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dmilam
Posting Yak Master
185 Posts |
 Posted - 2010-08-12 : 19:51:41
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| Big question perhaps, but what advice do you have for keeping your skills sharp and up-to-date so that you stay marketable in this economy?I ask because I'm in a rather clerical job right now where I only get to program in SQL less than half of the time, and I'd like to be prepared for that next position which requires greater technical expertise. |
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russell
Pyro-ma-ni-yak
5072 Posts |
Posted - 2010-08-12 : 21:03:24
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Read books.Read articles.Read MSDN / Technet. Read the White Papers MS posts.Read SQL Server Magazine.Attend conferences.Take classes.One of the very best tools is forums like this one. Find questions that you don't know the answer to, and work out the solution. The OP gets their solution, and you get a nice exercise. Everybody wins. Read this forum daily. After a while you'll know who the *experts* are. Be sure to read what those people write.Oh...and practice your new skills in your free time |
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GilaMonster
Master Smack Fu Yak Hacker
4507 Posts |
Posted - 2010-08-13 : 06:40:44
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| ReadReadReadRead some more. Books, blogs, whitepapers, magazines. Don't just read though, especially for blog posts, read and question. Does what they're saying look right? Does it contradict what some one else has said? Is their logic or basics flawed?Practice, write a database app for the sole reason of playing with SQL. Add some advanced features in that you haven't used before.--Gail ShawSQL Server MVP |
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dmilam
Posting Yak Master
185 Posts |
Posted - 2010-08-16 : 15:39:38
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Thanks; I am glad that I enjoy reading!  |
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DonAtWork
Master Smack Fu Yak Hacker
2167 Posts |
Posted - 2010-08-17 : 11:49:06
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You cannot answer the questions here on the forums. By the time you make your temp tables, fill them with data, then go back to the post to make sure you have the data correct, either Mahdi or Peter or Visak has already beaten the question to within an inch of its life!  http://weblogs.sqlteam.com/jeffs/archive/2008/05/13/question-needed-not-answer.aspxHow to ask: http://weblogs.sqlteam.com/brettk/archive/2005/05/25/5276.aspxFor ultra basic questions, follow these links.http://www.sql-tutorial.net/ http://www.firstsql.com/tutor.htm http://www.w3schools.com/sql/default.asp |
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Kristen
Test
22859 Posts |
Posted - 2010-08-17 : 12:02:49
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Nah, you don't HAVE to cheat and press Refresh  |
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X002548
Not Just a Number
15586 Posts |
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tosscrosby
Aged Yak Warrior
676 Posts |
Posted - 2010-08-23 : 09:34:56
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| Repeat Brett's step 4 as often as necessary!!!Terry-- -- Everyone is entitled to be stupid, but some abuse the privilege. |
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Jake Shelton
Yak Posting Veteran
74 Posts |
Posted - 2010-08-24 : 17:22:45
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quote:
Originally posted by GilaMonster
ReadReadReadRead some more. Books, blogs, whitepapers, magazines. Don't just read though, especially for blog posts, read and question. Does what they're saying look right? Does it contradict what some one else has said? Is their logic or basics flawed?Practice, write a database app for the sole reason of playing with SQL. Add some advanced features in that you haven't used before.--Gail ShawSQL Server MVP
I don't have to time to create an app from scratch to access SQL Server, but I'd be interested an downloading an off-the-shelf app which I could plug into SQL and create queries. Of course SMSS is exactly that but I could do with an app I can use over the web. |
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X002548
Not Just a Number
15586 Posts |
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Jake Shelton
Yak Posting Veteran
74 Posts |
Posted - 2010-08-25 : 04:55:49
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| App = Application |
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Kristen
Test
22859 Posts |
Posted - 2010-08-25 : 06:50:23
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| "Of course SMSS is exactly that but I could do with an app I can use over the web."I use SSMS to connect to remote databases across the web.Or your could use Terminal Services to get "into" the server and execute SSMS locally on it. |
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russell
Pyro-ma-ni-yak
5072 Posts |
Posted - 2010-08-25 : 08:24:29
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quote:
Originally posted by Jake Shelton
quote:
Originally posted by GilaMonster
ReadReadReadRead some more. Books, blogs, whitepapers, magazines. Don't just read though, especially for blog posts, read and question. Does what they're saying look right? Does it contradict what some one else has said? Is their logic or basics flawed?Practice, write a database app for the sole reason of playing with SQL. Add some advanced features in that you haven't used before.--Gail ShawSQL Server MVP
I don't have to time to create an app from scratch to access SQL Server, but I'd be interested an downloading an off-the-shelf app which I could plug into SQL and create queries. Of course SMSS is exactly that but I could do with an app I can use over the web.
