Exam Route to Take for Microsoft SQL? and Getting ready for it

Hey Guys,

I noticed that there is not much life in this section of the forum but I thought I would give this section a try.

I am currently looking to learn SQL but I have no experience. I took a look at the Microsoft website and Saw they have a while bunch of tiers for their certifications...

98-364 - The lowest

70-461
70-462
70-463

70-465
70-466

Am I missing anything here? I currently work at a Telecommunications company working in a call center... and I kind of want to get out of it, I am losing my mind here.

I have access to CBT Nuggets which I have found to be pretty good. Is there anything you guys would suggest for me to look up and do? OR maybe places to take the tests?

I've read a few of the the threads here as well and CBT Nuggets and Transcender seem to be the best ones....

Thank you in advance guys.

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EagerDinosaur

I've taken 461, 462 and 463. 461 is a good general SQL exam, covering most of the SQL that SQL Server developers would use. 462 is more oriented towards DBA tasks. 463 is about SQL Server Integration Services and datawarehouse design. 461 is probably worthwhile for anyone working with SQL, but it may be a challenge without prior experience. The other two are a bit more specialised.

DatabaseHead

Eager is it possible for a analyst/developer to pass 462? Right now I do design some SSIS packages for ETL movement etc, but do almost 0 administration, our senior .net dev does all that. 462 has me worried to be honest.

EagerDinosaur

I'm a developer and I found most of 462 fairly straightforward. The stuff about security, backups and optimization is quite easy for a developer to learn. The area I found most difficult was high-availability (clusters, mirroring, replication etc.) It's difficult to learn this topic without a several VMs or physical servers to practice on. I also found the section on installing SQL Server difficult, mainly because it was boring.

PJ_Sneakers

Khohezion wrote: »

I am currently looking to learn SQL but I have no experience. I took a look at the Microsoft website and Saw they have a while bunch of tiers for their certifications...

I have access to CBT Nuggets which I have found to be pretty good. Is there anything you guys would suggest for me to look up and do? OR maybe places to take the tests?

I've read a few of the the threads here as well and CBT Nuggets and Transcender seem to be the best ones....

Thank you in advance guys.

You pick the place to take your test when you sign up for it. If you want, you can probably go tour the facility beforehand to see if you think it is suitable. Some places are better than others.

Since you said you have no SQL experience, check out the free SQL tutorials at Codecademy.com. They are pretty good interactive lessons. Another free resource is the Microsoft Virtual Academy, and I believe they have a course geared towards the 98-364 exam. I wouldn't pay for that exam, but I thought that the material was actually a good "intro to databases".

Disclaimer: I'm not a DBA (far from it). I used to work with SQL when I did webdev, and I also took the 98-364 exam for college credit.

Khohezion

Thank you for the replies guys I will heed your advice. I am currently taking the Coursera Python Specialization Course from University of Michigan and was going to start on either Security+ after or the 98-364

nachodba

DatabaseHead wrote: »

Eager is it possible for a analyst/developer to pass 462? Right now I do design some SSIS packages for ETL movement etc, but do almost 0 administration, our senior .net dev does all that. 462 has me worried to be honest.

From what I have seen, it's easier for designers/developers to learn administration than it is for an administrator to learn design/development.

4CHN8

EagerDinosaur wrote: »

I'm a developer and I found most of 462 fairly straightforward. The stuff about security, backups and optimization is quite easy for a developer to learn. The area I found most difficult was high-availability (clusters, mirroring, replication etc.) It's difficult to learn this topic without a several VMs or physical servers to practice on. I also found the section on installing SQL Server difficult, mainly because it was boring.

There is a great post out there on how to set up an environment in Azure for the 462 exercises. If you don't have a bunch of servers or VMs available, it is one way to go to make sure you can do the exercises. My only other tip for 462 would be to learn to do all the management tasks via TSQL, don't rely on SSMS.

Exam 70-462: Using Azure for the Practice Setup - SQLServerCentral

DatabaseHead

Great post, I'll be referencing this as soon as I complete 463.