The 'C' word

I have been thinking about Certification issues for different software
packages and tried to follow any discussions I run across. Typically I
think of certification as an indication of an ability to
learn-to-the-exam or as a previous employer said 'shows you can take
tests'.
This brought to mind the number of questions that appear on this list
that indicate the person has very little knowledge of relational
databases. This then got me thinking about how people - especially
those on the PostgreSQL lists - got their training and education in
databases.

For myself I learned through a mix of reading (books, magazines,
documentation), vendor training (Oracle's mostly), and hands-on work (
couple of large projects for the US Forest Service). No formal school
based training.
This got me wondering about training available locally. A _very_
brief check showed only application specific training - most notable was
MS Access. Nothing on database design, relational theory, data
normalization, etc.
Now the Inland Northwest (Eastern Washington and North Idaho) isn't
exactly a hotbed of Information Technology so I was wondering where
others got their training and education and how you would suggest a new
user get some fundamental training and education.

Please reply off-list and I will gather and summarize the results.

Thanks
Rod
--
Remove the word 'try' from your vocabulary ...
Don't try. Do it or don't do it ...
Steers try!

Don Aslett