Re: How Does One Become a DBA?

For a couple hundred bucks, you might want to join the Oracle Developers Programme (sic). You get a wad of 60-day trial CDs and access to the Oracle developer web pages.

Dan Clamage wrote:

> 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