Re: DBA Skill tree
From: Jeremy Schneider <jeremy.schneider_at_ardentperf.com>
Date: Fri, 03 Apr 2009 20:26:32 -0500
Message-ID: <49D6B748.7050903_at_ardentperf.com>
Dan Norris wrote:
> While I agree that many "old school" DBAs could handle issues more
> readily than some newbies, I'd say that most of the "old school" DBAs
> I've encountered in my consulting travels are the "out of touch" type.
> That is, they have lost most of the theory and have maintained the
> same environment(s) for so long that the problems they can solve are
> the ones that happen regularly to them. They faint/fail at new or
> unknown issues. That is my personal experience and the new or unknown
> issues weren't particularly tough ones. I'd say I've been asked to
> provide help (consulting) to more "old school" DBAs than newbies over
> my years. However, that's probably also because the "old school" DBAs
> are often in larger shops that have bigger environments (and usually
> bigger problems to go with them).
To be fair, as a consultant your sample pool is a little weighted in that direction. The "in touch" old-schoolers don't call you - just the ones who are out of touch. There's probably a higher proportion of in-touch old-schoolers than what you would meet on the job, simply by the nature of what you do.
Date: Fri, 03 Apr 2009 20:26:32 -0500
Message-ID: <49D6B748.7050903_at_ardentperf.com>
Dan Norris wrote:
> While I agree that many "old school" DBAs could handle issues more
> readily than some newbies, I'd say that most of the "old school" DBAs
> I've encountered in my consulting travels are the "out of touch" type.
> That is, they have lost most of the theory and have maintained the
> same environment(s) for so long that the problems they can solve are
> the ones that happen regularly to them. They faint/fail at new or
> unknown issues. That is my personal experience and the new or unknown
> issues weren't particularly tough ones. I'd say I've been asked to
> provide help (consulting) to more "old school" DBAs than newbies over
> my years. However, that's probably also because the "old school" DBAs
> are often in larger shops that have bigger environments (and usually
> bigger problems to go with them).
To be fair, as a consultant your sample pool is a little weighted in that direction. The "in touch" old-schoolers don't call you - just the ones who are out of touch. There's probably a higher proportion of in-touch old-schoolers than what you would meet on the job, simply by the nature of what you do.
But to counter my own point, the "out of touch" old-schoolers are probably the ones on the job market most often... :)
-Jeremy
-- Jeremy Schneider Chicago, IL http://www.ardentperf.com -- http://www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-lReceived on Fri Apr 03 2009 - 20:26:32 CDT