Hello all
I am appling for a grant to take MCTS Business intelligence certifications. This is because I am an unemployed vet. To receive the grant I need to talk to three people who are database admin types. The questions that I need answered are 1. "what do you think of the future outlook of this profession is?" 2. Required qualifications, experience and training/education and 3. the name of your company, title and date. It does ask for a name of the person answering the questions but I can use your online name.

Some of the classes for certification are writing querries using SQL 2008, maintaining the database and reporting services. Any help you can give me would be appreciated as I look forward to a new proffesion.
Thank you

1. I think the future/outlook is good, or I'd be cross-training to get out of the field.
2. Required qualifications vary by assignment. Experience/education are always good.
3. Sorry. Don't give out personal information that freely.

1. I've been in the application development and database business for a bit over 40 years. So far, I've never seen any sign of EVER being able to meet the demand for talented Database developers or administrators
2. The need for Certifications and formal Qualifications vary wildly, based on the whims of the employer. In general, the best performers are primarily self-taught although really talented individuals can certainly overcome the effects of training.
3. I'm not as stingy with personal information as blindman, but I'm not willing to post this information to make myself readily abusable. You can Google me easily enough, or DM me here on DBForums if Google doesn't work for you!

-PatP

1. the future should continue to need qualified people. if the future did not look good (to me) i'd not be here to answer this.
2. the worst "thing" to hit our industry in the last 10+ years is certification without qualification. some employers (especially where proven talent is scarce and the interviewer has no clue about what a dba does) use certification as a screening tool. not the best way to screen (imho).
3. my last several clients have policies that preclude giving out organizational information. my title is whatever the contract called for (dba, senior consultant, contractor, etc). i usually just call myself a Migrant Data Worker which i have been since the early 80's.

To help yourself along, you could download the free SQL Server, install this, and practice. The answer to many/most of the questions you will encounter can be found searching this part of the forum. Or you can start a new topic for your question.

Thank you for your service. Good Luck

Hello,
Thanks all of you. I understand about the personal info. If it is ok, I would like to use your user names. If this is not ok then I will not do so. This info will not be posted anywere. It will go on an application that a few people will see. I look forward to this and I do have some data base experience along with data mining. I think I am a good canditate and if it does not work I can fall back on electronics.

One question that I have is what can I expect for salary as a newbee?
Thank you again

Sure, my username is fair game.

As far as starting salary expectations, i suspect this will depend on the employer, the position itself, and the geographic location.

Do you have an active security clearance. If you do, this may qualify you for positions others are not eligible for. Some contractng firms (not to be confused with senior consulting firms) hire new people.

You are welcome to reference user names, and even link back to this forum.