Re: Are Oracle DBAs trivialized?

Domenic wrote:

> I'd like everyone's thoughts on this ...
>
> More and more I am finding that the role of the Oracle DBA is not
> taken as seriously as it once was.
>
> Having worked for many software companies in the last few years I see
> the same pattern over and over -- most shops refuse to stay current
> with Oracle and patchsets -- they're still running 8i, don't want to
> use Oracle-specific features (clusters, IOTs, etc.) for fear it will
> lock them into Oracle, and let the developers model and write their
> own DDL.
>
> Most of the time I feel they only want a DBA to put out fires.
>
> Here are some recent examples ...
>
> - I had to pull teeth to get my current company to switch to RMAN.
>
> - I got laughed at for naming NOT NULL constraints in my CREATE TABLE
> scripts
>
> - I had a one of my designs tossed out because it had triggers,
> clusters, and deferrable FK constraints in it.
>
> - I have been telling management for almost a year to get off 8i --
> falls on deaf ears of course
>
> - I get apps tossed at me with hundreds of poorly written queries
> (correlated subqueries everywhere, NOT EXISTS, etc.) that I have to
> rewrite for speed.
>
> - I get crap from the UNIX SAs at just the thought using 10g ASM when
> we finally upgrade, by that time Oracle 13 will be out.
>
> - I have developers who commit every SQL statement and throw highly
> denormalized tables at me, but management still feels they should NOT
> have to come to me to get a table designed.
>
> - HA requirements but they refuse to use RAC or Data Guard.
>
> This is not just my current company, but they all seem to be the same
> lately. It seems that the Java shops operate this way more than
> anyone else -- very hostile attitude towards Oracle and DBAs in
> general.
>
> Is it just me, or does this go on everywhere?
>
> Domenic.

I'm going to take an admittedly contoversial approach to answering your inquiry expecting others to throw a match at the gasoline I am sloshing about. Here goes:

Most DBAs are totally incompetent and deserve little if any respect.

They were, past tense, competent when they learned their trade with version 6.x or 7.x but they have not invested much effort in upgrading their skills since then. They have self-defined their job as install, manage users and schemas, patch, backup, and pray you don't have to restore. They haven't read the Net Services book since it was 700 pages which was a very long time, and more than 1000 new pages, ago.

They have not learned App Server.
They wouldn't know an ear file from a jar file. They have not learned RMAN
They have not learned DataGuard
They have not learned DBMS_XPLAN
They have not even learned to read a StatsPack.

We are in the same position as were physicians before they started policing their own ranks with certifications that had meaning and requirements for continuing education to maintain certification. So as our DBA community ages so does its skill set.

Now I didn't say all ... so keep your flames appropriate to the provocation. ;-)

-- 
Daniel A. Morgan
University of Washington
damorgan_at_x.washington.edu
(replace 'x' with 'u' to respond)