We are introducing the Job Search, Resume and Interview Coaching program for professionals who want to put the best effort towards finding a new job or getting hired quickly.
Click here to read more about the new job search, resume & interview coaching program

For a limited time only, you may access all our training services at a discount or on a payment plan. The discount offered in this announcement expires Midnight, February 2, 2009.
So, click here now to take advantage of the limited time offer or discount

What Is The Toughest Challenge Facing Your Career?

Visit the Shopping Cart, Click Here

ABOUT TRAINING & COACHING COURSES

• Business Analyst Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Business Analyst Video Training


• SQL Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Hands On, SQL + RDBMS Video Training


• Software Developer Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Software Developer Video Training


• Data Analysts Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Hands On, Data Analyst Video Training


• Get Hired Fast - Online, Web Based, Resume + Job Search + Interview Video Training


• Become A Leader Coaching - Develop hands-on experience, gain domain expertise, solve industry problems, Stand Up and Be Noticed, market your career using PULL instead of PUSH techniques!

Visit our Shopping Cart

How you value knowledge tells me a lot about who you are … because knowledge capital is the most important resource in any organization.

In the digital age, what makes one employee more valuable than the next employee is simply stated … the amount of knowledge, skill, expertise, training and learning they have managed to acquire and put to use.

Now, managers are not interested in employees that know it all … only in employees that constantly put their knowledge capital to work by solving corporate problems or challenges … those employees are the gold mines in any organization.

Now, think about it for a moment, if you are a trained, knowledgeable, competent, skilled Information Technology (IT) professional, your resume would display your accomplishments, success stories, skills, training and technical mastery. And because you have all these, you can send your resume anywhere in the the world … and be instantly hired! … just because you are very good at why you do … and you can prove it!

The singular reason why you, as an IT professional may feel undervalued or wasted in your career is that for some unknown reason … you have made the unconscious mistake of not investing enough of your personal time in improving your skills!

Here is why technology or software development professionals lag behind in their career:

Managers Have A “Show Me Proof” Mindset:

Managers tend to follow a show me proof strategy .. .simply put, you have to demonstrate that you have acquired or mastered a new skill … before you will get a break or the next promotion on the job. So, your manager will pay you more money when you show tangible proof that you have learnt a new skill, you have attended a new training or course, you have mastered a new technology or software development process like UML, Use Cases, Requirements Analysis or Object Oriented Software Development.

Without tangible proof that you are constantly improving or learning … you may not only be bypassed for new or important opportunities, you will also be more likely than others to be back-burned or fired in a recession.

Adult To Adult Relationship:

Several years ago, I was hired first after college into a Fortune 500 company as a Process & Technology manager. During the employee training sessions, I heard a great word that has stuck with me throughout my career … that word is “Adult – To – Adult Relationship“.

What that word really means, is that your employer wants to forge a new relationship with you, where you are treated as partner or co-business owner even though on paper .. you are just an employee. In the light of this, your employer wants you to take personal responsibility for your career, personal development, initiative or the contribution only you can make to the company … and that is where you may miss the boat!

Taking personal responsibility for your career means that you need to sit down and draw up a career roadmap of where you want to go in the next 1 year, make a detailed career plan for achieving your career roadmap … and then follow through.

You need to specify how long it will take you to master each skill or competency needed to perform your job 1 year from now and then personally ensure that you acquire the knowledge, expertise, skills, training or experience needed.

Some employees fall off the grid at this point by making the mistake of waiting on their manager to take personal responsibility for their IT Training and skills development.

You Are Only As Valuable As What You Know:

In today’s competitive digital economy, nobody gets ahead based on their good looks or their family connections or the type of college they attended! Even if you manage to get your foot in the door by “repeating the name of your alma mater three times” at the interview or getting your dad or mum to pull some favors for you … you will only last as long as the next round of corporate cost reduction / cost cutting a.k.a downsizing / layoffs.

So, there is no getting around it, you simply have to know what you are doing or strive to be the best on your job or just simply play the sorry, loser on your team … the butt of off-handed, not so subtle remarks on the need to shape up or shape out.

So, what is a knowledge worker to do?

The Attitude Of A Knowledge Worker:

Start by recognizing that knowledge is one of the core prerequisites for wealth, personal empowerment and career advancement. Tell yourself this “without knowledge I bring nothing to the table , no usefulness to my team or manager and therefore I may not have a job … and you will being to get the big picture.

To Be The Best:

Accept the challenge to be the best … you simply must accept the challenge to be the best at what you do, whether you are a business analyst, a computer programmer, a project manager, database developer or you wear a myriad of hats on the job!

The problem with individuals who do not accept the challenge to be the best on the job is that, they constantly allow themselves to under-perform because they don’t hold themselves to a high-standard! This may be due to a poor self-image or a feeling of incompetency or a “I could never be that good” mindset.

