Re: Looking for an online mentor

Sorry, I got on so many lists yesterday. I'm really not that dense.

I have absolutely no language programming skills and it is very very
frustrating. I can HTML and that's it. I desperately want to develop the
skills but whenever I try on my own, I hit the same wall as I do with SQL.
I'm just bad at the deep dives into code and really need some honest help.
I kind of had this kind of help at my old job but I got laid off on 11/30
and I don't think it's appropriate to ask them anymore.

SQL experience: Only MS Access. I know it sucks, but it's all my boss "let"
me use (it didn't occur to me for a while to pursue it on my own after she
told me "no" for whatever odd reason she had). But! I can use that GUI like
a champ. I used Access for all of my data crunching, my biggest record set
was 600k so I didn't need anything more powerful. The reason I think I can
learn SQL with just a bit of guidance is I know the concepts behind "where"
and "group buys" and "unique," etc, but I miss a ; and get an error and
then get frustrated.

Purpose of the project:

Eh, a bunch of things.

- The project is to build my Tableau skills, for one. There are a lot of
(work from home) jobs out there that call for Tableau skills and I know the
best way to learn something is to do it. I think using the SQL database as
a source will enable me to learn a lot of things in one stroke.

- The project will also give me a product (eventually multiple) to embed on
a website when I start looking for "clients," or what have you. Just
starting a portfolio.

- I have two projects, one of them is to analyze crime rates around the
moon phases. Just a question my dad once posed as a science project that I
blew off. Now seems kind of interesting to me to pursue. Will give me date
experience, mapping if I want it, can go down to the precinct level, etc.
The other is some data I've been collecting for about 15 months on a pixel
dragon game I play. I want to build a dashboard to manage my
lair/income/value, etc. That is definitely where the SQL database comes in.
I think the moon one is just data blending.

- To give me intellectual stimulation because I am a nerd.

Just a note, I'm a female gen x with a master's degree in library and
information science. I took a database design class in grad school and it
was the biggest waste of money and time. lol, I wish I'd had these project
ideas then, I could have gone to the teacher with them.

Meta

On Thu, Dec 8, 2016 at 6:59 PM, Adrian Klaver <adrian(dot)klaver(at)aklaver(dot)com>
wrote:

> On 12/08/2016 03:46 PM, Metare Solve wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> I'm looking for an online mentor, someone I can chat/email and ask
>> questions of. Maybe "meet up" and have a direct chat. I've been trying
>> to get into SQL for years and I just... have... problems. It's very
>> frustrating and at this point in my career is going to keep me from
>> getting a new job. (I was just laid off on 11/30.)
>>
>> I have a project in mind: I want to build an SQL db to house some
>> datasets and sit a tableau dashboard/storyboard on top. A data engineer
>> at my old job said that would be his preferred method, and I think it
>> would be a useful project to learn SQL.
>>
>> I know this is the pgadmin support and not a postgres, but I'm
>> technically going to be using pgadmin so it's tangentially related ;)
>>
>
> Actually this is the Postgres mailing list.
>
> FYI, the pgAdmin list is here:
>
> https://www.postgresql.org/list/pgadmin-support/
>
> Though pgAdmin is often discussed on this list(pgsql-general).
>
>
>> Any input, even on the project?
>>
>
>
> What language(s) do you plan to program in?
>
> What studying on SQL have you done?
>
> What will the purpose of the project?
>
>
>
>> thanks,
>> meta
>>
>
>
> --
> Adrian Klaver
> adrian(dot)klaver(at)aklaver(dot)com
>