SQL Guys: If you were in my shoes

oxymoron5k

I am a Systems Admin at a medium sized company. I do it all. I am the IT guy who manages the servers but also fixes the printers and so forth. We have a bunch of small SQL databases that the tech support mostly manages but I want to start learning SQL to manage them. This would also give me real world SQL experience for resumes in the future.

What path of SQL do you guys think is best? If you could be in my shoes where would you start to go? I have no opinion on job type since I am very new to SQL. I am going to start studying hardcore tomorrow since I blew out my knee and have a lot of down time.

DBA? Developer?

DatabaseHead

I think the easier transition would be DBA. Being a systems guy that would be my suggestion.

If you are a analyst, developer, BA etc then I would recommend development. But at the end of the day it's up to you.

AvgITGeek

Yup. I agree with DatabaseHead. Being you are familiar with the concepts of users, groups, permissions and administration, the DBA would be the easier of the two. You also mention the keyword manage. That is primarily the DBA's job. Not the developer. The developer is there to deliver data to the end users. To write T-SQL queries you need to know the language and understand relationships and how to leverage them to get the data you are asking for. You've got to think in sets rather than loops. Not that it can't be done, if you like dealing with servers rather than looking at code then the DBA path is for you. I like both. I loved getting report requests and figuring out how to deliver it in the most efficient way possible but I also loved being on the admin side and making things efficient

There are some instances where the Developer is also the DBA but in medium sized companies, it is rare. I was both in the SMB I worked at.

Hope all of my rambling made sense. Post back if you have questions.

DatabaseHead

Developing is really about understanding the data, business rules etc.

Not only are you going to have to learn the syntax you have to know the business and what they are looking for, even when designing concept reports. It would be a very difficult transition for you.

A lot of times BA's and BI professional can write better queries than programmers, because they understand the data better.

Just saying.....

oxymoron5k

Thanks guys for the awesome insight. I started studying up yesterday and I feel like this could be a great transition.

nachodba

I did this. I was a Systems Administrator with 8 years of experience. I literally applied for every junior DBA position I could find, only to not get an interview due to lack of experience. I took a gamble and started looking for mid-level DBA jobs, one company called me back because they also liked my VMware experience. Three years later and I'm now a team lead for the DBA Operations for a pretty large contract.

oxymoron5k

That is awesome! I also have some VMware experience. I didnt realize how that might come in handy. I work with 10 different SQL servers right now but my tech support mostly manages them. I am hoping after I learn more SQL I can begin to manage them more and gain the experience I would need to get hired on as a DBA elsewhere. Was the pay a lot better for you when you made the switch?

nachodba

I'm in the Washington DC area, so take that into account. I have almost doubled my salary from when I was a systems administrator. If I had a higher clearance I would be even higher.

oxymoron5k

Motivation. Achieved.

DatabaseHead

Nacho is the man. His advice is gold.

AvgITGeek

Until you ask the guy for advice. He has yet to respond to a simple question of mine.