May 15, 2015 at 5:01 am
Hi everyone,
I am teaching myself MS SQL Server 2008 for work purposes. I have a background in programming but not DB Administration. I am done with youtube tutorials and am looking for a practical project to actually test what I have learned, and upon completion, something to put in my resume.
I am looking for something maybe academic in nature, or anything that is practical would be good. It should be noob-friendly too. Any insights would be appreciated. Thanks.
May 15, 2015 at 6:12 am
Build a database that categorizes your books, movie collection, My Little Pony collection, whatever. Take the time to normalize, think about the possible reports you could run 'All science fiction authors who have written a post-apocalypse novel.' Stuff like that. Concentrate on making it actually functional. Try to create something that you would like to use. That will teach you a lot about how to do this stuff.
"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
- Theodore Roosevelt
Author of:
SQL Server Execution Plans
SQL Server Query Performance Tuning
May 15, 2015 at 6:16 am
Consider seeing if there are any non-profits in your area that might want some DB work done.
Gail Shaw
Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
SQL In The Wild: Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability
May 15, 2015 at 9:13 pm
dick.vanderweed (5/15/2015)
Hi everyone,I am teaching myself MS SQL Server 2008 for work purposes. I have a background in programming but not DB Administration. I am done with youtube tutorials and am looking for a practical project to actually test what I have learned, and upon completion, something to put in my resume.
I am looking for something maybe academic in nature, or anything that is practical would be good. It should be noob-friendly too. Any insights would be appreciated. Thanks.
Design a system to handle checking accounts (like a bank might) and the related reporting using only T-SQL. That will pretty much test everything.
--Jeff Moden
Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.
May 16, 2015 at 3:08 pm
dick.vanderweed (5/15/2015)
Hi everyone,I am teaching myself MS SQL Server 2008 for work purposes. I have a background in programming but not DB Administration. I am done with youtube tutorials and am looking for a practical project to actually test what I have learned, and upon completion, something to put in my resume.
I am looking for something maybe academic in nature, or anything that is practical would be good. It should be noob-friendly too. Any insights would be appreciated. Thanks.
Adding my 2 Cents:
😎
a) SQL Server 2008 is a rather old product, consider SQL Server 2014 or 2016 as that will already give you some advantage.
b) To get your feet wet, bid on some elementary / simple jobs on websites such as PeoplePerHour
c) Read all the Stairways articles on this website
d) Read all the Red Gate provided free books
e) Look for challenging problems on websites such as this one, pick a problem and don't stop until YOU solve it.
last but not least, read anything that says Codd, Itzik, Gail, Grant, Jeff, Erland, Dwain, Aaron, Joe, Kalen, Benjamin, Tripp or Paul on the cover.
May 16, 2015 at 3:30 pm
Eirikur Eiriksson (5/16/2015)
a) SQL Server 2008 is a rather old product, consider SQL Server 2014 or 2016 as that will already give you some advantage.
Um....
Gail Shaw
Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
SQL In The Wild: Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability
May 16, 2015 at 4:02 pm
GilaMonster (5/16/2015)
Eirikur Eiriksson (5/16/2015)
a) SQL Server 2008 is a rather old product, consider SQL Server 2014 or 2016 as that will already give you some advantage.Um....
Point being that if one stars on 2016 now then one will have good grips of it once it is released:-D
😎
May 16, 2015 at 4:11 pm
Eirikur Eiriksson (5/16/2015)
GilaMonster (5/16/2015)
Eirikur Eiriksson (5/16/2015)
a) SQL Server 2008 is a rather old product, consider SQL Server 2014 or 2016 as that will already give you some advantage.Um....
Point being that if one stars on 2016 now then one will have good grips of it once it is released:-D
😎
Kinda hard to start on a product that doesn't have anything other than marketing material and advertised features yet. Unless he wants to wait a month or two (or more) for the promised preview.
Gail Shaw
Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
SQL In The Wild: Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability
May 16, 2015 at 4:14 pm
GilaMonster (5/16/2015)
Eirikur Eiriksson (5/16/2015)
GilaMonster (5/16/2015)
Eirikur Eiriksson (5/16/2015)
a) SQL Server 2008 is a rather old product, consider SQL Server 2014 or 2016 as that will already give you some advantage.Um....
Point being that if one stars on 2016 now then one will have good grips of it once it is released:-D
😎
Kinda hard to start on a product that doesn't have anything other than marketing material and advertised features yet. Unless he wants to wait a month or two (or more) for the promised preview.
Could use the time to read some of your stuff
😎
May 16, 2015 at 4:17 pm
GilaMonster (5/16/2015)
Eirikur Eiriksson (5/16/2015)
a) SQL Server 2008 is a rather old product, consider SQL Server 2014 or 2016 as that will already give you some advantage.Um....
Is it only me that thinks the big elephant is SQL Server 2008?
😎
May 16, 2015 at 9:39 pm
There is very little difference between editions of SQL Server according to what a Noob should start with. About 8 months ago I interviewed a handful of "developers" and a couple of "senior DBAs" that didn't know that ROW_NUMBER() even existed.
--Jeff Moden
Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.
May 17, 2015 at 2:54 pm
Jeff Moden (5/16/2015)
There is very little difference between editions of SQL Server according to what a Noob should start with. About 8 months ago I interviewed a handful of "developers" and a couple of "senior DBAs" that didn't know that ROW_NUMBER() even existed.
:pinch: :sick:
May 18, 2015 at 6:48 am
Jeff Moden (5/16/2015)About 8 months ago I interviewed a handful of "developers" and a couple of "senior DBAs" that didn't know that ROW_NUMBER() even existed.
Well, to be fair, if all their development or DBA experience was on SQL 2000 or earlier, that would be reasonable. 🙂
May 18, 2015 at 8:15 am
One of my first databases was a cookbook for my favorite grill recipes.
For the really fundamental stuff (backups/restores, normalization, stored procedures, query plans, et multiple cetera) version isn't all that big an issue.
____________
Just my $0.02 from over here in the cheap seats of the peanut gallery - please adjust for inflation and/or your local currency.
July 3, 2015 at 11:48 pm
paul.knibbs (5/18/2015)
Jeff Moden (5/16/2015)About 8 months ago I interviewed a handful of "developers" and a couple of "senior DBAs" that didn't know that ROW_NUMBER() even existed.
Well, to be fair, if all their development or DBA experience was on SQL 2000 or earlier, that would be reasonable. 🙂
Heh... to be fair, if they're a Sr. Developer or Sr. DBA, it's not reasonable for them to not even know that it exists. It demonstrates absolutely no self-improvement motivation nor even intellectual curiosity and those are two traits that I place high value on for Sr.'s. Consider how big an improvement the ranking/aggregating functions were in 2005, a person that comes up with goose eggs on something like that isn't someone that I'd want to hire.
--Jeff Moden
Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.
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