College Student needs help! 6

[Jeremy116]

Hello. I am a 23 year old Freshman at the University of South Florida in Tampa, majoring in MIS. I havent started the classes in my major (I am taking the liberal arts crap). I want to be a DBA. I am looking for books and magazines that I can start reading now so I can get started....I am yearning for knowledge! Can anyone help? What should I read to get started. The books that I have found (barnes and noble,etc) are written towards people who already have a working knowledge of the topic. Please help!

Thanks!

Jeremy Vest

 

[elizabeth]

Jeremy, congratulations, as I assume you've decided to go back to school. A lot of people find it more difficult that going immediately after high school, but your enthusiasm for your field should carry you through. I suggest you repost using a more descriptive title, such as "Books recommended for DBA Wanna-Be?" , and cross post in appropriate forums such as the Oracle forum and the SQL forum. That way people with that kind of info will be drawn to your post, and others with the same questions can benefit too.

I can't recommend any DBA books , but can offer other advice on "improving yourself and getting ahead," the topic of this forum. When you begin looking for work, whether an internship or after you graduate, your professors may be your best references and resources. Begin building relationships with them now, by learning who teaches the subjects you're in, and visiting them during their office hours. They are the perfect people to ask about books, and they may even recommend a book that you would have to buy later anyway for an upcoming class.

One other thing, you may consider liberal arts "crap", but everyone does not share that opinion. When you speak to other people who might not agree (professors, employers, etc.), you might want to keep negative opinions to yourself. People are pretty wary of a "bad attitude", and you don't want to get off on the wrong foot with someone who may be important to your career.

Good luck!

 

[MasterRacker]

I have to second Elizabeth on the liberal arts. EVERY IT/IS trade magazine has been harping in chorus for the last year (or more) on how employers want more out of their "techies". They want the so-called "soft" skills as well. This means people skills and an ability to relate that can only come from a good, old-fashioned "well rounded" education.

Technical skills alone may get you in the door, but advancement will be driven more by other skills and knowledge and attitude.
Jeff
I haven't lost my mind - I know it's backed up on tape somewhere ....

 

[dwmatteson]

Not to hop on the bandwagon, but the liberal arts "crap" is some of the most useful stuff I've learned in my life. Part of liberal arts is about learning how to learn; not just memorize, but learn. That's a very handy skill in IT. Also, a good chunk of liberal arts isn't so much learning Homer's Odyssey or reading Victorian English literature -- it's about learning critical thinking (not the same thing as criticizing), to problem-solve, and to express yourself. These are skills you aren't going to learn just from reading a lot of IT books.

As Jeff suggests, employers want soft skills. One important soft skill is the ability to explain what you're doing to people without the same technical background you have, be they end users or management types. You stand a much better chance of explaining things if you can see them from a non-technical perspective.

Okay. Now that I'm done with my rant :~/, what books and things might be helpful to you as you aspire to DBA-hood? I'd try these:
[ul][li] Database Design for Mere Mortals (ISBN: 0201694719) by Michael J. Hernandez. This one provides a basic, relatively non-technical overview of relational database concepts as well as outlining a process to be used when designing databases from the ground up.[/li]
[li]Inside Relational Databases with Examples in Access (ISBN: 1852334010) by Mark Whitehorn and Bill Marklyn. I think this was one of the more helpful books I read on the subject. Lots of good explanations and examples. (Note: I read the first edition; the ISBN is for the second edition. I assume they haven't made it worse.)[/li]
[li]Que Special Edition Using SQL (ISBN: 0789719746) by Rafe Colburn. A full-length (654 pages, including index) introduction to SQL. Clearly written with good examples. This book is a good place to start learning Structured Query Language.[/li]
[li]Sams Teach Yourself SQL in 10 Minutes (ISBN: 0672321289) by Ben Forta. Lots of good, short illustrations of basic SQL. Easier to carry around than the Colburn book.[/li][/ul]

These books are generally DBMS-independent; you should be able to apply the basic concepts across a variety of different products. As always, though, YMMV.

