Database programming is unlike any other programming. In addition to the
coding language, you need to be proficient in SQL. But there is much more to
it than that. With most programming, you need to understand what is to be
accomplished and how to achieve that. Not so with database programming.

First, you need to understand the reasons and business rules for each object
and how those object relate to one another. Second, you need to understand
normalization rules so the data structure will integrate with the business
rules and the project scope properly. Lastly, you need to understand program
flow and why certain processes must precede others.

Programming language and coding are the simplest part of the above process.
VBA is extremely well integrated with the various Office applications, and
Access is the most powerful of the Microsoft programming tools for
databases.

VB.NET is not a database centric language, but it can be used to program
databases. It will be at least 3 times more work to do so in VB.NET because
it is a general programming language, and does not have nearly half of the
specific data centric methods. That said, if you are using a web interface,
instead of Access, VB.NET is the stronger web programming language.

As far as specifics of any language: Yes, you need to know the methods used.
They include If ... Then, the various looping methods, Select Case
statements, etc. To interact with Windows, you also need to be able to
understand API programming. For the .NET languages, you need to understand
what the CLR does and how each of the 3 .NET Frameworks are different. Most
language specifics are available in a good college level programming course.
Database skills, OTOH, require design skills, math skills, business skills,
and a good knowledge of the business rules of the specific business
application. After you've mastered those, you can start to learn some
programming.