Hello!
I'm new to this forum as my position changed within the last year from Box Office Manager to a more IT related field of Tessitura Database Manager. I've been learning a great deal through Tessitura training courses offered and the assistance of Tessitura support, however I hit a road block when it comes to anything requiring SQL knowledge which pops up very frequently. Since I didn't come from an IT background, I'm lost when it comes to this and it gets tough when I keep having to go to Consulting and present a charge to Administration to get a task completed. Do any of you have advice on how to gain basic SQL knowledge to do tasks in Tessitura. And if there are any of you who were in this same position, how did you go about learning and moving forward?
Thank you so much,
Melanie
Welcome to the club, etc. :-) BOM to DBA seems exceedingly common, myself included. I've always had a strong distaste for w3schools which I won't go into explaining here, but here are the resources I'd recommend in lieu of that that I don't see represented here yet:
* Microsoft SQL Server docs, T-SQL Reference: This is always going to be the most reliable resource for the specific syntax used in SQL Server. SQL is really a family of related dialects, which have subtle differences depending on what kind of database server is being used. Tessitura is built on top of Microsoft SQL Server, which uses a dialect of SQL called "Transact-SQL", often abbreviated "t-sql". A good habit to get into with your google search queries would be to always include "t-sql" or "tsql" as a search term, so you will be directed to resources that are specific to the SQL Server dialect. The T-SQL Reference linked here is a technical resource which may pose a bit of a learning curve, but once you've learned how to navigate it and are more familiar with the terminology, it really is invaluable. (Also want to +1 bump Nancy's suggestion of the Stairway to T-SQL DML, Beyond the Basics, and Advanced T-SQL articles from sqlservercentral.com -- another great resource specific to transact-sql.)
* LinkedIn Learning: For other reasons I won't go into explaining here, I also have a strong distaste for LinkedIn (boy am I picky!) but luckily, you can access all of the content on LinkedIn Learning for free, without even a LinkedIn account, through many public libraries with your library card! This originates with Lynda.com (which had access agreements with many public libraries) having been acquired by LinkedIn and having recently been integrated. So, if you're looking for high-quality long-form video courses but aren't able or interested in paying for Pluralsight or Udemy, LIL has an entire category of Transact-SQL courses available. Getting access just requires finding a library that you are eligible to have a library card with that also has access to the LIL database; for example, anyone in the state of New York can receive a virtual card via the New York Public Library web site, and this can be used to log in to LIL. Other states and locales may have luck through local colleges and universities if local public libraries do not have access.