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Teach Thyself

Written on October 5, 2009  |  by RP Mickler  |  Leave a Comment Leave a Comment  |  Bookmark and Share

A student approached me recently. He asked if there were hands-on educational opportunities for learning Oracle and SQL Server. Here’s a synopsis of my response, and I thought this would be practical to share.

The thing about tech today is that everything you need to learn on your own is readily available to you; much different from when I was growing up (grin) – even free software. In my opinion, your individual access to information is even stronger than what any college can offer you because a college curriculum is dated and the exposure you have to the application is limited by the scope of the lesson. Today, it’s really a determination of how much time and energy you wish to sink into these things.

Here are some resources.

1. Google Books.

There are a number of great books available to you for free across Google Books. Here’s a couple of ideas for SQL and DBMS solutions:

2. Open and Express Editions of Software.

Many firms release trialware or open versions of their product. Microsoft and Oracle are no different. You can download these products and start using them now.

3. Open Lesson Plans and Course Materials

Even still, some students like the structure of following tasks and assignments set forth in a curriculum. Think you need to pay a college for that? Well, think again: here’s a set of lab assignments and documents for Oracle and SQL from MIT’s (yes, MIT!) Open Courseware:

Download the assignments and follow them. If you wanted the rigor of a full class, you can download the entire syllabus and supplemental materials, maybe even be able to find the book through Google Books – although that’s not always possible.

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4. YouTube Instructional Videos

And if you need help, go ahead and pull up some tutorials and videos off of YouTube on Oracle, SQL Server, and MySQL to help you learn the concepts:

In this case, what I recommend was that the student set up a practical range of goals he was interested in, learn more about it through reading, then apply your the to a problem, or, lab work through setting up a virtual machine on your production system (here’s an open solution: www.virtualbox.com) or a separate box for your use.

The thing is, there is so much good information, tools, and materials out there to teach yourself practically anything – not just technical stuff but literally anything – and it’s just a factor of how much time and energy you wish to devote to it. College can give a structured framework for learning that introduces you to the basic concept and theory of a discipline. Some like that structure; others can extend that structure, or, create their own, with the resources available to them now. So, don’t waste any time: set yourself up with a couple of goals for the year, stop making excuses, get out there and create your _own_ curriculum, and start learning!

R

Wendy Gabriel says:

Commented posted on: October 10, 2009

E-commerce, VAR, CAP, International Marketing all these areas of technical information is necessary to develop core strengths as an individual or as a company and it seems that you have all the tools and materials. We can learn it all here from your website as opposed to taking courses online!! It would be nice to be able to do this!
From a student

RP Mickler says:

Commented posted on: October 11, 2009

Well, I’m not sure if I or even self-directed learning can displace a formal education, but, the tools are simply out there. All anybody has to do is just start using them! Thanks for responding, Wendy!
R