Total Newbie - Need to learn SQL for work

[fallout1]

I've been given the opportunity to work in concert with our database programmer at work to assist in basic SQL queries and data pulls (we'll be using MS SQL Server).

He's willing to teach and help me a great deal but I think I need to do some work on my own as well to get some background.

I currently have almost no understanding of RDMS principles outside of some rudimentary items I remember from taking MS Access in college (tables, rows, primary key,etc). That being said, I am at a loss for where to being. The books on Amazon seem hit or miss, the free courses on Coursera and Udacity say previous programming knowledge is necessary. What's the best way anyone can recommend I get started?

Thank you

 

[ksham]

Set up a MS SQL database on your computer. Then walk through a MySQL tutorial. Yes, you heard right. There are more MySQL tutorials than MS SQL ones. MySQL and MS SQL are fairly similar in basic querying. JOIN is different. Most basic query in MySQL work in MS SQL. You may have to do some conversions in more advanced queries. If you can't figure it out, try to Google that specific problem. It really comes down to just diving head on.

 

[fallout1]

So how much is missed without some type of database theory class..nuance I assume..

 

[ksham]

A good amount of experience. Depends on how fast you pick things up. RDMS isn't a hard subject. Some designs are obviously more efficient than others. You'll at least need to know how to formulate basic to mid-level queries. Otherwise, you'll slow down progress if your database programmer has to continuously babysit you.

 

[Hawkeye22]

If all you are doing is querying the DB or inserting/updating records, then you shouldn't run into many problems. Designing a database on the other hand takes more time and experience to learn. There is plenty of reference material online if you search for it.

 

[fallout1]

Thank you for all the replies--this helps a lot. I won't be designing databases anytime soon, but just need some basic familiarity with running queries and accessing the data without the constant need to ask our DBA. I'll update with any further questions and thanks again.