Course on SQL Server Reporting Services

ringo747 · 28 Nov 2010 at 18:13

Hi,

I am looking for recommendations for a training course (preferably classroom led) on SSRS. I work with SharePoint mostly but want to learn more about the SQL Server Reporting side of thing.

Anyone been on any good courses for this? Ultimately I'd be looking to get MCTS certified in the BI stack but I'm not sure that a bootcamp style course just to get certs is a good idea.

Is there much coding with SQL Server development? I have done bits of VB.NET/C# so hopefully it will be not too steep a learning curve from that perspective.

MMD · 4 Dec 2010 at 11:49

I'm not sure on the clasroom led front, but from a MCTS perspective the exams aren't very heavy from what I've seen so what you describe as a 'bootcamp' style is probably going to be the only option.

I have looked at the CBT Nuggets video series and they are very good. They won't give you everything, so you will need to go away and mix'n'match your own research, but if you're like me where pouring over books is never going to work, then this may also work for you.

Microsoft SQL Server development obviously requires T-SQL knowledge, but if you've touched other coding languages, it shouldn't be hard to pick up. Given that the majority of commands are going to be small one or few liners, it isn't hard to debug. When you get into the BI stack it's a lot harder from what I've seen.

I'm currently working towards my 70-432 exam, which is 'implementation & maintenance'. On the face of it, it looks easy, but is more in depth than people give it credit for.

Here is the link for the BI stack if you're interested. There are also several good books for each exam.
http://www.cbtnuggets.com/series?id=467

ringo747 · 4 Dec 2010 at 22:26

Thanks - thats helpful.

I found these guys during the week:
http://www.firebrandtraining.co.uk/

They do a great course for the BI stack exam but its almost £2k for it. I've done T-SQL in the past but I am only really a beginner. They recommended I do a 2 day T-SQL course before doing any of the BI stuff.

My biggest problem is that unless you are going straight onto a related project it can be a waste of time as you forget a lot of the stuff.

morfmedia · 5 Dec 2010 at 18:40

i can highly recommend firebrandtraining. I did a week long SQL 2005 course, from nothing to Microsoft certified in a one week residential course. It is VERY intense, really long days but it's amazing how much you absorb in that time.

ringo747 · 5 Dec 2010 at 18:47

They seem very expensive but as you say they are well recommended. I'm not so much interested in the certs - they look good on CV but mean nothing compared to experience I suppose.

I will be going from knowing very little but I am quite worried about an intense course from no knowledge to fully certified!

morfmedia · 7 Dec 2010 at 19:14

Depends what you want then and who is paying.

If you want to learn slowly buy something like trainsignal. If you want to pick something up very quickly then do the intensive bootcamp. As you say you will forget things but such is life.

You don't always need to follow their advice about other training so long as you are competent and or a hard worker.