Re: Oracle DBA - Interesting job or not?

In article <3862A193.28BE_at_virgin.net>,
  sid.james_at_virgin.net wrote:
> What do you think? I know it's well paid, but is it enjoyable or
> rewarding. I'd love to hear your comments.
>
> Merry Christmas.
>
> Ed.
>

Greetings,

  If you enjoy solving puzzles and don't mind having to research the answers to your questions, then being a DBA might be a good choice for you.

  In a big shop, your duties may be strictly limited to installing and configuring the Oracle software, building databases, doing backups, performance tuning and monitoring, creating database objects such as tables, indexes and views, and answering programmer questions like, "how do I code the TO_CHAR in a SQL statement?".

  You might also be involved in data modelling and data diagramming - be prepared to sit in many meetings, arguing over whether a field should be 5 or 6 bytes in length! (ha)

  Of course, more and more companies are buying ERP packages like SAP, PeopleSoft and Oracle Financials - then, these decisions are made for you, and _you_ have to live with them. If you end up being the DBA for one of these packages, be prepared for user complaints about s-l-o-w query reponse time. You will find yourself getting into the black art of database tuning.

  In a smaller shop, you may find yourself being both the system administrator (UNIX and/or NT) AND the DBA. However, it _always_ helps, as the DBA, to know as much about the operating system as you can.

  Regards

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Before you buy. Received on Mon Dec 27 1999 - 16:22:08 CST