Re: Can I, too, become an overpaid Oracle DBA

hpuxrac pretty much nailed it, marketing uber alles. _That_ is Burleson's genius, he's the PT Barnum of the dba consulting sphere. I went to one of his and the Colonel's lectures at OpenWorld, and I didn't think he was near as bad as some others have said, as far as disseminating incorrect information at that time. But I also saw him attempting to put himself up there with Kyte et al, and that just looked feeb. However, it was a pretty big room apparently full of mid-level DBA's, and I'm sure he got more business from them, not to mention selling some books.

Hotsos isn't entirely free of marketing and a "you are with us or against us" mentality, either. I've personally seen one of them put down another authors' book without having done more than leaf through it, apparently unaware that Kyte was a technical reviewer. And really, the first part of Milsap's book is justification for the marketing. I think it just plain misses a lot of things wrong with databases, by putting too much emphasis on business justification without a priori technical analysis.

Now, as far as billing rates, I once saw an entire dba group get sucked out of Oracle consulting, with the people getting a big chunk of the difference between what Oracle took and the subsequent employer. Sometimes, it ain't what you know, but who you know. For the high dollar stuff, that may be most times.

One also must remember, it is difficult to get that $550/hr for 40 hours a week for years on end. The only way to do that is to get a big chunk of a bunch of other consultants rates. Now you know why all those idiot headhunters are always calling with completely left-field jobs.

Between Larry, Rich, Don and the dot-bomb, the low-hanging fruit is gone. You can try selling a concept to corporate customers, but it's a hard sell. One guy and a web site can't really do much. One thing I've noticed, though - sometimes us oldtimers can't find anything at cheap rates, but can find things at expensive rates. I've given up being a DBA, I'm a Database Consultant, just like I was 20 years ago.

As far as writing a book - if you really press them, most authors aside from the most famous say the net pay was pretty low. I think a big part of Don's problem is he cranks out too much, leading to watered down tips and, as has been shown elsewhere, error, and even lies. But I'm sure the IRS loves him. And that is literally the bottom line in business.

jg

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