MS SQL MCDBA Certification

[Chopper]

Hi all,

Sorry didn't know which group to put this in. Feel free to move it if it is in an inappropriate place.

I'm putting forward a business case at work to get a couple of training courses for SQL Admin and TSQL, with a view to getting the MCDBA cerification.

Course 2072: Administering a Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Database (5 days) and
Course 2071: Querying Microsoft SQL Server 2000 with Transact-SQL (2 days)

Has anyone done these courses before and are they worth doing or am I better off just getting the study guide and taking the exam. I really want to get into the guts of SQL Server 2000 and understand how the thing works.

I'm self taught at the moment but I would say SQL work makes up 80% of my working week. I don't have a mentor and I feel I need to know more.

[Lurgen]

The SQL Admin exam is stupidly easy. I didn't bother with the course, and just sat the exam after a few days study. Piece of cake.

Very few of the official courses are any good. They tend to teach very little, but take a lot of time and cost way too much money. The best thing is to buy some decent books, get a couple of days off for study leave, and spend them at the pub.

As for understanding the guts of SQL, the courses won't help there. The admin course teaches you how to install it, how to back it up and restore it, and that's about it. Querying is just that - writing basic SQL queries. It's a short two day adventure into the world of the SELECT statement. Not much of the good stuff. The one to do is the design subject. Much harder exam, much better content. Just be sure to at least sit the admin exam first to be sure you're ready for it.

[Hired Goon]

I never sat the exams (because I left my consulting firm before they made me), but I did a couple of SQL Server courses. I have to say they were a total waste of time. All I learned was that SQL Server did a lot of stuff I didn't need to know about.

I'd recommend getting a book and doing the exam if you need the certification, forget the courses. The best way of learning on your own is to write a simple app (try football tipping or some such) with a simple VB interface (or web if you're game) and try hooking it all up for data input and reporting, using stored procs, triggers and different index settings. Of course, you need exposure to the product to build that knowledge too.

[Chopper]

Thanks guys, you have both reinforced what I'd heard about the Microsoft courses....one big con!

I think I'll just get the books and the transcender tests a see how I go.

I'll probably try to get the design course though.

Nice one.....