Re: broad discussion about future market direction for DBA

25 Nov 2002 03:14:26 -0800, grjohnson said (and I quote):
>
> Write about it.... well, I don't think anyone we'll be seeing a book
> out on this one.

Wanna bet? ;)

>
> Small cases...true, but whilst the technology is there and is suited
> to the application, why not utilise it.

No problem here. Technology is to be used where needed. Not as the purpose and end of all things.

That is my only "bone" with all this XML bandwagon: it's being pushed as the "final solution". For a problem that never existed.

>
> What is "mainstream" nodays in the DBA market? I feel a DBA's role is
> slowly digressing from the Norm.
>

IMHO, YMMV, no-animals-harmed-in-testing-these-products, etc:

there are two main stream roles for DBAs. And these have been there since the very start:

• Production DBA. Takes care of the day-to-day running of a production environment. Solves (or attempts to) its specific problems.
• Development DBA. Takes care of advising developers on best techniques. Advises on proper use of the product, etc. Solves (or attempts to) the problems *before* they become specific.

And that's it in a nutshell. Anything else is just special cases of these two.

Note that I refuse to class Database Design work as DBA work. The two should not be related, although unfortunately most often they are.

Doesn't mean there aren't people capable of doing both...

-- 
Cheers
Nuno Souto
nsouto_at_optusnet.com.au.nospam