So, why is it better to gain commercial certification rather than more traditional academic qualifications obtained from the state educational establishments? Industry now recognises that to cover the necessary commercial skill-sets, certified accreditation supplied for example by CISCO, Adobe, Microsoft and CompTIA is closer to the mark commercially - saving time and money. They do this by honing in on the particular skills that are needed (alongside a relevant amount of related knowledge,) rather than going into the heightened depths of background detail and 'fluff' that degree courses can get bogged down in (because the syllabus is so wide).

Imagine if you were an employer - and you wanted someone who could provide a specific set of skills. What's the simplest way to find the right person: Trawl through loads of academic qualifications from various applicants, trying to establish what they know and which commercial skills they've mastered, or pick out specific commercial accreditations that perfectly fit your needs, and draw up from that who you want to speak to. Your interviews are then about personal suitability - rather than establishing whether they can do a specific task.

Individuals who make great database specialists are likely to be very orderly, thorough & logical. They are able to work efficiently by themselves, or as part of a small-scale team, & they show exceptional attention to the details. The work often calls for reporting to company management, & so confident communication-skills are expected. Database Management is a very important occupation, as security needs ever more vigilance in this area of work. Organisations demand people with integrity who they are able to trust implicitly, and some businesses will actually require you to get security clearance prior to offering you a placement. Professionals from accountancy & business roles often make first class DBAs, & in many cases the role is a stepping stone to a much more senior career in the organisation's hierarchy.

Consequently, if Databases are so common & such a big part of life today, what type of work roles can be found? There are 2 key areas if we consider Databases from an I.T. mind-set. The first involves the design and building of the software that Databases are powered by, and the second calls for the management work required to work with the data stored on them. The term DBA, or 'Database Administrator', is a well known acronym applied through-out the I.T. sector. More commonly it's the medium to large companies that have a need to use 'DBAs', as they require them to oversee the database's operations on a day to day basis. Procedures such as Security and the backing-up of the data require managing. DBA's also need to build reports for managers to allow them to make informed commercial decisions. They need to have gained a professional knowledge of 'SQL' - the most commonly used database 'language'. Interrogating 'databases' to extract information is standardised with 'SQL' ('Structured Query Language').

Be alert that all certifications that you're considering are commercially relevant and are bang up to date. 'In-house' exams and the certificates they come with are generally useless. The top IT companies like Microsoft, Cisco, CompTIA or Adobe have internationally recognised proficiency programs. Huge conglomerates such as these will ensure your employability.

Throughout the world, the most commonly used Database Systems are Oracle & MS SQL Server. Oracle is an older system that is still being used on large-scale installations, although 'SQL' Server is more well-known now in regular business environments; 'SQL' has grown to be the 'de facto' standard for databases on the net. Microsoft has integrated 'SQL' Server technology into all the Microsoft programming languages and platforms - which makes it a natural preference over Oracle so far as database training goes. Qualifications have now been brought up to date, & the 'MCDBA' ('Microsoft Certified Database Administrator') has now been replaced by the 'MCITP' (Microsoft Certified IT Professional) & the MCTS (Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist). Despite the fact that SQL Server '08 is beginning to gain some foothold, the current widespread commercial version of MS SQL-Server is 2005, and its this release which features in the MCITP DBA qualification. In order to obtain the full MCITP qualification, various 'MCTS' modules need to be achieved first.

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