Database Modeling

[Brian Cahill]

I'm trying to put together a database model for keeping track of any given employee's experience with multiple technologies. For instance, employee1 may have 3 years experience with Microsoft Windows 2003 and 5 years experience with Microsoft Windows 2000. Employee2 may have 4 years experience with Microsoft Windows 2003 and 2 years experience with Ubuntu Server 8.0.

I'd like to set this up in 5 tables to prevent redundant data. EMPLOYEE for Emp data, MANUFACTURER for tech mfg data (i.e. Microsoft), PRODUCT for tech prod data (i.e. Windows), and VERSION for tech ver data (i.e. 2003). Finally, I would like to have an EXPERIENCE table that would include FOREIGN KEYS to MANUFACTURER, PRODUCT, VERSION, and EMPLOYEE to tie it all together.

However, I'm struggling with figuring out how to update these tables and maintain consistency. Am I making this too difficult? Can anyone think of a better design?