Hope that helps,

Don

 

[MasterRacker]

Don, go ahead an hop. It's a good bandwagon to be on. Too many youngsters want to dive right in without understanding what they're diving into.

'Programming' is a perfect example on two levels. First, learning the syntax of a language does NOT make one a programmer. They also need to learn how strucure the program so it not only works but is maintainable, extensible and relevant to the business. This brings up the second level, which is the one we're addressing here. A crack programmer who can't relate to anyone around them and doesn't understand the business they're in is worse than useless to that business. I say worse because they will not only create a system that does'nt serve the business's needs, but will consume resources and time doing so: resources that will need to be duplicated by someone else who does know what's necessary when they're brought in to fix the mess left by the first person.

Another example: a technician who can set up a network, servers and application suite also needs to be able to structure the system to be usable by the rest of the business they're in. Everything needs to be set up in a way that non-techies can operate with it to facilitate the flow of information through the particular business.

Finally: A DBA isn't just building database. They are building a system to handle and process the information a business needs to operate in a manner that's been specified by the business's managers. Before the DBA even begins to create the database, they need to understand all the information going in, where it comes from, where it's going, who needs to see it and why, etc. In other words, they need to be able to communicate with members of every other part of the business and develop at least a basic understanding of how each part of the business operates in order to then design a database that supports these processes.

A person is not going to get these skills by simply learning the technical side of designing a database. They're going to need to learn a lot of other "crap" as well...
Jeff
I haven't lost my mind - I know it's backed up on tape somewhere ....

 

[dkediger]

[rant]
Yep - The liberal arts crap, while not absolutely required for getting the job done, is what "makes the man/woman." The only problem with these requirements are that these courses often have instructors who realize they are preaching to a non liberal arts crowd and get a chip on their shoulder.

The best class I ever had was a liberl arts class - but the instructor chose to appeal to the predominantly non liberal arts students - mostly engineers. The class was Shakespearian Plays and the instructor taught the course from the standpoint of Shakespeare was a businessman with a problem/goal to achieve and finite resources to work with. Class presentations/discussions centered on how he manipulated his resources (language/actors/plot) to achieve his goal of a succesful (popular/money making) play.

I will never forget that class and its applications, and it certainly instilled a respect for Shakespeare that I certainly wouldn't have pursued on my own.

I now return you to your regular thread.

[/rant]

 

[BeckahC]

I think I am speaking from a rather unique point of view... I am a 24 year old programmer who went back to school for a few years and has now had to stop again (for various reasons - I am sure as soon as I can manage it I will return again). I got just about all of the Liberal Arts classes done with and had started on some of the technical classes - my major is CIS. I have found that I get a lot from what I learned in the English and Math classes that I took, when I go back I'll probably take more as electives if I can. I use much of the knowledge I gained from those classes at work and just in Life in general. I am a SQL Server programmer and can recommed the following books as good starting points:

SQL Server 7 In Record Time (Gunderloy Chipman from Sybex)
and
Transact-SQL (Amo - from IDG Books)

There are also several on-line resources:

If you are interested in learning HTML in detail:

http://www.bignosebird.com

(This is also excellent if you know HTML, but just need to look something up or re-check how to do something)

http://www.sqlpass.org

(Professional Association of SQL Server)

http://www.swynk.com

(excellent resourse, last I checked)

Also Learning Tree International has some excellent classes, but they are very expensive to take.

Hope I helped!

Happy New Year! BeckahC

 

[Jeremy116]

Thank you all very much for your help. Just to clarify, I didn't mean that the liberal arts classes were "crap", I am just anxious to get to the technical stuff. Sometimes reading Shakespeare can be a little tedious.

Once again, thanks for everyone's help.

Jeremy Vest

 

[dwmatteson]

I'm not sure what I was thinking, but I forgot to include a good online SQL tutorial:

http://www.sqlcourse.com

It has an on-line SQL command processor that lets you try out the commands right away. Very nice, especially for the price (FREE!).

Don