July 7, 2006 at 10:44 am
Hi everyone,
I recently got a new job as tech support/ Help Desk at a small company that uses SQL Server 2000. I have an AA in Applied Computer Science, but no certs at all. I don't have a IT background. I had to get retrained after being injured as a Police Officer. I was asked if I wanted to take on the responsibility as SQL DBA and get certified. I have no experience in SQL, but I am willing and able to learn.
My question is what do you think is the best way to go about getting certified? I understand what certs I need to get, but what is the best way to get there? Should I bother to get A+ and Net+ certified and then move on or is there a better approach?
Thank you,
Bart
July 7, 2006 at 11:11 am
Certs are wonderful things, but the classes needed to pass them don't usually give you the foundation knowledge you need to understand the 'under the covers' workings of an SQL-based database management system. Along with the vendor training, I'd strongly recommend you get Chris Date's "An Intoduction to Database Systems" to start with and then move ahead with other material as your curiosity leads you.
Get as much practical experience as you can, to go along with the certification. I've found that installing the Express version of SQL Server on a machine I can destroy and rebuild as necessary just as a sandbox to try out different options and settings has been very valuable.
Stay connected with this and other discussion groups. There are a lot of newbie questions, but there are also times when someone else will hit a problem a day, a week, or a month before you do, and the solutions you find here will save your bacon more than once, guaranteed.
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