Re: What Qualifications are need to be a DBA??

In article <bpuett-2008960009420001_at_news.interpath.net>, bpuett_at_interpath.com (Brad Puett) wrote:

> I ask this question, because I think I've got pretty good qualifications to
> be a DBA, but having never "officially" held a DBA job (and because I'm
> looking for one now in the Research Triangle Park, NC area (Hint! Hint!),
> I would like to know what other DBAs think those qualifications should be ....

[snip]

Well, it sounds like you have far more experience than I did when I stumbled into my current DBA position.

I have been in industry for over 9 years, and I have used RDBMSs for about 3 of those 9. My first exposure was all mainframe-based, primarily using DB2 and writing reports in NOMAD2. There wasn't a shred of DBA experience in there, though I did occasionally work closely with our DBA.

Then I moved to another department in June '95 and became the Unix sysadmin. At this time, I had (at least for the time being) left applications behind. A few months ago we started doing Oracle stuff, and I "inherited" the DBA and application developer role. (It's not terribly heavily used here; if it were, there's no way I could be DBA *and* app developer *and* sysadmin. There are only so many hours in a week.)

The point is...there's no way I would have been hired as a DBA by *anyone* except that those in my current project were desperate for one and needed *someone* to learn the ropes through the ol' school of hard knocks.

If your shop is large enough to break up the roles of system and database administration, a working knowledge of hardware is nice but not essential. If, like me, the DBA also has some system/network administration duties, that would come naturally over time. Rarely does a *pure* DBA need to deal with hardware.

Just the same, while it sounds like you have what it takes to be a DBA, there may not be many positions open for people with no DBA experience. Your best bet would be to look for an applications position where you have a chance, after demonstrating competence, responsibility and problem solving skills, to become a DBA there when the position becomes open after a period of time, say six months to three years or so. Quite often, the best way to break into the field of X is to be hired somewhere as a Y, with Y experience, only to be offered the X position later after you've established yourself in your current position.

-- 
Tim Irvin, HP-UX System Administrator / Oracle DBA
Lockheed Martin Missiles and Space, Sunnyvale, California
e-mail: irvin_at_lmsc.lockheed.com    voice:  (408) 742-0440
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