Re: Replies so far

In article <DDF2nz.Crt_at_txnews.amd.com>, darryl snedeker <darryl.snedeker_at_amd.com> writes:

>My last employer classified me as their 'Oracle Guy'. I did soup-to-nuts
>Oracle development work. You name the Oracle product, VMS utility, 3GL
>language, I had my gritty hands into it. As a consequence of having managed
>development projects, I acquired many DBA skills as well. But one thing you
>won't find are people going beyond the call of duty.
>
>On average, an individual will look up or reference only what is necessary to
>fullfill the objectives of an assignment. My objectives were different as I
>wanted to be a DBA. I understood that begin a DBA is not a level above
>programming, but rather a type of work which ran parallel to programming just
>as I would consider System's administrators to be a type of programmer. While
>the programmers' clay may be the 'C' language, a system's guy language being
>Solaris, my expertise now lies with understanding the Oracle RDBMS.
>
>My sole responsibility is to administrate a 500Gb world-wide implementation of
>Oracle. This responsibility goes well beyond creating objects, datafiles, or
>jumping on the fragmentation-panic bandwagon. The challenges of my job keep
>me busy 60+ hours a week. And when another IS professional whines about
>alledged disparities in pay, I remind the individual that I am the person who
>is taken from his family in the middle of the morning, day, or evening
>when a F*^*&ing device failure occurs. Incidentally, I have well over 300 of
>these buggers and believe it or not, they do fail.
>
>Lastly, I don't know the nature of your shop, but I will say that I work with
>some of the most skilled applications developers and programmers in the
>commercial industry. I also recognize that I would not have the challenges
>before me today without having the talent around me. These individuals
>recognize my contribution as quite valuable and I intend on remaining valuable
>by sharing what I do know with those who do not and proving the pessimists
>wrong.
>
>Your tone seems indicative of a person who does no coexist with such talent
>and this would be my only critical remark of you as a professional in that the
>DBA's or programmers should have enough time on their hands where they sit
>around, comparing pay stubs, comparing responsibilities and then make the
>crucial mistake of applying the shortcomings of their shop to the industry as
>a whole. Not a good thing.
>
>-D
Have your read my original post? If so, then hopefully you can understand why I wrote what I did. The second post was titled “Replies so far” and not “Here is what a DBA is take it or leave it”. I in no way mentioned that my statements applied to the industry as a whole. My views were based on the replies I read to that point. You questioned my reply and I question yours as having a cynical tone to it as well.

In case you missed the responses to my original post...Highlights...

“Years of experience do not necessarily qualify anyone to be a DBA. ... A background in relational databases is important, but six months of programming would be enough for some people. More important, to me, would be evidence of organizational ability and leadership...” -Tim

“A programmer with 10 years of experience is not a DBA just as a DBA with 10 years experience is not a programmer. ... You do not become a DBA through Programming experience, or vice-versa.” -Peter

“You are confusing two separate jobs...you may as well ask how much experience a programmer needs before he can fly a jumbo jet. NOW THEN...there are some people who *can* do both jobs...and some ...are *required* to do both jobs but they are still separate skills...” -Simon

“I was thrust into an Oracle DBA position in my last job with zero training.” - Mike

[go get some liquid, I’m not done...]

So what was wrong with my “definitions” based on those replies? It was in no way the final definition or applied to the industry as a whole.

With that said, there appears to be no definition set in stone. What I mean that a role of the DBA depends on the situation. A DBA at one company may be a Senior Programmer at another company. Books may define the role but companies may interrupt the role as they see it needs to be. I do cautiously apply this statement to the industry as a whole. See David T Bath's response as an example.

My original post was to see what makes a DBA. I asked it from the programmer perspective since the DBA’s I have known were programmers for n years and eventually became DBAs. I was working toward that goal and then the company hired a guy right out of college and 6 months later he’s the DBA of a new project. They are sending him to classes and asked me and the other programmers to help him with any questions he has. Something just didn’t seem right and I thought I missed something.

In closing, I do not sit around comparing pay stubs that is very materialistic and insipid. And the amount of someone’s pay in no way reflects their knowledge...just look at our government and elsewhere.

Comparing responsibilities, you have never questioned, in your career, what your responsibilities are or wondered how your role would be defined elsewhere? You seem too intelligent to be that gullible.

As far as time on my hands, I access the net and news during the day only during my 30 minute lunch hour and at night, from my own system, on my own time when I am not working as a part-time consultant.

Programmers are also called whenever a problem occurs no matter what the time it happens to be and profanity in any form either literal or with _at_#$%^ is not very professional. And I do go beyond the call of duty whether required or not because I do have pride in my work. I also understand that I will never know everything and will always be learning and that sacrifices have to be made sometimes to move forward.

Thanks for lasting this long. Received on Thu Aug 17 1995 - 00:00:00 CEST