March 25, 2016 at 10:23 pm
Hello all,
I'm a master's student from EE background graduated in December 2015 with 4 GPA. During my master's , I worked as GTA and taught Microsoft office to freshmen students. At that time I got much interest on database side and learned T-SQL , practiced a lot on creating queries. I also took training on administration side also. My skills are C#, Asp.net(basics), T-SQL, SSIS, SQLserver(Backups& restore, create jobs and schedule them, database mirroring and data replication). I practiced these administrative tasks on Adventureworks database and sample database which I created with one million sample data rows.
As an advise from the member of this forum, I volunteered a group of students in their website development. I wrote some stored procedures according to requirements of their application. I also wrote script for connecting that application to database.
Can I mention this work as an experience with sql server in my resume. I applied for different entry-level developer positions, but I didn't get any reply from them. I know no ones risks to take a fresher especially from non-CS background. But with out giving an opportunity how can I get experience? Can anyone please give some suggestions to my situation.
March 26, 2016 at 2:23 pm
It is always hard to get started in a career. Many employers ask for real-world job experience, which you can only get by being emplyed. A devil's circle. The only solution is to keep looking for employers that are large enough that they can afford to have a few junionrs on the team. Despite their lower wage, they are costly at first (because they work slower then more experienced people, and need supervision from seniors who cannot use the supervision time on other work). But many will be glad at the opportunity and once they reach a higher level will pay back the investment. Unfortunately, there are also people who take a junion position, get invested in by the employer, and then hop to another job as soon as they see an opportunity, which makes employers hesitant to invest.
When you do find an opportunity to apply for a junior position, you could consider committing to stay at that place for a minimum amount, with a provision to pay a monetary compensation for the investments if you still leave early. (If you have learned enough to become really good, your next employer might be willing to pay that compensation in order to be able to add you to the team without having to wait for the end of the pledged period).
I would defintely include the projects you did as volunteer on your resume. And until you have a job, I would try to find other volunteer projects where you can get in a win-win situation because the charity gets free database help and you get work experience. And you should also build experience in other ways: download and install SQL Server Express, go to forums, try to answer questions then compare your answers with the ones given by experts. Get training. (A Pluralsight subscription costs only 25 bucks per month and gives you access to a humongous library of courses). Get certified - I personally am not fond of certification because they are in my opinion insufficiently targeted at real-world skills, but a lot of employers do request them. Visit conferences (SQL Saturday conferences are free and provide high-quality content, plus an opportunity to widen your network - see http://www.sqlsaturday.com[/url].
If you are currently unemployed, you should have plenty of time to do all of the above (and most of them are free or very cheap). If you have a job but are looking to switch careers, it will require a bigger investment of your limited spare time and you will have to juggle all your obligations and other personal life. But if I were an employer and I had room for a junior developer, I would much rather hire someone who demonstrates an eagerness to learn and to grow than someone who thinks that a university diploma makes him the ultimate master of all knowledge.
March 26, 2016 at 7:11 pm
Thanks Hugo for brief explanation. I'm also actively looking for volunteering opportunities here.
March 29, 2016 at 2:35 pm
If you can, buy a copy of SQL Server Developer. It costs about $60 US, which is an absolute steal. While there is a cap on the size of the database you can create, you can learn a ton on your own.
March 29, 2016 at 2:51 pm
pietlinden (3/29/2016)
If you can, buy a copy of SQL Server Developer. It costs about $60 US, which is an absolute steal. While there is a cap on the size of the database you can create, you can learn a ton on your own.
You are confusing two editions, Piet.
* SQL Server Developer Edition has the exact same features as SQL Server Enterprise Edition. No caps, no limits. The only limitation is that the license is valid for development and testing only, not for any kind of production work. At somewhere in the $50-$60 pricepoint, an absolute steal if you want to learn to use SQL Server and all those features.
* SQL Server Express Edition is totally free, and is licensed for production use. It does not support all features and it has a cap on database size (plus a few other caps as well). This can also be a great tool for learning if you are still in the stage of learning the basics. Once you are ready to start experimenting with those enterprise features, the express edition will no longer be of help.
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