Q: Curious about need for Access developers

[MarkD]

This might be off-topic, but I thought it was relevant.

I consider myself a pretty decent access developer,
knowledge-wise and ability to find out the answers if I
don't know them (which often means coming here!)

But I'm curious about those who make a living using
access. Not just Access developer consultants (ie. I make
my living creating Access dbs), but also people who tend
to use Access as their primary tool (ie. I work with
Access primarily, but also do some other stuff). I'm the
latter -- I do Access programming, know some Excel and
Word, and also a little Oracle/SQL Server.

Do you think knowing access fairly well is enough in this
job market, or do you feel that additional skills is
necessary? And for those who use Access + some other tool
(or tools), what are the other things you use?

Thanks for all feedback!

 

[Micah Chaney]

Just a little off-topic definitely, but I can answer your question from my
perspective. Of course, the answer would be specific to your geographic
location. I'm in southern California, I'm certified in Access and I use
Access at home all the time. I've been working primarily developing Access
databases for a variety of different companies. I have an advanced knowledge
of Excel and Word also and a little more than Intermediate knowledge of
Outlook. BS'ing is always another good quality to have. I just finished an
assignment where I had to link Access with Outlook, in the Public Folder
domain and basically create an entire paperless process for a company of
about 200 employees. I'm very good at figuring out new and different ways to
accomplish tasks. One of my biggest handicaps is not knowing a programming
language. (Hence where the BS'ing becomes helpful). SQL seems to be the
language you have to know. The thing about Access is, unless you're in some
sort of HelpDesk situation once you complete the database you're building,
there's no use for you. I mean sure there's maintenance, but I've found most
companies don't want to keep an employee around just for maintenance on a
program that shouldn't break down, especially if you produced some good
documentation.

So my advice is don't settle for knowing just one application really well.
Keep your brain sponge-like, and learn a programming language or win the
lotto. Up to you. Hope that helped a little.