Re: Daniel morgan and other DBA's ur advice on oracle carrier path

> 1)DBA's becoming redundant
>

Just like any other position, it depends on wether your organization has a need for a full-time DBA. The workload for a DBA varies from company to company. Some companies have many full-time DBAs and others may have just one DBA wearing many hats.

> 2)Most shops adopting multiple DB's (postgre sql oracle,mysql
> sqlserver db2 etc)
>

That's true. People have different preferences depending on business needs, cost, or technical reasons.

> 3)Merging of the sys admin and the DBA roles in organisations
>

This is very common. None of the 4 DBA positions I have held in the past did not include other responsibilities, system administration and programming being the most common. I have not yet seen a DBA job requirement that does not contain skills other than database administration.

> 4)Market exepectations wherein sometimes the jobs demanding Java asp
> skills from DBA's
>

It is possible, but extensive Java experience as a requirement is not very common.

> 5)DBA's with knowledge of managing packaged applications like Baan SAP
> Peopelsoft etc or DW market
>

These are natural extentions of DBA responsibilities.

> I am from india and so my experiences are limited to the indian
> market..The indian market is very very demanding and they squeeze a
> lot from DBA's here.(cheap outsourcing you see dont have anyone to
> balme..thats what the market wants..who doesnt want to have huge
> profits)
>

Yep, when economy is bad, cost cutting is the only way to raise profits.

> My exp have been like this
>
> 1)sometimes the management has seen me sitting idle..so thy really
> think that they dont really need a DBA at all..and they can do away
> with DBA activites.maybe they think that everything can be done
> through OEM and GUI.
>

It would be risky to operate in OEM without basic understanding of the database. They need at least a part-time consultant if anything unexpected happens.

> 2)some interviews i attend they bluntly ask me that they need oracle
> DBA's with sybase or Db2 DBA knowledge too i am sometimes
> awestruck..so i was in two minds for a few days and then i started
> learning Db2 and sybase too atleast baby sit them.
>

You would want to be ready for that. This kind of positions make you valuable to the company.

> 3)many a times i have backed up as a sysdamin on digital unix sun and
> linux ssytems..just becoz management thought that they cannot afford a
> seperate sysadmin.
>

There is nothing wrong with that unless you want to limit yourself to a DBA role.

> 4)Again i see advt where the position is DBA but with java skills..at
> first i couldnt help stop laughin..many senior DBA"s i had talked to
> knwo perl not java..and again since i am money minded(who is not :-))i
> used to think is perl really worth a place in my resume..when the
> market demands java..
>

Market's demand for Java really has a lot to do with some big players pushing the technology. It may shift once people realize Java is not the best solution for every problem. Received on Wed Jan 21 2004 - 15:53:45 CST