Well, according to this article published by Mike Wolfe, there are 11 million active Microsoft Access users.
To which I commented: So of those 11 million active monthly "users," how many of those are Developers? I get it that one guy in a company might design a database for 20 other people to "use," but can you really count that? They're going to use whatever they're given - an Excel sheet, a web portal, paper and pencil... :)
So, of the 11 million, let's say that a quarter of them are developers. That's 2,750,000 developers. Let's say half of those are perfectly happy with their skillset and don't want or need any additional training - which is silly, because even I still love learning new things, but OK... that brings us down to 1,375,000 developers.
I currently have 233,863 subscribers to my YouTube channel.
That means I have 1,141,137 developers to still reach...
Challenge accepted. :)
Sami Shamma
@Reply 13 months ago
You can do it, and we are behind you.
Thomas Gonder
@Reply 13 months ago
I doubt there are that many developers. I bet a lot of people get started, and then are quickly overwhelmed with the complexity of creating a db that really works. That is, anything beyond your typical vinyl/CD music collection db. Yeah, Access makes it easy... to a point. Hell, I've been telling myself to learn Publisher for years, and then...
Juan C Rivera
@Reply 13 months ago
I personally don't quite see it the same way. Sure, developers might seem scarce, but I've always found that there's this insatiable thirst for knowledge among younger folks. And I think we can definitely tap into that and guide them along, especially with things changing so rapidly these days. We can learn a lot from them too, you know? What we're teaching here isn't exactly what you'd find in a typical classroom. Speaking from my own experience, it's usually all about theory and understanding how things tick. Richard's really got a knack for teaching and mentoring in this kind of dynamic environment.
Kevin Yip
@Reply 13 months ago
Some developers may also be self-taught, and/or only need teaching in basic topics, and be self-taught in advanced ones. I would be curious to know which Richard's courses are the best-selling. Maybe the beginner's lessons sell the most. Many people may not take the advanced courses because they don't need them, or because they have given up Access.
The most popular courses are definitely the beginner ones, and they taper off as you go higher and higher in levels. I attribute this to a couple of factors. Number one, sometimes all people need are the basics, and they can figure things out for themselves beyond that, or they pick up a reference book and work things out from there. Number two, like you said, some people might start off with Access and then realize it's not for them and move on to something else.
And number three, as far as my courses specifically, I charge more as you go higher in levels, so my Developer lessons cost more than the beginner lessons, and not everyone can afford that, or can justify the expense. For me, I kind of have to charge more for the higher levels because, like I said, as you go higher and higher, the number of users tapers off. Where I might sell a few thousand beginner lessons, I might only sell a couple dozen Developer lessons, so it doesn't make sense for me from a business perspective to put the time and effort into making Developer lessons, especially since those take more time to create because of the difficulty involved.
But yes, I know a lot of people, myself included, are not video learners. I personally am a book learner. I like learning things from a book or even articles online. I hate watching other videos; I just don't have the patience for them. Maybe it's because that's what I do for a living, and I'm too busy subconsciously criticizing the video rather than paying attention to the content.
It's kind of like when I was in a rock band back in my twenties. Whenever I went out to see another band, I was always criticizing their musicianship instead of enjoying the music. LOL.
The follow up article, by Daniel, is interesting, and the only relevant bit of information is in the "The Elephant In The Room" call out box.
If I had to develop from an Internet-Centric perspective, I would not have considered Access some three years ago when embarking on my development project. However, I'm working in South America where the Internet is good, but not reliable enough for mission critical software. The Web-interface of using a browser is nice for getting lots of eyeball(s), but as a data entry tool, it's downright horrific. I think Kevin pointed out that even MS .NET doesn't have some of the most basic features we use every day in Access like continuous subforms. My non-tech gf tried creating a product selling site with one of the big "easy-to-use tools" and she was instantly bogged down in the myriads of required and conflicting libraries that broke her application at every addition and upgrade.
I think Access could be a more developer considered product should Microsoft decide to address three major weaknesses for small business: 1) Add VSS for reliable backups; 2) Change whatever is needed to get WIFI and WAN to work in Access; 3) Add more security control over what users can and can't do so outside the basic user application so that it's not limited to just a do all (.accdb) or do [relatively] nothing (.accde) option [that somehow still allows users to delete tables and records!].
Interesting! When I was a teenager, I, too, was in a rock band. We had to quit because the rocks kept breaking. Then some smart-ass found that when you strike certain rocks, you get sparks and voila FIRE. Those were heady times.
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