Re: How Does One Become a DBA?

Through a lot of blood, sweat and tears, pal. But seriously, go to oracle's trial software page at http://www.oracle.com/products/trial/html/trial.html and download yourself a copy of Oracle 7.3 for NT (if you're running NT) or Personal Oracle (if you have 95). If you have NT server and a ton of memory (at least 64MB) get WAS. Get Oracle 8 for NT if you want the bleeding edge with Objects. Get the development tools (Oracle is jumping into Java and the Web). Then pick up a good book (like Oracle's DBA Handbook) and get busy. Out of disk space? Just start with PO7. You can really overload yourself with all the stuff Oracle has to offer.

It's extermely difficult (at least I found it so) to break into Oracle with zero Oracle background. Companies want to see at least 6 months with it. Also, a lot of general SQL knowledge is required. You can decide later if you want to go the DBA or developer route. Me, I prefer development. There's DBA and then there's DBA-- you'll do a lot of boring day-to-day grunt work like backups, restores, creating users and granting privileges, defragging tables; that kind of crap. Then there's the database design and planning, in which a DBA worth his salt is going to play a huge part.

Some DBA's like to do development too. So pick up on one, maybe two toolsets. Oracle's Developer 2000 is one choice; Powerbuilder, Delphi, VB... I won't make any recommendations here. Perhaps if you survey some prospective employers you can get a handle on what tools their DBAs use (if any). You might find yourself developing your own DBA-related toolsets (which is a smart thing to do).

DBAs make good money, no doubt about it. With several years' experience, maybe 75K or thereabouts. Depends on your motivation factor and your tolerance for doing repetitive tasks along with more interesting ones. 'Course, just starting out, they're all interesting, right?

I'm not a DBA, but knowing how to do it makes you a better developer. I started doing Pro*C, then PL/SQL. Doing the latter really required me to increase my understanding of administrative topics dramatically. Plus, I think it's fun.

Most of the DBAs I've met (less than 20) do only a slight amount of development, usually on the server side. I don't know squat about OLAP and to my knowledge those 20 DBA's didn't either.

Some DBA jobs have significant stress, such as a large 24x7 shop. But as a newbie you're more interested in learning a lot for a (relatively) low pay.

• Dan Clamage dclamage_at_idcomm.com

Al Johnson <asjfox_at_ghg.net> wrote in article <341f5da9.4462688_at_news.ghg.net>...
> I'm new to database programming (about 10 months experience with
> Access and FoxPro), so please excuse me if I ask any dumb questions.
>
> My goal is to develop the skills that could eventually lead to a
> position as a DBA using a high-powered DBMS such as Oracle, Sybase or
> Informix. I'll have my B.S.C.S. in May '98 and am working on my 3rd
> Coop term now where I have been programming in Visual FoxPro 5.0 and
> Access. What kind of jobs should I look for that will expose me to
> more sophisticated databases and tools? Will companies hire someone
> without any experience with Oracle, etc? I would assume not. So, am
> I stuck accepting only jobs for FoxPro programming? I don't mind if
> it pays big. I just don't want to get trapped.
>
> What about Powerbuilder, or RAD tools in general? Do I need to master
> any of these? Or can I skip learning them? I'm not trying to cut
> corners, or cheat myself of necessary knowledge, but I don't want to
> waste any time either.
>
> I'm also interested in OLAP. Does/Will a DBA need to know anything
> about OLAP? I like programming, but is having coding skills *usually*
> necessary to make DBA, or is it optional?
>
> Also, I'm not ashamed to say that I'm somewhat money-driven. I want
> to live comfortably but not by subjecting myself to a high-stress job,
> but a high-demand job instead. No brainer?
>
> Unfortunately, I don't have a mentor. So, if any of you nice people
> could describe to me some example scenarios of how to work my way into
> a DBA position, I would greatly appreciate it. Or, perhaps if you
> could tell me how you did it. Anything that would help enlighten the
> road ahead would be great.
>
> Thanks and have a great day,
>
> Al Johnson
>
>
Received on Thu Sep 18 1997 - 00:00:00 CDT