April 17, 2009 at 7:41 pm
Dear all,
I am a software tester and have been testing softwares for almost 4 years. During my experience I have developed experience in VB scripting and T-SQL (on SQL server). My current company have paid for me to go on a Microsoft SQL querying course, which I did.
Right now I want to change my career and move into SQL server DBA, therefore I downloaded SQL server express. But I don't know what to read and where to start from!!
I know that there are certifications, but I think they are incredibly expensive. So I am looking for a cheaper way to learn about DBA skills, etc...
I look forward to hearing from you.
kind Regards
Joe
April 18, 2009 at 9:10 am
Keep reading, keep learning, and practicing. The experience you get working with the product will help you. When you're ready to change careers look for a position as a junior DBA (in or outside of your company).
The certifications won't help you get a job anymore, not without experience. You're doing the right thing. Get books and work with the product, learn the skills that are needed. Backup, restore, writing queries, tuning queries, understand indexes, etc.
April 18, 2009 at 9:23 am
Downloading and installing SQL Server Express is great, but if you really want to learn more SQL Server you may want to look at spending a little money. For approximately $50 USD you can purchase the Developer Edition of SQL Server. It has all the power and capabilities of the Enterprise Edition, just licensed for development and testing (not for production use).
The other thing, yes, read books, read and try to solve problems people have had on this site.
Look around at the non-profit companies or charities in your area and volunteer to help them.
April 19, 2009 at 1:56 pm
Hi,
Thanks a lot for your reply, which have made me feel that I am on the right track on how to become a DBA.
I have always enjoyed working with DB SQL, and feel that it is the job that I will be very comfortable in doing and surly I'd love to be doing one day. However, I am curios whether there are many jobs out there for SQL Server DBA, and what part of the SQL Server DBA will have more jobs?
DBA is very large, so in what order should I start learning about it? As I already know SQL querying, Should I start with learning about Prosdure, then installation then backup etc...
I look forward to hearing from you.
Kind regards
Joe
April 19, 2009 at 9:12 pm
It doesn't matter where you start. I'd go with what interests you or where you feel more comfortable.
April 20, 2009 at 11:51 am
These days, the SQL jobs seem to split into 4 groups.
1. Administration: also called a production DBA
2. Development
3. Business Intelligence and Data Warehousing
4. Generalist: Two or more of the above
A generalist is usually not expected to be an expert in all facets of the job. My suggestion is to choose 1 of the first 3 options that you like best, and become an expert at that while still trying to be at least moderately competent at the other two.
In my opinion, a SQL dev or a SQL BI person should be able to at a minimum install and configure SQL Server and any components (SSIS, SSAS, SSRS) related to their work.
I had a BI expert ask me to set up Kerberos authentication on our internal reporting server because he was getting hit by the "double hop" scenario when trying to view SSRS reports remotely. As a BI expert, he should have known how to properly configure SSRS to authenticate remote users without using Kerberos.
April 21, 2009 at 1:05 pm
Hi Robert,
Just curious how did you solve doble hop problem without kerberos.
April 21, 2009 at 1:24 pm
By changing the authentication method from Windows Authentication to storing the credentials of the account to use. If you use Windows Authentication, then everyone you want to be able to view the reports would have to have permissions to access your database as well. You want to use a system domain account for SSRS to access the database and let SSRS worry about authenticating users of the reports itself.
April 22, 2009 at 2:25 pm
Are there many jobs out there in SQL Server DBA? and what part of the SQL Server DBA will have more jobs?
April 22, 2009 at 2:53 pm
Yes, they are out there. BI seems to be a booming area right now with a real lack of talent to fill the spots. At least that's how it looks from my POV.
April 24, 2009 at 6:00 am
Hi, there are important links like that:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/sqlserver/bb671432.aspx
And usefull like this:
Also is very important a source control SW.
August 13, 2009 at 4:25 pm
I also started out as a software tester. I was an intern at Hewlett Packard during my college days and getting real DBA experience was impossible.
The only experience I could present during interviews was school work. In fact my senior design project was a check-in and check-out inventory system (using SQL Server, IIS, ASP) I created with a team of students to be used at HP. You can read lots of books but what I noticed is that people don't care what you can potentially do, what they care is what work experience you have with SQL Server (or any other DBMS).
I guess my advice is to try to create yourself an opportunity at work or somewhere that will give you valuable experience. My first job after college was at a smaller organization, and those in my opinion give one of the best experience because they force you to do everything from SQL Server admin, to BI report creation, customizing applications or databases and etc.
As for resources. I would learn about Relational Theory, the basic ANSI SQL, SQL Server Administration, and then T-SQL. I don't there is a right or wrong way to start learning but those methods was how I learned.
Books:
I would recommend at least getting the 70-431 certification but if you can't there are other alternatives
like
Hope that helps
August 14, 2009 at 6:59 pm
If you will be able to convince your management to send you MS SQL Server DBA training course, it will give you a good initial push. I think 1 week cost about $2k these days, but it defintely worth it, since it will be a good basis for your future studies.
August 15, 2009 at 8:14 pm
If your company is willing to pay for training, I highly suggest checking out SQLskills.com. These are really top of the line teachers.
August 17, 2009 at 5:58 am
If you are UK based, you could always go to the free community day in November in Newport, Wales
Steven
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