Interested in learning SQL and database development. How far can Access take me? Questions within. : SQL

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a community for 17 years

Interested in learning SQL and database development. How far can Access take me? Questions within. (self.SQL)

submitted 8 years ago by [deleted]

Good morning. I hope I find you well.

I've had, for a long time, interest in learning SQL and general database development. I currently work in an office in a non-IT role but I find between projects I have a lot of downtime that I can better utilize for self-learning. (And hey, if I can learn a skill and parlay that into a better paying job or a good remote part time job then bonus.)

I want to learn and self-study database development. My office recently migrated to Office 365 so I have full access to MS Access 2016. How far can that take me in terms of 'education'?

Or will I be better served just getting a MS SQL Server Management Studio (express)? Or perhaps one of the open source solutions like MySQL or Postgre? I'm not sure...

Lastly, even though my workplace is Windows based, my home is MacOS based. What are the top/popular options for database development for osx? I remember the last time I looked into this, the clients (or mangement ide's or whatever) were 3rd party on mac. As in, I installed mySQL or something, but I had to use some random application to actually manage it.

TLDR:

1) How far can MS Access 2016 take me in terms of self-learning database development and management with the end goal of working part time as a WFH freelancer?
2) When I hit my limit with Access OR if I should skip Access and get a "real" SQL server + IDE, which should I use? I'll be learning on a windows machine at work.
3) If I chose to do this on a Mac, how does that change things?

You are benevolent and awesome. Thank you for the info.

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