Unfortunately, this has a way of proving itself right. If you lower the bar for yourself, you will fulfill the expectations set for under-performers or inevitably shoot yourself in the foot. The saddest part of it is that you cheat yourself by losing out on the opportunity to discover that you are in your own unique way, a gem, a virtuoso, a top performer … who can achieve just like anyone else!

Take Your Training:

You have heard it all … you are only as valuable as the knowledge you bring to your team or manager … take personal responsibility for your career development … accept the challenge to be the best at what you do … so, what next?

No one ever achieved anything much without the help of other people … that is why I’m referring you to these great resources for becoming the best, the most competent professional, the top dog and not the under dog on the job!

We are now accepting registrations for the next batch of INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY BOOT CAMPs … Early Bird Registration Discounts Are Available … Register Now And Use This Discount Code: EarlyBirdCoupon For A Special Discount

To Register for the Business Analyst Boot Camp Training … Click Here:
To Register For SQL BOOT CAMP Training (Database Developers, Data Analysts Or SQL Programmers) … Click Here
To Register For Software Developer Boot Camp Training … Click Here.

In addition, if you haven’t already done so, read How To Learn Or Master Computer Programming Fast – Book OR How To Learn Or Master Business Analysis Fast – Book.

If you enjoyed reading this post, you may Click Here To Follow Me On Twitter: when I make the next blog post.

What Is The Toughest Challenge Facing Your Career?

Visit the Shopping Cart, Click Here

ABOUT TRAINING & COACHING COURSES

• Business Analyst Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Business Analyst Video Training


• SQL Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Hands On, SQL + RDBMS Video Training


• Software Developer Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Software Developer Video Training


• Data Analysts Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Hands On, Data Analyst Video Training


• Get Hired Fast - Online, Web Based, Resume + Job Search + Interview Video Training


• Become A Leader Coaching - Develop hands-on experience, gain domain expertise, solve industry problems, Stand Up and Be Noticed, market your career using PULL instead of PUSH techniques!

Visit our Shopping Cart

The technical skill most in demand or frequently asked for on business analyst job postings, computer programmer jobs, data analyst positions, report writer job openings or most software development job postings is relational database management skills including SQL programming, database design, database development and SQL querying skills.

Are you surprised or in doubt?

Take a look at the job postings for business analysts, computer programmers, data analysts or database developer jobs and you will see that the technical skills common to all software development professions include:

1. Relational database design skills

2. Relational database development skills

3. SQL data analysis, SQL querying or SQL programming skills

So, attending a relational database course or a SQL programming class will do a couple of things for you:

1. Boost your marketability for business analysis, computer programmer, data analysis, report writing or other software development jobs by helping you master one of the more frequently asked for or required software development skills

2. Give you portable Information Technology (IT) skills. IT Managers love software development professionals that can wear multiple hats and are able to transition from data querying and analysis roles to SQL programming or database design & development roles easily

3. Improve your resume overnight. Programming languages or software development skills take much longer than SQL programming or relational database development and are also harder to learn

Now, I have been discussing why taking a database design class or SQL programming course would benefit you … let’s take a closer look at the SQL courses offered on: SQL BOOT CAMP

1. Web Based Online SQL or Database Training Courses:
   SQL Boot Camp is delivered to registered students via our web based, online training and learning management system (LMS) at : http://www.it-career-coach.com. Web based training is more flexible than traditional, class based training or other forms of distance learning because you can log-in with a private or secure access and take your training at a convenient time, from the comfort of your home or office and from any location in the world.

2. Video Based SQL or Database Training:
   SQL Boot Camp is delivered via instructional videos that walk you through the beginner to advanced topics in database design theory, database modeling, SQL based data querying and analysis, etc. You may watch the videos at home or in your office and learn from a SQL instructor or database trainer without having to be in the same physical class room location. The SQL training videos are delivered through the web-based, distance learning, online training system at http://www.it-career-coach.comThe training videos are completely hands-on. You learn by watching or doing the tasks you the SQL instructor or trainer is performing.

3. Database Practice Tests, SQL Training Quizzes or Database Exams: Your learning, comprehension or technical mastery are tested as you work your way through the SQL topics or database development concepts presented to you. The quizzes or exam are built into the web based SQL BOOT CAMP training system at http://www.it-career-coach.com. They are designed into your database training class at regular intervals so you get regular feedback as you study and progress along the course.

4. Experienced Instructor Led SQL Training or Database Development Class: You are assigned a SQL instructor or database trainer when you register for the SQL training package. You are also assigned open-ended essay quizzes by your instructor, who is responsible for reading your essay or quiz responses and grading them. You are also given private assignments by your database design instructor that require you to perform specific skill based tasks. You submit the homework or assignment back to your course instructor … who grades it for you.

