Re: Seeking Advice

From: Paul Brewer <paul_at_paul.brewers.org.uk>
Date: Wed, 20 Nov 2002 22:46:21 -0000
Message-ID: <3ddc287f_3@mk-nntp-1.news.uk.worldonline.com>

"Joel Garry" <joel-garry_at_home.com> wrote in message news:91884734.0211181605.22b58693_at_posting.google.com...
> Daniel Morgan <dmorgan_at_exesolutions.com> wrote in message
news:<3DD91433.937ED2EC_at_exesolutions.com>...
> > Adrian Carlson-Hedges wrote:
> >
> > > I have been a DBA for about 5 years. During that time I have gone from
> > > looking after 1 small Oracle database (~200Mb) on a reasonably
powerful
> > > machine, to looking after 6 databases. (The largest being about 40Gb,
> > > and about 2-3 million new rows each day).
> > >
> > > When people talk about a 5 year DBA with 1 or 2 years experience, I
look
> > > at myself, and can see more or less where they are coming from. I have
> > > never had to deal with a serious failure. (At the worst, I have had to
> > > replace broken disks, but they were part of a RAID (1 or 5) anyway). I
> > > have tested recovery by deliberately breaking test databases. However
> > > when you know exactly what's broken it's usually fairly easy to fix it
> > > as well.
> > >
> > > I have dabbled in replication using snapshots, snapshot logs, and
> > > refresh groups. I later decided that this wasn't appropriate for the
> > > task for which I was using it. I have implemented partitioning on my
> > > 40Gb database (It's actually a 28 day rolling window. The data is
> > > financial price ticks (shares, exchange rates etc), and is only really
> > > useful for a week or 3, so it's thrown away after that.) I have
upgraded
> > > 7.3 to 8i. I have installed, and used WebDB, and to a much lesser
extent
> > > portal. I have used import, export, sqlldr, and dabbled with an Oracle
> > > names server.
> > >
> > > I have taken 3 of the 5 8i DBA OCP exams. I picked the exams that I
was
> > > confident of passing without having to spend more than a day studying.
> > > (The study was to check to see what was expected for each exam.
Although
> > > I don't want to rekindle the argument over what the OCP is worth)
> > >
> > > I would say that I have a reasonably broad, but not necessarily deep
> > > knowledge of IT. I started out originally on a helpdesk doing support,
I
> > > have done some development in VB, and Java, and even briefly dabbled
in
> > > forms. I have a reasonable understanding of TCP/IP, and networks in
> > > general. Before moving into IT, I was a data analyst, looking at
> > > financial data. (I wrote a lot of queries against sybase databases)
> > >
> > > My role is not as a pure DBA, I am often involved in various
> > > development, and support tasks varying from creating a VB macro in
excel
> > > to speed up a task for a data analyst, through to planning, writing,
and
> > > implementing the migration of legacy data from 3 data sources into a
new
> > > data model on a single database. (About 4Gb of data)
> > >
> > > I would like to pursue a career that is more geared towards a DBA
role.
> > > All of my current databases run on Windows NT/2K. With my history in
> > > support, I am more than happy with my understanding of NT/2K
> > > architecture. For my next move however It is likely that I will need
to
> > > support Oracle on platforms other than windows. What advice would you
> > > give me regards my future career progression? I am looking to get hold
> > > of a copy of Red Hat 8 professional, and I will be installing Oracle
on
> > > this to play, and learn. (Yes, before anyone points it out, I know
that
> > > only Red Hat advanced server is supported, and not professional.) :-)
> > >
> > > Will learning redhat linux give me a good enough understanding to be
> > > able to apply that knowledge to other flavours of linux, or even unix?
> > > What other areas do you think I should be looking into?
> > >
> > > If you were an employer looking for a DBA, what sort of level job do
you
> > > think I would be suitable for?
> > >
> > > Thanks for getting this far, and I look forward to any/all responses.
> > >
> > > Adrian
> > >
> > > --
> > > Adrian Carlson-Hedges
> >
> > I think you are moving in the right direction. Personally I'd go to eBay
and
> > get a Sparc 5 with Solaris 2.8 (around $500 last time I got one) but
Linux
> > will get you there as well. My preference for Solaris or HP/UX is just
that
> > they are more marketable.
> >
> > Daniel Morgan

>

> I also think you are moving in the right direction, with the caveat
> that most jobs are not pure DBA (and pure DBA jobs are getting, well,
> less pure), so you might work to your strength, the combination of
> financials and DBA. In other words, what you are doing now. Unless,
> of course, you have a clear goal otherwise.

>

> As far as Daniel's suggestion, Solaris or HP/UX _paid experience_ is
> more marketable, but actually having your own box may be more
> impressive to a manager who is seeking someone knowledgeable. By that
> I mean, it won't impress the HR filtering droids, so be aware of who
> you want to impress and why. Every kid coming out of high school has
> a linux box (well, we can hope), so you may want to differentiate
> yourself from them.

>

> jg
> --
> @home is bogus
> Linux users sue to get Windows refunds, lose.

If it were up to me (it isn't, but I advise), I'd offer Adrian a job (in fact I responded privately to his original posting), on the grounds of his honesty and his attitude.

Unfortunately, he lives too far away for us (he is in the South West corner of England; we are in the South East corner).

I sincerely believe that anyone who hires him will never look back.

Regards,
Paul Received on Wed Nov 20 2002 - 16:46:21 CST