Database Design

[raj]

Thank you in advance, My company is willing to pay for a course in database
design (not too costly) and was wondering if anybody could give me any
suggestions. FYI, I am a beginner and can build a basic database. Again,
Thanks.

 

[Rick B]

I would check my local community colleges, continuing education institutes,
and local computer stores for classes. there are probably online courses
available as well, and a search on the Internet should help you locate them.

Our community college has several courses from database design theory to
courses that are specific to the various database applications.

 

[raj]

Thanks Rick, but what I'm looking for is via experience what type of course
would someone reccommend. I understand the names may not be the same. Thanks

 

[Roger Carlson]

Your local community college is a good place to start. However, the quality
is variable. I have taught such courses and (cough) they were very good.
I'm sure many of our MVPs have taught classes at some time or another. It
pretty much depends on the quality of the teacher they find. Community
colleges can't always be picky. Look in the syllabus for words like "data
modeling", "normalization", "database design". THEN see how many weeks are
devoted to those subjects. If it's only 1 or 2 weeks, it's likely a general
"how-to-use-Access" class rather than a database design class. Out of my 15
week class, I devoted 7 weeks.

There is a national training company called New Horizons that has a pretty
good database design class. Oracle also has a great data modelling class
that is not specific to Oracle, but can be applied to any database
implementation. Both of these options would likely run you into the
$2000-$3000 range for a week's training.

--
--Roger Carlson
MS Access MVP
Access Database Samples: www.rogersaccesslibrary.com
Want answers to your Access questions in your Email?
Free subscription:
http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/scripts/wa.exe?SUBED1=ACCESS-L

 

[raj]

Thank you very much Roger, this information is very helpful.

 

[Catlady]

I have taken the New Horizon Access Classes and they were helpful but not
in-depth enough for me. I went through the Access Advanced and still have
difficulty. I took a Microsoft Visual Studio.Net course at the Junior
College 3 years ago for one semester and found it much more helpful. Also
many of the instructors at New Horizons never worked in the courses they
teach. They went through a "training" program and I find some of them to be
rather inferior. I am currently looking for a VB6 class since Microsoft has
never switched over to Studio.net yet.

 

[Roger Carlson]

Ah. Thanks for the feedback. I never took the Access courses, but I did
look over the curriculum for the Design class and it looked OK. I did take
the SQL Server courses, and I found them to be quite good and the instructor
was excellent. Just as with Community Colleges, I imagine instructors vary
from office to office.

Still, it's good to have varied feedback.

--
--Roger Carlson
MS Access MVP
Access Database Samples: www.rogersaccesslibrary.com
Want answers to your Access questions in your Email?
Free subscription:
http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/scripts/wa.exe?SUBED1=ACCESS-L

 

[Lynn Trapp]

I have taken the New Horizon Access Classes and they were helpful but not

in-depth enough for me. I went through the Access Advanced and still have
difficulty.

Hi Catlady,
I used to be an instructor and training manager at New Horizons in Ft.
Worth, TX. The Access classes you took are designed for end users from all
levels from Beginner up through what I would describe as a Power User. In
the 4 days devoted to teaching practically everything about how to use
Access, there really isn't time to include much about database design. Also,
I think the class Roger is referring to is a bit different. We didn't
actually have it when I worked for New Horizons and, according to their
website, not many centers offer the class. It's a one day Database Design
class and, knowing what I know about database design AND New Horizons
instructors, I doubt that the class will provide more than the very basic
beginnings a person needs to have.

Also many of the instructors at New Horizons never worked in the
courses they
teach. They went through a "training" program and I find some of them to
be
rather inferior.

Actually, you should change the word "many" to "most." The New Horizons
philosophy is that "instructors are a dime a dozen." If you can stand up and
talk reasonably well in front of a group of people they will hire you and
train you how to use the applications they teach. Very few of their
instructors have ever taken any computer science courses. I majored in
computer science in college, but I was a rare bird at New Horizons. Now,
don't get me wrong, I think New Horizons is a great place to get application
level training -- especially for things like Word, Excel, Power Point, etc.
However, you just cannot teach people, in 3 or 4 days, how to properly
design, develop, and maintain databases. You can get a fairly good start,
with a good instructor, but you only scratch the surface.

--
Lynn Trapp
MS Access MVP
www.ltcomputerdesigns.com
Access Security: www.ltcomputerdesigns.com/Security.htm
Jeff Conrad's Access Junkie List:
http://home.bendbroadband.com/conradsystems/accessjunkie.html

 

[Lynn Trapp]

Ah. Thanks for the feedback. I never took the Access courses, but I did

look over the curriculum for the Design class and it looked OK. I did
take
the SQL Server courses, and I found them to be quite good and the
instructor
was excellent. Just as with Community Colleges, I imagine instructors
vary
from office to office.

Hi Roger,
See my message above to Catlady for a bit of background. I suspect the
Design class you saw at New Horizons is their one day Database Design class
that is part of their technical curriculum. We didn't offer that class when
I worked for NH, but I think devoting one day to the subject is just not
enough. As for instructors there, they not only vary "from office to
office," but the quality can be pretty rangy even within the same office.
The technical instructors (the ones who teach SQL Server, etc.) have been
there longer and are put through a pretty extensive training program before
they are allowed to teach. In fact, they have to be Microsoft Certified both
as trainers and in the technical area they teach. Still, Catlady is right
when she says they don't usually have real world experience in what they are
teaching. A few of them have but, for the most part, all their experience is
in the classroom and the lab.

--
Lynn Trapp
MS Access MVP
www.ltcomputerdesigns.com
Access Security: www.ltcomputerdesigns.com/Security.htm
Jeff Conrad's Access Junkie List:
http://home.bendbroadband.com/conradsystems/accessjunkie.html

 

[Roger Carlson]

I agree that one day is not enough. As I've said before, when I teach my
college class, I devote 7 out of 15 weeks to normalization/modeling.
Another important difference is that in an acedemic setting, we give
homework that people need to do on their own time. I don't think the
"exercises" that most training classes provide are nearly as useful. All in
all, I'd say finding a college class in database design is preferable IF you
can find a good teacher.

--
--Roger Carlson
MS Access MVP
Access Database Samples: www.rogersaccesslibrary.com
Want answers to your Access questions in your Email?
Free subscription:
http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/scripts/wa.exe?SUBED1=ACCESS-L