January 19, 2023 at 5:32 am
I'm looking at a career change. I have bachelors degree in healthcare management and pre counseling. My mental health is going down the drain and do not think I can sustain myself long term in the field of addiction. I was planning on going to grad school for counseling, but entry level data analyst positions pay more than senior counseling positions. I still want to work in healthcare though.
I've seen several data analyst positions within the healthcare field. As someone who is brand new and knows nothing of SQL, where should I start? I have a vast knowledge of the healthcare field and medical coding, but that's about it. Would I need to go back to school or learning on my own and getting certification enough?
January 19, 2023 at 12:58 pm
I would STRONGLY suggest attending the Querying SQL Course. It is a 1-week course and should be led by someone with experience.
Yes, you can learn on your own and get some certification, but I have seen hundreds of people benefitting from an instructor-led program. Someone holds your hand and knows the path to take you through to ensure that you are querying multiple tables within a week.
I suggest you have 1 or 2 healthcare-related databases accessible in the cloud when attending the course because then you can get the instructor to comment on the databases as part of the learning process. You will also be able to demonstrate, to your own satisfaction, your ability to work with the data that will define your new career trajectory.
There are many SQL Server-related courses, but to kickstart your journey the 70-761 or 70-461 Querying Microsoft SQL Server with Transact-SQL course is the best introduction to querying SQL for anyone. It doesn't point out the differences between T-SQL and the other vendor versions of SQL, but it does provide a rich exposure to Querying Data which can be translated to other products such as MSSQL, Oracle, PostgreSQL, etc.
I know that UDEMY has this course with many videos. The MS Press Training KIT is brilliant. Posing questions on SSC is great, but I know that developing a relationship with an instructor is invaluable.
When committing to the course please ensure that you confirm with the trainer that you are getting the full 5-day program and not the shorter 3-day version. Those other 2 days cover several advanced topics and ensure that you are given exposure to thoughts that will help you years down the line.
Good luck on your journey:)
January 19, 2023 at 1:11 pm
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January 19, 2023 at 1:37 pm
You can download a copy of SQL Server Developer Edition for free. Or, better still, install Docker and simply get a SQL Server container, no installation required. Then, take a look at the menu choices up above. There's a Stairways series on T-SQL. That'll let you get your feet wet without having to spend a penny. Then you can decide if it's worth your time (and probably money) to pursue.
In general, I'd say it's not at all difficult to learn the basics of SQL. Easy even. The difficult is two-fold. First, you need to know quite a bit beyond SQL in most cases. Reporting tool, data movement, and more are all fundamental to analysis positions. Second, just having a class or a certificate won't get you the job. Your prior experience will be HUGE, but you'll still have to break through the door to a degree.
Still, as a field of endeavor, this one rocks.
"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
- Theodore Roosevelt
Author of:
SQL Server Execution Plans
SQL Server Query Performance Tuning
January 19, 2023 at 10:11 pm
I would STRONGLY suggest attending the Querying SQL Course.
When I do a search for "Querying SQL Course", I get a ton of returns from different sites and none of them have that exact name. Do you have a link you could share to help nail it down for folks looking for your recommendation?
Same goes for the "MS Press Training KIT". Seems like the latest one is for 2012. Is that the one your talking about or do you have a USBN or Link for a later one?
--Jeff Moden
Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.
January 20, 2023 at 9:23 am
Ok, so a couple of links to help you on your journey, but first, a few disclaimers:
SO, with that out of the way:
Recommendation 1: MCSA 70-761 Querying Data with Transact-SQL | Udemy
Comments:
Please read the comments. It is clear that this is a starting position. but for less than US$13 it is a low cost point of entry.
Comments:
I like the training material from MS Press. It acts as a solid reference for years to come. The material is well written. For £35 it is well worth it, given that the UDEMY route requires about 3 separate course to achieve much of what is covered in this course.
Recommendation 3: Grab the Training Kit, ask questions on the SQL Server forums for those areas that don't make sense.
As a starting point, I think that those links should do well.
January 20, 2023 at 7:21 pm
- Microsoft's new journey and phase is causing many well developed areas of skills to be discarded. By the time we hit SQL Server 2016 the exams were robust and tested you across a wide area, the move now has been to bow to the consumer and dumb things down. The pinnacle, IMHO was the MCSE:SQL Server Developer alongside of the MCSA: SQL Administrator. These 2 qualifications prepared you for work across all SQL compliant environments. The new "Role Based" qualification reduces the strength of these qualification and pours focus into getting you into the MS Azure Fanboy space.
- SQL Server 2012 was the first radical change to the SQL Space across vendors. It was the purest iteration of the SQL Standard. Period. The language itself has not seen much additional growth since then excepts for some really nice functions added to the toolkit, but this represents about an additional 5%, which can be learnt fairly quickly and which is the reason SSC exists (again IMHO)
That's actually a pretty good write up and I agree with a whole lot of what you're saying... especially the "well developed areas of skills to be discarded" part. Thanks for taking the time to write it up.
--Jeff Moden
Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.
January 20, 2023 at 7:32 pm
As a bit of a sidebar, I've not yet found an online video course for beginners that I actually like or think that does the job adequately. 🙁
--Jeff Moden
Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.
January 21, 2023 at 7:04 pm
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