References -- dBASE™ Training

[References]

I work for Equity Cooperative Livestock Sales Association in Wisconsin. We run thirteen livestock auction markets. I have been programming in dBASE 5.7 since 1996. I've dabbled with 7.0, dB2K, and dBASE Plus over the years, but never had either the chance or the confidence to begin a major conversion. I didn't want to merely convert the programs, I wanted to rewrite them. After much discussion, we decided that our 3-member department (programmer, systems administrator, and VP of IS) should all become familiar with dBase Plus. The question was "How?" While I had written some things based upon the tutorial, that was 3 years ago and I had forgotten most of it.

While checking out the various dBASE related sites, I came across Ken Mayer's The dBASE Book. I ordered it and began reading. I also checked out Ken's website. It was then we realized the solution to our dilemma. Perhaps Ken would come to Wisconsin to train us! I called Ken, we agreed on time and price, and he flew here the first week of April, 2006.

Since the three of us were all beginning at different levels, Ken's challenge was to improve the skill level for each of us. He used his book as the outline, planned ahead what he wanted to cover each day and most definitely succeeded in his task. The great advantage to having him here was the ability to ask any question (even the dumb ones), and get an answer that related directly to our needs. dBASE Plus is so all-encompassing that only one week, especially for beginners, doesn't seem to be enough time. We had some hands-on practice and lots of great explanation. Many things I had done using the Tutorial years ago now make sense. Ken was able to explain things in a way I hadn't understood and all of the pieces began to fall into place. He was organized, kept on track, and was very patient with us. We all felt that we could not have found a better trainer. His experience with the development of the dBASE product, his hands-on experience using it to create projects, his training at conventions, and his book all combined to make us trust his knowledge and experience.

While we all have a lot of work ahead of us, we can now approach it with a sense of positive anticipation. We also have great resources: the original Tutorial, Ken's dBASE Book, the dBASE newsgroups, and our week with our private tutor.

-- Diane Zavadsky, Equity Cooperative Livestock Sales Association

[References]

---

---