March 8, 2008 at 11:02 am
I am hoping to obtain some insight from some of the professionals that view the forums. I am currently in my last semester of college and will be obtaining an Associate’s degree in May. I have had most of my course work focused on database administration.
Since I am in my last semester my job focus is becoming priority. My experience thus far is entry level database jobs are hard to come by with only course work experience. Although this is my ultimate goal, I am definitely considering other avenues that would provide experience in IT.
I am curious if anyone has some advice for breaking into IT. I have applied at a few staffing agencies, unfortunately I have been told nothing is available. I currently reside south of Indianapolis, I was hopeful that the demand for entry level IT would be greater. I am, however, optimistic and excited about the opportunities available once I get that coveted experience.
-Jon
March 8, 2008 at 11:15 am
I think you should take any opportunity that has databases being used. Even if that's help desk.
Then you should try to get experience, maybe see if you can sit with a developer/dba for a couple hours a week, even when you're not working, get some experience, learn what they do, ask if you can do some scut work, but make yourself useful, the valuable, and look to move up.
A year is a lot of experience, so if you can get a year of DBA work, you'll be in good shape.
March 8, 2008 at 11:16 am
There's a recruiting company called TEK and they have a nationwide footprint. Go talk with them... tell them what you told us. They'll find you something. Also, check with the local chamber of commerce... they often will know of new opportunities.
In the meantime, buy a copy of the Developer's Edition (about $65), install it on your machine, and start trying different things... nothing is a better teacher than hands on time. If you really want to get good, learn how to make a million rows of random data to play with and start answering questions on this forum... even if you don't post your answers (and you should post them... lot's of folks will make good suggestions), you're still doing the practice thing that so many "newbies" really need to get ahead of the competition.
--Jeff Moden
Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.
March 8, 2008 at 11:19 am
In fact... here's your first homework problem... write the SQL to count from 1 to a million and display each count. Provide three different solutions and discuss the pros and cons of each method as compared to the others.
--Jeff Moden
Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.
March 8, 2008 at 11:42 am
Steve, I appreciate that advice. I would be more than willing to meet DBAs and hang out to gain some experience. It would be great to find a position that provides that benefit. I will make this a priority if I am able to select between jobs. My concern is not pay at this point, I know that will come, experience is where I am putting my value.
Jeff, I assume you are talking about picking up a copy of SQL Server 2005 Developer’s Edition? Great idea as well, I do have a bit of free time at the moment and getting some hands on experience would be key. I have not had a course or experience in SQL Server, however, I would imagine with my experience in Oracle, Access and SQL; I would be able to grasp the concepts rather quickly.
I do appreciate the quick responses; at this point I am like a sponge trying to soak up every piece of information and professional advice I can get. Thank you taking time to post and providing the guidance that may perhaps help a newb get started on his IT career path.
-Jon
March 8, 2008 at 12:51 pm
Yes... I was taking about the Developers Edition of SQL Server 2005.
Oracle experience? I've seen a fair number of people go from Oracle to SQL Server only to crash and burn when it comes to writing performance code. SQL is not SQL across RDBMS's. For example, Oracle's UPDATE statement has no FROM clause like SQL Server does. If you need to do joins in an UPDATE in Oracle, you have to use correlated sub-queries both in the SET list and the WHERE clause. And, it runs just fine and fast in Oracle. Use the same method in SQL Server, however, and the performance goes down inversely proportional to the number of correlated sub-queries you used.
Then, there's the whole concept of "set based" programming... Oracle is very tolerant of RBAR and still does a bit better when set based programming is used. SQL Server doesn't tolerate RBAR very much at all. In fact, cursors and While loops and other "procedureal" RBAR methods are pretty much the bane of performance in SQL Server.
If you know Oracle... perfect... how would you count and display from 1 to a million in Oracle? There's the RBAR way, and there's the set based way...
--Jeff Moden
Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.
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