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Home -> Community -> Usenet -> c.d.o.misc -> Re: Curious Graduating Student
In article <6gotos$ft7$1_at_okra.negia.net>,
James Naftel <naftel_at_negia.net> wrote:
>Hello,
> I am graduating w/ a CS degree in a couple of months. I'm not real sure
>what direction to head, since the computer industry is so large. In my
>degree databases haven't really been stressed. In fact my first database
>class is this quarter. I have worked w/database platforms for about 2
>years(mainly Visual FoxPro(don't laugh)) at a small consulting firm. I
>enjoy the designing phase the most. I'm just curious about what
>responsibilites a DBA might have, or what other areas people find
One must know the basics of relational theory, of course. Beyond that, there's a whole world out there. Classically, DBA's have been more experienced, having worked their way up through perhaps programming and analysis positions. More recently, especially in the Oracle world, it has been a profession in its own right, mostly IMO because it has been so manually intensive - Oracle can be very complex in some environments. Oracle is still a little complicated even in the PC environments - this can upset people coming from more PC oriented dbs.
The IOUG (users group) puts on conferences dedicated to sharing technical information. You can get the cd's they put out from their bookstore. There are papers ranging from novice to highly advanced - I find something useful in every cd, well worth $50-$75. Several have had papers of the form "What is a DBA?" One paper divides DBA's into two groups: systems, who emphasize general ops and performance, and applications, who work closely with apps developers. Some tasks: Install & verify Oracle, test, work with O support on problems, licensing issues, determine and allocate disk space, backups and recovery implementation, monitor and tune db peformance, evaluate tools, assist developers with design issues, security, standards, and coordinate upgrades. In smaller shops, all that and programming too. I personally find this very rewarding, both monetarily and in job satisfaction. There is a downside too, mostly related to incorrect expectations, to the point of being a running joke among DBA's that you will be blamed for everything.
>interesting? Also, most database jobs seem to require prior experience on
>that platform. Oracle would be the platform of choice for me, but it's hard
>to get much experience w/ oracle, since I can't really afford a UNIX server
>and an oracle license(at least my wife says i can't). Can anyone make any
>suggestion on getting a foot in the door(what type of job would one start
>out doing)? Any other ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
The foot in the door is having a skill in one of the hot languages. Once you actually start working you probably will have a zillion opportunities to move in many directions. Many jobs wind up being quite different from what they are advertised to be, and most are what you make of them.
>
>
>Thanks for your time.
>
>James Naftel
>naftel_at_negia.net
>
>
>
--
These opinions are my own and not necessarily those of Information Quest
jgarry@eiq.com http://www.informationquest.comhttp://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/joel_garry "See your DBA?" I AM the @#%*& DBA! Received on Wed Apr 15 1998 - 14:25:52 CDT
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