How I learned How I learnt Database Programming

About me

My Name is Lucky Ncube, I have been working a software developer since the late 90s and I started developing software using Cobol and 4gL languages. I was so passionate about developing software when GUI based development tools where introduced in the late 90s, DELPHI, Visual Basic 4, I took it upon myself to learn the new systems. It was then that I realized I need to learn database, as I came from background of Cobol flat files

Why I wanted to learn How I learnt Database Programming

So I was working as senior developer for a tourism company and there was need to develop and online portal so that our clients could book for events in advance. ASP Classic was mentioned and SQL Server database was also mentioned, I got motivated to learn these technologies so as to stay relevant in my job in fast evolving industry. Though I outsourced the work, I knew exactly what that technology stack brought onto the table. Storage ability, easy querying of data and other functions like processing power etc.

How I approached learning How I learnt Database Programming

I managed to buy 2 books that were Microsoft certification at the time, I tell you these books were expensive at that time, over 1000 a copy. But I loved the technology, and I read through the books that gave me and insight on what these technologies could do and what I could develop. I started working on point of sale system for the retail division of the company , I quickly found a mentor who was very good with these technologies and I remember we will have long phone calls discussing how to implement functions and methods.

Challenges I faced

It was easy to get stuck, as the technology was new there were very little documentation of known issues. Issue were privy to vendors and vendor support was expensive. Being in Africa it meant you had to develop and intimate relationship with the language. I remember I used to know all the standard libraries that used to come with Visual Basic 5, how to register each and every ActiveX objects when deploying my applications,. It was nightmare but i loved it. The technology was not easy, you could create a batch file that will be used to deploy an application Windows 95 and it will work perfectly on one machine but fail totally on the next machine

Key takeaways

When learning a new technology, have reference material readily available
Find a person or mentor that you can ask it helps to share problems
Be resourceful try and use the help documentation of the system or make sure you follow a tutorial from start to end just to grasp the concepts clearly

Tips and advice

I always recommend that when you really want to be intimate with a technology check if the vendor has a certification program, certification programs are hands and give you good deep dive into the technology

Don't skip chapters when learning a knew technology, Read through and try to rewrite every problem presented in the text, that helps you practice what you are learning. The only way to become proficient is to practice, practice.

Final thoughts and next steps

When you learn something you have to be tuned in to the blogs that write about the technology stacks, find them and subscribe to them,

Follow the Vendor understand were there taking the technology

Link the technology to the globally context of technology development and stay relevant