What are best aspects of databases to study?

[Chris2wire]

Im about to graduate in IT and would like to do some extra learning in my spare time on a specific aspect of IT, and databases are interesting, and theres quite a few jobs for database related work.

Help me pick what aspects of databases to study in my spare time... sql? mysql? db2? oracle? I realize these things are really general, but my point is help me pick what parts of the database world will be best to study in helping a future career....

 

[kyzen]

MySQL and MS SQL.

The former to start with, the later if you can get your hands on a free copy (NOT SQL Server 2k5 Express).

Learn SQL, data warehousing theories, security, and backup strategies.

 

[creedog]

I would suggest oracle not ms sql. However mySql is free and will give you the oportunity to learn basic sql statements.

You will need some sort of data to put in your database, I imagine that there are sample databases out there somewhere

 

[Scarpozzi]

I agree with both responses.....MySQL, MS SQL, and Oracle. I would start with MySQL and go from there. You see a lot more Microsoft Shops and most of them run apps that require MS SQL. Of course, many open source apps can use any. Maybe you could get some notebooks and start writing down notes on each one to keep for reference to help you remember the differences between each one. Writing queries for SQL can be a pain...I ran into a bunch of issues today with MySQL.

 

[Atheus]

We learned databases on Postgresql in college - it has features usually only available in high end dbs like oracle, but it's just as free as MySQL.

 

[maximus maximus]

ORACLE FTW!!!