Re: tracking shipments, inventory

Well said Joe. For some examples head over to:

http://discuss.joelonsoftware.com/default.asp?design.4.52852.91

It's absolutely terrifying. Actually if you could add a few comments then you might get the thread past 100, in which case I get some sort of JoelOnSoftware prize for starting the longest thread.

Thank god that people like you, Fabian Pascal and Chris Date are active. I know that you and FP might not see eye to eye sometimes, but I've gained so much more useful info from all of your online activities and your books (all 3 of you) than I ever have from the 'don't bother too much with database theory it's all a bit irrelevant in the real world' brigade.

Mike

"-CELKO-" <jcelko212_at_earthlink.net> wrote in message news:1104097516.016096.282300_at_c13g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
>>> IMO - IT is nowhere near a profession yet - more a trade or at best
> a guild! <<
>
> A Guild was a group which would make good any actions of its members:
> Guild member "X" fails to deliver the
> silverware/goldware/upholstery/ironwork/whatever promised, the Guild
> finishes his contract and puts the Guild's hallmark on the pieces.
>
> But I see your point...
>
> The stat I use to scare people is that it takes SIX YEARS ON THE JOB to
> become a Union Journeyman Carpenter in New York State, but only SIX
> WEEKS in a MS certification cram course to be a "database/C#/VB guru"
> by comparison. That was Journeyman, not Master.
>
> Who can kill you, or bankrupt your company faster? A carpenter or a
> DBA?
>
> I am really pissy on these newsgroup. Because my name has been out
> there for about 20 years, I get the disasters. Because my wife worked
> on a "cancer ward" for 13 years, non-profits know I consult for free
> (but not for long). This year, some newbie violated 1NF in a design of
> a database that sends medical supplies to Africa. The wrong quantities
> were packed. You do not run down to the corner drug store to fill a
> prescription in a war zone. People die due to a lack of fundamental
> database design errors.
>
> Because I am an atheist, I do not believe in Big-E "Evil" -- devils,
> supernatural monsters and that kind of thing. But I am an
> engineer/geek and I do believe in Big-S "stupidity" -- newbies who will
> not hear any criticism of their work, self-taught programmers who read
> a book entitled "Learn SQL in 10 Days" and now know everything on the
> 11-th day.
>
> Talk to me when you have a decade of work, education and experience
> behind you, kid.
>
> What scares me is that even the IT college courses are weaker than when
> I went to school in the Stone Age. No undergrad database courses, very
> little math, no business courses, etc.
>
Received on Thu Jan 06 2005 - 00:12:28 CET