Job interview tommorow - Transact-SQL query

[ninjabib]

Hello all.

I have an interview tommorow for a role as a 'E-Commerce Support Analyst'

The company i work for is an online reseller and i currently work there as a sales and service executive but i am wanting to get more into the IT support type of role. Passed 1st exam on my compTIA A+ course last week and just waiting to take the last exam so i can get certified. Just about to start Network+ course too.

I have a friend on the IT tech team who is 3rd line support and he says this role is very basic and nothing at all to worry about it in terms of technical ability hence no fomal IT qualifications required to apply. Mainly customer service skills based.


However 2 of the 'Desirable skills' are experience with TRansact-SQL and previous application support.

I've looked up wikipedia for the Transact-SQL information but theres not much on there. My intention is not to blag in the interview but merely to get a basic idea/understanding to show that i am keen on the role and have been trying to research the basics of it.

Also could anyone shed more light as to what they could precisely mean by "application support" does this refer to any application whatsoever for example?


Any help would be much appreciated.

 

[[TW]Fox]

Do you know any SQL? It's a database query language.

Application support is pretty self explanatory - supporting applications, ie Outlook, etc etc.

 

[ninjabib]

I don't know any SQL at all to be honest, just know what it is. My friend says i do not need to worry about that however.

Thought that what's they meant by applications just a very vague description left me unsure.

Hopefully get it although it may mean a pay cut but it would be a step in the right direction at least career wise.

 

[Gaijin]

SQL is pretty straightforward to learn as it is very intuitive.

Start here:

http://www.w3schools.com/sql/sql_intro.asp

 

[ninjabib]

Excellent, thanks for that link. Just what the doctor ordered.

 

[[TW]Fox]

SQL is pretty straightforward to learn as it is very intuitive.

Agreed. I have gone from not knowing a single bit of SQL to knowing it well enough to do quite complex queries in the space of 4 months

 

[CaptainComedy]

you'll be fine, just remember the select, update, insert into and delete from very unlikely they'll ask you about joins etc just get a wamp server running with mysql and phpmyadmin and you can practice all you like in there

 

[loltim]

'Select' before 'update' unless brave

'Update' is scarier than 'delete'

 

[[TW]Fox]

If they ask to see your skills, have a look at the tables, pick a few of the bigger ones and type drop table table_name.

You'll get the job.

 

[WrathOfAchilles]

Excellent, thanks for that link. Just what the doctor ordered.

It's very very obvious when someone is trying to blag SQL knowledge in an interview test.

 

[PMKeates]

Application support is pretty self explanatory - supporting applications, ie Outlook, etc etc.

In my experience, "application support" tends to be supporting in-house applications (at a fault-finding/bug-fixing level) rather than general IT support.

 

[ninjabib]

I am not trying to blag knowledge, (my fault, wrong terminology used in earlier post) i am simply intending to be honest and advise i have no working knowledge of SQL currently but i have looked into it online and believe that with the training offered i will have no problems picking it up as it looks quite self explanatory.

I applied today and got offered the interview for tommorow so i cannot claim to have developed amazing SQL skills overnight.

Thanks for the contributions to all.

 

[steinooo]

be careful about accepting "knowledge" from here. Big post counts don't necessarily mean trustworthiness!!!! Good luck

 

[Kreeeee]

If they ask to see your skills, have a look at the tables, pick a few of the bigger ones and type drop table table_name.

You'll get the job.

Just cartesian join the whole lot and say you'll be back in a week to see the results.

But yes, it's an incredibly simple language. I have just come off of a 9 day crash course in SQL and Data Analytics, and I'm already on a good DA investigations project at work.

Edit: We work on larger and more complex systems than a lot of people though so we tend to use PL-SQL rather than T-SQL so you may not want to listen to me... SQL server doesn't even have simple stuff like the minus operator iirc!

Edit 2: SQL Express is free and you can get training data sets easily so have a play around with it.

 

[Mr^B]

ANSI SQL is simple.

T-SQL is very far from simple.

 

[[TW]Fox]

T-SQL is very far from simple.

I only say that when I want people to think I am cleverer and do more interesting things than I really do.

 

[digipeep]

SELECT *
FROM jobs
WHERE money = '£50,000'
OR women = 'Hot'

If you interview doesn't satisfy the criteria walk away and try for another job.

 

[Stretch]

ANSI SQL is simple.

T-SQL is very far from simple.

Agreed. And PL/SQL is even harder.

 

[panthro]

SELECT *
FROM jobs
WHERE money = '£50,000'
OR women = 'Hot'

If you interview doesn't satisfy the criteria walk away and try for another job.

This.

 

[Mr^B]

I only say that when I want people to think I am cleverer and do more interesting things than I really do.

Really? That's interesting.

I say it when I don't want the OP to rock up to an interview thinking that T-SQL is just a bunch of 'select' statements rather than a large set of complex built-in functions, flow of control statements, cursors, CTEs, etc.

I don't think it's difficult to learn or use, nor do I find doing T-SQL particularly interesting. It's just a tool to get the job done. Although performance tuning queries can be strangely rewarding.