I believe that Gail meant to write an app to exercise your skills, not to build Management Studio.For instance, build a web site. Write a budget keeper. Whatever. Invent a project that interests you. That will give you a goal to accomplish to help you learn. And it's a lot more rewarding (and fun) thansimply going through exercises in a book |
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X002548
Not Just a Number
15586 Posts |
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dmilam
Posting Yak Master
185 Posts |
Posted - 2010-08-31 : 14:27:05
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| DIY, I've found. Writing functions, procedures to help my own work. |
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russell
Pyro-ma-ni-yak
5072 Posts |
Posted - 2010-08-31 : 14:45:48
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| many years ago I wanted to learn ASP (classic). so I built a data driven web site (it was actually a fantasy football site where people keyed in their teams, and had sortable statistics and such).the nature of the project doesn't matter, but having a project that interests you will make the learning fun -- and you just might have a useful end product too. |
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jafrywilson
Constraint Violating Yak Guru
379 Posts |
Posted - 2010-09-02 : 03:27:52
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| Read ... Read ... Ask questions.. |
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TimS
Posting Yak Master
198 Posts |
Posted - 2010-09-04 : 12:23:52
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quote:
Originally posted by jafrywilson
Read ... Read ... Ask questions..
Answer questions; you might not get the answer before the fast people; but, answering other people questions really help.Tim S. |
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Jake Shelton
Yak Posting Veteran
74 Posts |
Posted - 2010-09-07 : 20:05:28
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quote:
Originally posted by russell
quote:
Originally posted by Jake Shelton
quote:
Originally posted by GilaMonster
ReadReadReadRead some more. Books, blogs, whitepapers, magazines. Don't just read though, especially for blog posts, read and question. Does what they're saying look right? Does it contradict what some one else has said? Is their logic or basics flawed?Practice, write a database app for the sole reason of playing with SQL. Add some advanced features in that you haven't used before.--Gail ShawSQL Server MVP
I don't have to time to create an app from scratch to access SQL Server, but I'd be interested an downloading an off-the-shelf app which I could plug into SQL and create queries. Of course SMSS is exactly that but I could do with an app I can use over the web.
I believe that Gail meant to write an app to exercise your skills, not to build Management Studio.For instance, build a web site. Write a budget keeper. Whatever. Invent a project that interests you. That will give you a goal to accomplish to help you learn. And it's a lot more rewarding (and fun) thansimply going through exercises in a book
I get it, and I largely agree, except the data I'd be working with for any personal stuff would be so small, Excel could handle it. I couldn't see me needing an index for a 200 row table. I've toyed with the idea of importing ONS (Office of National Statistics) tables to run interesting join queries, but again, there really won't be anything big about it, I'd feel I was using a sledgehammer to crack a walnut. |
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Kristen
Test
22859 Posts |
Posted - 2010-09-08 : 02:28:30
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| "I'd feel I was using a sledgehammer to crack a walnut."Small data volume won't help much with trying out query-tuning, I agree. But complex queries are still complex, even if the data volume is small and you can still look at the Query Plan to see if adding an index will improve the query (even though you will be comparing a blink-of-an-eye with a twitch!)Plus you will have to backup the database, install service packs, and all that sort of real-world stuff. |
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jafrywilson
Constraint Violating Yak Guru
379 Posts |
Posted - 2010-09-08 : 02:36:29
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quote:
Originally posted by TimS
quote:
Originally posted by jafrywilson
Read ... Read ... Ask questions..
Answer questions; you might not get the answer before the fast people; but, answering other people questions really help.Tim S.
I mean ask question yourself to become better developer..You also right answering questions is a very big help |
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