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

In article <bpuett-2008960009420001_at_news.interpath.net>, Brad Puett <bpuett_at_interpath.com> writes
>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 ....
>
>I can do *and* have done the following:
>
>* Minimum of 7 years of Oracle experience (includes DB2 experience, also).
>
>* *Extremely* Proficient in DDL and SQL (both 6.x and 7.x -- NOTE: only
> features I have not used of Oracle (excluding things
>like Forms, etc.)
> is packages, triggers and similar PL/SQL 7.x *new* features
>
>* physical table design (I've created several Data Bases, from 5
>-100 tables
> plus figured out how to copy databases from a
>"Production" environment
> to a "Development" environment *and* back (if needed)!!
>
>* load/unload utilities (That was the reason I was hired for my last job!)
>
>* backup/recovery utilities (Not only have used them several times, have
> even automated them for daily/weekly cron jobs; also
>have been
> there on several sleepless nights recovering crash
>databases!)
>
>* performance tuning (just did some of this in my last job (4 - 5
>months) --
> I'm not an *expert*, but I made several significant
>(i.e. affected Data
> Base in a Positive way) changes to the SGA
>
>Are there more skills / experience I need to pick up before "trying" for a
>job as a
>DBA? DO I need System Administration (read: Hardware) skills? (I'm pretty low
>in this area since, when problems arise, I think more "software" than
>"hardware"!!
>(Have "recovered" a system before ...)
>
>Any suggestions/ideas/"contructive critism" is welcomed!!!
>
- Are you good at thinking on your feet? - Can you convince someone you are a competent DBA, how about telling   them that although your official role was developer or whatever, you   are actually an all rounder and did the above tasks as well. - Do you feel confident that you can carry it off? - How will you advise people when they come to you with a problem that   you do not (yet) know the answer to?
- Are you comfortable with the details of free groups, synchronous   replication and SQL*Net setup for example? - Do you know which manual to look that awkward question up in.

I suspect personality and self confidence are as much a factor as the technical details of the job, and the ability to look confident, talk intelligently and learn quickly.

Good luck. By the way, it's much more comfortable as a developer concentrating on one problem hiding in your own corner than setting yourself up for criticism, why do you want to do it? I know, I've done both roles.

-- 
Chris Dipple, Production DBA, Royal Bank of Scotland