5. Progress Feedback / Report Card: While attending SQL BOOT CAMP you are graded on every module, assignment, quiz, practice test and essay given to you. Your grade scores are displayed in an web based report card which is available only to you as part of your SQL / database training course.

6. Private Discussions: During SQL BOOT CAMP You can post a question, concern or discussion on any SQL / database topic, video, assignment or quiz presented to you and get personal assistance, feedback, answers, coaching and one-on-one mentoring from your SQL Instructor.

7. Beginner to Intermediate to Senior Level Training: SQL Boot Camp is divided into multiple levels. The SQL BOOT CAMP training software system automatically moves you along your database training plan from one level to a higher level as soon as you work through all the videos, assignments, quizzes or essays assigned to you. You are notified by SQL BOOT CAMP when a new training video is posted by your instructor for you to watch, when it is time to take a practice test or quiz and when your instructor posts a question for you.

8. Certificate Based Training: At the end of your SQL training or database design class or database development course you are mailed a completion certificate that contains your grades and the skills you mastered. You will also be able to access your transcript online on a secure, private learning management system.

9. SQL Live Presentations / Seminars: We schedule live SQL development presentations or database training seminars. As a registered student of SQL BOOT CAMP, you are notified every time there is a live, online database design seminar or web based database development conference and preregistered for it, You won’t be required to pay for these seminars as well … since you are a registered student on “SQL Boot Camp”.

So, what are you waiting for … go ahead and register for SQL BOOT CAMP!

About The Author

My name is Kingsley Tagbo and I’m a technical expert living in Saint Louis, Missouri. I develop training, coaching, mentoring and personal development programs for software development professionals including business analysts, computer programmers, testers, project managers, web designers, data analysts, report writers, software developers and other information technology professionals .

My firm, Exacticity, performs software development consulting and training for clients throughout the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. If you are in need of Business Analyst Training, Software Developer Training or Database Development Training, Coaching or Mentoring click here to get in touch with me.

What Is The Toughest Challenge Facing Your Career?

Visit the Shopping Cart, Click Here

ABOUT TRAINING & COACHING COURSES

• Business Analyst Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Business Analyst Video Training


• SQL Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Hands On, SQL + RDBMS Video Training


• Software Developer Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Software Developer Video Training


• Data Analysts Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Hands On, Data Analyst Video Training


• Get Hired Fast - Online, Web Based, Resume + Job Search + Interview Video Training


• Become A Leader Coaching - Develop hands-on experience, gain domain expertise, solve industry problems, Stand Up and Be Noticed, market your career using PULL instead of PUSH techniques!

Visit our Shopping Cart

The 2008 database developer training year begins on February 15, 2007.

Sign up now for the specially discounted enrollment fee because by February 15, the database training enrolment fee will be $500 or $750. Click this link to SQL BOOT CAMP to see how much you will save at the current enrollment fee.

Who Does The Database Developer Training Cover?

1. The database training covers everything you need to design and develop enterprise databases.

2. The database training covers SQL programming training or SQL developer training from the beginner to advanced topics as well.

Go to the website for SQL developer training or database developer training at SQL BOOT CAMP to see the courses that will be covered during the training programme.

Who Should Attend The Database Developer Training?

If you are a data analyst, database developer, business analyst, SQL report writer, computer programmer, software developer, web developer, web designer or Information Technology professional consider what mastering database development and SQL programming can do for your career.

Databases are in use by virtually every business, industry and organization. SQL is the programming language used in defining or manipulating databases and SQL BOOT CAMP covers everything you need to know or master about SQL or database development.

Hurry now and save up to $500 or more than 50% on the SQL training beginning February 15.

Click Here: SQL BOOT CAMP for more information on the training program.

About The Author

My name is Kingsley Tagbo and I?m a technical expert living in Saint Louis, Missouri. I write about the training, coaching, mentoring and personal development of software development professionals including business analysts, computer programmers, testers, project managers, web designers, data analysts, report writers, software developers and other information technology professionals .

My firm, Exacticity, performs software development consulting and training for clients throughout the United States, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. If you are in need of software development help or training, click here to contact me.

What Is The Toughest Challenge Facing Your Career?

Visit the Shopping Cart, Click Here

ABOUT TRAINING & COACHING COURSES

• Business Analyst Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Business Analyst Video Training


• SQL Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Hands On, SQL + RDBMS Video Training


• Software Developer Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Software Developer Video Training


• Data Analysts Boot Camp - Online, Web Based, Instructor Led, Hands On, Data Analyst Video Training


• Get Hired Fast - Online, Web Based, Resume + Job Search + Interview Video Training


• Become A Leader Coaching - Develop hands-on experience, gain domain expertise, solve industry problems, Stand Up and Be Noticed, market your career using PULL instead of PUSH techniques!

Visit our Shopping Cart