Xref: alice comp.databases:37852 comp.databases.oracle.server:56331 comp.databases.oracle.tools:27890 Path: alice!news-feed.fnsi.net!netnews.com!feed1.news.rcn.net!rcn!news.maxwell.syr.edu!nntp2.deja.com!nnrp1.deja.com!not-for-mail From: Oliver Willandsen Newsgroups: comp.databases,comp.databases.oracle.server,comp.databases.oracle.tools Subject: Re: What is a better career? HELP ME Date: Wed, 07 Jul 1999 11:58:57 GMT Organization: Deja.com - Share what you know. Learn what you don't. Lines: 110 Message-ID: <7lvfds$ali$1@nnrp1.deja.com> References: <7lnvvj$i99$1@news1.mpx.com.au> <378289CC.CDE545E5@exesolutions.com> <7lv41v$eod$1@taliesin.netcom.net.uk> X-Article-Creation-Date: Wed Jul 07 11:58:57 1999 GMT X-Http-User-Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 5.0; Windows NT; DigExt) X-Http-Proxy: 1.0 x36.deja.com:80 (Squid/1.1.22) for client 158.169.131.32 In article <7lv41v$eod$1@taliesin.netcom.net.uk>, "Alex" wrote: > > Daniel A. Morgan wrote in message <378289CC.CDE545E5@exesolutions.com>... > >> I am going to look for a job to do with Oracle. Basically I have two > choice: > >> to be an Oracle DBA or Oracle application developer. > > > >I would urge you to aim toward developer. From my experience you can not be > a > >good DBA without that background under your belt. DBAs that have never been > >developers are not as valuable to their employer and are not as able to > >understand development issues and work cooperatively with developers. > > IMHO that is a statement which requires a rather strong reply - RUBBISH! > > As you say below there are 3 types of DBA. My background is in engineering > and I have a very good understanding of the way computer systems work and > perform - unlike developers who only understand how their code works (if at > all). Well - I suppose one could return the favour here and apply your choice of word to reply to that last statement of yours - but I'll refrain :-) I suggest it depends very much on the sort of developer we're talking about - not all engineers make good developers or DBAs either - and not all developers have started out using Visual Bullshit either - some actually do have post-graduate qualifications in computing, some are engineers. Having both DBAs and developers work for me I tend to encourage both to acquire a basic level of competence in the other field. Developers who don't know much about how to optimize their code, because they don't know how the database works are as useless to us as DBAs who will always ty to tell developers how to develop because they can't be bothered to allocate resources accordingly. But in the end, the choice should really all come down to personal preference and enjoyment, rather than 'employability' - since both fields will actually have a large number of ( unfillable ) postions open for the foreseeable future. One thing to bear in mind, however, is that developers will need to be able to work in a team on all but the smallest projects, whereas DBAs tend to be more self-sufficient on all but the biggest sites, where they might be more than 1 DBA. We have 20 servers and a team of 2 LSAs and 2 DBAs who have to co-operate locally - the Commission as a whole has maybe 50-100 times as many, but they don't need to co-operate on a daily basis. > >That said there are basically three types of Oracle DBAs whose jobs are > >distinctively different. Their are DBAs that work on architecture and > almost > >never actually touch the product (most people would call them Data Base > >Architects). > > True > > There are development DBAs that work with product development > >teams. > > Also True > > And there are Production DBAs whose primary responsibility is acting like > >the Fire Department. > > Keeping the database up, resolving performance issues created by developers, > monitoring space issues created by Database Architects and the tasks below. > > They perform installs, backups, back-end optimization, and > >have umbilical chords attaching them to their pagers and cell phones. > > > >Daniel A. Morgan > > > > And yes, before you ask I have been in all 3 roles > > Regards > > Alex > > Regards -- Oliver Willandsen - [ European Commission - http://europa.eu.int ] All comments represent my own opinion and may not in any circumstance be regarded as stating an official position of the European Commission Email: oliver.willandsen@DIE_SPAM_DIEsg.cec.be ( remove the obvious ) Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ Share what you know. Learn what you don't.