What did you do to master SQL?

re: What did you do to master SQL?

Jeff — Fri, 16 May 2008 18:56:26 GMT

Just another recommendation the book I first found truly the most useful when I was first starting was The Practical SQL Handbook http://www.amazon.com/Practical-SQL-Handbook-Using-Variants/dp/0201703092/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1210959582&sr=8-1

I do not have the 4th edition but I have seen it and it is just as good as mine but newer. I have the 3rd edition, still here 10 years later on my desk. While I rarely look at it anymore it is like my Transact SQL security blanket.

re: What did you do to master SQL?

andyleonard — Sat, 17 May 2008 01:58:40 GMT

Hi Denis,

I don't think I can answer your question because I have yet to master anything, although some cool marketing people named my next book Mastering Database Edition...

I learn more about SQL Server on every project. I usually learn a lot - and fast - when someone calls with a SQL Server issue.

It's a very broad topic, and experience cannot be underestimated. SQL Server Administration and Database Development are crafts in my opinion, and should be treated as such. Before I became a licensed journeyman electrician I was expected to demonstrate four years experience in the field. I'm not sure how much time one requires to become a "journeyman DBA" or database developer but four years is a good starting point, imho.

:{> Andy

re: What did you do to master SQL?

Vern Rabe — Mon, 19 May 2008 15:15:10 GMT

For me, the best way to learn, and the best way to realize how much more there is to learn, is to teach.

Vern

re: What did you do to master SQL?

Jonathan Kehayias — Tue, 20 May 2008 15:05:53 GMT

I would have to agree with most of the comments already made here. However, you not only have to have time with SQL, but you have to have been doing something during that time. If I have a SQL Server on my network, and it has just been running for 4 years, that doesn't make me an expert. I have been working heavily in SQL for just over 4 years now, and with as much as I know, I am intimidated by the amount of information I don't know.

There isn't a week that goes by where I don't learn something new, usually by answering posts on the forums, or creating new crazy projects to teach our Jr. DBA how to do things. I find it scary how many self professed experts there are out there who don't even have the fundamentals down. I interviewed for a job once where I had to give them the questions they should be asking of a DBA because they didn't even know what to look for. So anyone could have gone in there and shined, which is why I think this problem exists more and more.