Re: Are Oracle DBAs trivialized?

Tim X wrote:
> DA Morgan <damorgan_at_x.washington.edu> writes:
>
> >
> > So is partitioning option. But any DBA that doesn't have EE
installed
> > on a machine at home, or a laptop so that they can study the
technology
> > is not doing their job. To return to my physician analogy ... you
don't
> > learn about neurosurgery after the patient is on the gurney.
>
> I think this is quite a valid point. Many years ago, it was difficult
> to get a platform you could run at home and 'play' with to learn your
> trade - desktop machines were not up to it and often you couldn't get
> a version which would run on something an individual could afford.

How many years are you talking? In the 80's, most of the _serious_ people I knew were buying non-pc platforms. I bought my first PDP in '83. Through the decades, I've seen people buy Vaxen, Sun and so forth, for personal pleasure and/or growth. It seems to be pretty constant at around $3K (or less, for the lucky trash-diggers). Even now, if you include some decent backup on a PC, it will cost near that much - and how many people buy networks and multiple computers these days?

>
> However, these days, therre is just no excuse - between windows and
> linux, there is little you cannot run at home on a PC - even so
called
> 'enterprise editions'.
>
> Personally, I just don't understand the resistance some have to
> learning 'out of hours' - while I argued earlier in this thread that
> management needs to invest more in the training etc, I still strongly
> believe that as a professional, you have a responsability to keep 'up
> to speed' yourself - if for no other reason thatn to make sure you
> keep your employment options open.

It implies worker abuse. How many developers have you known in a 60-100hr/wk death march - on salary? Companies that don't allow for work-time growth and education, time off, pay for actual hours worked, are rewarded with "increased productivity." And that's with some laws against such abuse! Imagine what an unfettered (read: "slave") market would do. Maybe it's different in your area.

>
> When working as a developer and when working in the DBA area, I
always
> made sure I had an environment at home which was as far as possible a
> mirror of my work environment - I would use this as a place to learn,
> experiment and try out new ideas.

Gave up on that a long time ago. I figure I've saved $1500/year simply by becoming a cheap curmudgeon and getting cable. I also don't want to compete with high school kids or offshoring. If the database isn't big/concurrent/specialized enough to not work in some kiddiedb, I don't have much interest in it. And if it is that specialized, it probably has some licensing issues that won't allow running at home. (I admit it, I want a cool new computer, parts of my frankenpc date to the '80s).

jg

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