Honestly, I am perfectly happy to watch commercial in exchange for free streaming content. While I don't watch a lot of TV programming (and local news is important), it all comes from different sources. Paying Netflix, Hulu+, etc fees every month can easily lead to Internet streaming costs comparable to regular cable bill ... and you are still exposed to commercial. Let me get all my TV programming content via free Internet streaming and I am more than happy to be exposed to commercials .... a fair and reasonable exchange as far as I'm concerned. Of course there's still that monthly ISP bill........

The quest for new knowledge is never in vain so long as you are deriving a benefit from the process - even if it is only your own personal pleasure. You will work harder (and hopefully learn more) in courses that you are passionate about.

MOOCs are great for disciplined students (like me). I carefully choose courses based on what I want to learn about and only take one at a time. It does not matter to me that no college credit is awarded (I already have a BS and MBA). I commit to completing courses just like I was paying for them which means I continue irrespective of how good, bad, or difficult I find the course to be. I always learn more that I expected. Sometimes the most important learning happens as the result of course discussion forum interactions! The key to success with any MOOC is to have a daily/weekly study schedule and stick to it. 'Free time' should be just that, time to do anything you want to - or not!

Personally, I wish more cops would write tickets for texting while driving .... there are way too many distracted, boneheads on the road endangering my life every day.

Actually, it is more complicated to do it well. Creating a good database begins with the design, not a SQL statement. If terms like E-R model, normalization, decomposition, * normal form, etc are not familiar terms - they should be (or at least their concepts). If you just want to kick the tires and write some code, that's great. Just don't confuse a proficiency in SQL programming with proficiency in database design.

Great advice and its free and web-based. I also took this Stanford course when it was first offered in 2011. The professor has added additional course topics since the course was first developed. While it is a self contained course, I strongly suggest you obtain one of the 4 referenced textbooks - any of which can further expand on the topics covered and offer additional underlying theory. A side benefit will of the course (for me) was an exposure to some of the shortcomings/lack of capabilities of some rdbs vs the SQL standard.

I first learned to program in a college classroom. Programs were generated at keypunch machines on IBM (Holerith) cards - one line of code per card. Card decks were submitted and and returned with results. It was painful to receive returned decks for out-of-order cards, compile time errors, and eventually run-time errors that had to be fixed for the next submission. Card decks were typically only run once or twice each day at the computer center making program debugging a long, painful process.

Whether or not you land a paying job, take a college level course (or two) at Udacity.com It's free, only runs for 7 weeks, and classes start next week. There are some foundation courses as well as some more advanced topics. I have already taken a couple myself and plan to take one each hexamester for the foreseeable future.

As a manger or group leader, you are only as good (or successful) as your group. Take responsibility for your group’s successes as well as failures. 1. Learn how to listen 2. Use ‘we’ not ‘I’ 3. Learn how to communicate to a wide range of audiences (technical, business, management). Make sure your group see’s the bigger picture and understands their importance. Be prepared to answer the question “Why?” 4. Set both realistic and stretch goals 5. Value differences and skill levels 6. Learn to motivate and reprimand effectively 7. Learn about SWOT analysis and how you might use it to your group (or projects for that matter)