by Jerry Curtis

Created on: January 14, 2008

Looking to make yourself more competitive in the workplace? Try learning database programming and maintenance. Even if you are not interested in becoming a database developer or computer information systems specialist, learning to be a skillful database end user will round out your resume and could be that tie breaker that gets you that promotion or new job.

I emphasize end-user here, because it is where my own experience lies. Having been a vocational education administrator, I relied heavily my computer skills. I kept and maintained my own databases in a variety of areas that ranged from budget management to keeping track of specialized student and faculty data. My friends in Computer Services looked after the big picture on the mainframe computer, and I often visited them floppy disk in hand asking for a data dump that I could import into my own database and use for my own special purposes.

Knowing my way around databases and having quick, real-time access to the information I needed was a definite plus in staying ahead of the pack in the competition for scarce money and material. My treasury of databases was indispensable in crunching the numbers and spewing the data that is the grist for the mill of government grants and annual budget calculations and defense. This kept me productive, proactive and prevented burnout during the busy weeks of the budget cycle.

The workplace has changed dramatically in the last 20 years. Nowadays the new employee is more likely to be placed in a cubicle dominated by a computer terminal. Workers are expected to be self-supporting and computer literate. If your computer literacy goes only as far as word processing, spreadsheets, e-mail and surfing the web. It may be time to get on the database trail. In getting on this trail, the important thing to remember about database programming is that, unlike word processing and surfing the net, databases are not intuitive. You cannot simply open the software and hack around until you learn how to do something. Databases are complicated, have a variety of features that need to be programmed and managed, and productivity does not start until one learns how to use the whole package.

Because databases have a steeper learning curve, it is preferable, therefore, to get some formal training. Most community colleges have an excellent vocational educational program that includes computer software courses. These software courses often include specific classes in database programming, and many classes are offered in the evening. These classes are really the fast track to becoming proficient in databases.

I taught an evening class in Microsoft Access. My students were typically adult and working. They signed up either because their employers wanted them to become more proficient or because they recognized that they needed database skills to do their jobs better. I taught end-user skills only - - nothing about the advanced programming aspects of the software (Visual Basic, heavy module and macro management, etc.). After 17 weeks of class, my students learned how to make and maintain database tables, forms, queries, and reports. Students whom I encountered after their semester was finished invariably agreed that learning database programming and maintenance both helped them in their job and made them more valuable to their employer.

So, if you are like most computer users in the workplace and want to increase your skills on the job and obtain a qualification that many of your peers do not have, learn databases. You don't have to be a mainframe, Oracle, of SQL specialist to embark on a career based on the solid foundation of databases.

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