Career Advise from MVP's

[BrianPaul]

My Background: I have worked as an IT guy for over 25 years not really
specializing in any aspect of it. My first Qualification was Lantastic and
became A+ certified before there was a curriculum established(should bring
back memory for some) However, like many of the database appliations out
there I choose Access 2.0 back when DBASE, Lotus and others were competing
for market share. (the good ol days). I have written some Access aplications
for companies on the side and used the ADT as well. Also, I teach part time
in the IT department at our community college A+ and Network Engineering.
Our curriculum in the classes I teach doesn't match up with what goes on in
the real world. However, I guess the students do get the basics and can pick
up on the other when they gain employment in the IT field.

My Question: some of the MVP's are Oracle DBA's and I believe some are SQL
DBA's. Some may even do AS400 etc. I may have come to the realization that I
do have to specialize. From working in the field so long I have noticed
DBA's seem to have outlasted the programmers. Programming languages change.
However, SQL and database programming techniques havn't changed that
dramatic. Also, there seems to be a higher calling for DBA developers.

Is my statement true and any critisism is welcomed?

Since I'm in my early 40's now and burned out on occassion would this be a
good career move? I have had classes on Oracle, SQL, UNIX and UML (passed
but clueless on UML). but not so extensive I feel I could work proficiently
at it.

Is there a market for Access? Im assuming Access as front end and MSSQL
Server as back end and IIS as well. As a systems admin I have installed all
of these but did little devlopment. For Example Assisted DBA's in Cluster
Server Load Balancing, Active Directory, Opening and closing Ports, etc. You
get the picture. At around $1,300 a pop per class for my continuing education
requirement for example SMS, NT, and other Microsoft Curriculum classes I
never bothered testing out of them since I felt you should have a working
knowledge. ( I have seen alot of good people terminated from there IT
positions because lack of experience on an IT projects that had certified but
no working knowledge.)

Your oppinions would be greatly appreciated since most of you are working in
your prospective fields with the majority of you in Database Design. Thanks

 

[Albert D. Kallal]

Well, you are correct that MVPs come form all walks.

I believe that even a scripting MVP is a member of the Canadian parliament!

So, MVP's are mostly awarded for their public contributions to these
newsgroups, and recognized by Microsoft for this contribution.

(we are volunteers from all walks of life, and are not employed, or paid by
Microsoft).

I had the pleasure to meet a good number of the ms-access MVP's in person.
Some are working in a very structured corporate environment, and use
ms-access for their work, or even corporate wide solutions.

Others are actual developers and entrepreneurs that provide solutions based
on ms-access.

Is there a market for Access?

There is. However, many customers are NOT looking at ms-access, but are
looking for a soltion. You don't jump into the market and say..hey...look at
me...I know ms-access!!! You use tools to build applications that people
are wiling to pay for. You say

Hey, look at my solution!!

Don't confuse ms-access with working in this industry. I talk about
ms-access, and consulting here:

http://www.members.shaw.ca/AlbertKallal/Articles/fog0000000004.html

 

[BrianPaul]

Thanks, So as an IT professional its not best to focus in one area so I
shouldn't emphasize specializing in one area. Solution is the answer as you
mentioned earlier. So Access programming would be just another Ace in my hand
to give more value to the customer. I guess thats how they established the
Acronym VAR (Value added Re-seller)

 

[Larry Linson]

Thanks, So as an IT professional its not best
to focus in one area so I shouldn't emphasize
specializing in one area. Solution is the answer
as you mentioned earlier. So Access programming
would be just another Ace in my hand to give
more value to the customer.

I guess thats how they established the
Acronym VAR (Value added Re-seller)

No, a VAR typically sells a combination of hardware, software, and services
to solve business problems -- it doesn't just refer to a multi-skilled
individual.

There seems to have always been a demand for good DBAs, but that is an area
where outsourcing is beginning to have an effect. As Albert says, there is
rather little demand just for "an Access developer," but having Access
skills along with others that let you create solutions to business issues
and problems will be A Good Thing.

Now, all that said, there are exceptions. I occasionally hear of an opening
for "an Access person" but I wouldn't advise limiting yourself to that
specialty. It would be far better, if you limit your specialty, to get
certified and experienced as a DBA.

Larry Linson
Microsoft Access MVP

 

[Cindy Winegarden]

Hi Brian,

I'd say it depends on where/how you see yourself working.

Are you providing solutions for small businesses? Then you'd want to sell a
solution that you put together with Access and SQL Server skills or, in my
case, Access, Visual FoxPro, and SQL Server skills.

Are you working for a corporation as a developer? I'm thinking of a software
company or the IT department of a large corporation. Then you'd want skills
with the specific technologies in use at that shop. I'd say that Access
would be in less demand and that DBA skills with SQL Server or Oracle would
be in demand.

Are you working for a corporation as a knowledge worker or departmental
developer? Then Access and SQL Server skills might be useful to put together
small applications and get answers. I'm in the business office of a
department of a university hospital. The university HR system doesn't do
everything we need I'm responsible for our own local "shadow" system to
handle our personnel needs, particularly for putting together budgets that
take into account how each person spends their time. The university general
ledger system doesn't do everything we need so again I'm responsible for our
own shadow system and produce a 500 page financial report each month with
the detail just the way we want to see it. As far as "getting answers" goes,
I do a lot of querying (I mostly write SQL code in an SSMS code window) of
our hospital scheduling and billing data warehouse to provide decision
support information to answer questions such as "Where do our patients live
and where should we build an outreach clinic?"