Re: To be or not to be a DBA

"Howard J. Rogers" <hjr_at_dizwell.com> wrote in message news:<402bea96$0$19707$afc38c87_at_news.optusnet.com.au>...
> "Santhosh Kumar" <brsanthu_at_yahoo.com> wrote in message
> news:9daf2a44.0402121001.dc61fdf_at_posting.google.com...
> > Hi All,
> >
> > I have been working in this industry for more than 6 years and have
> > good experience in J2ee (Design and development) and Oracle
> > (development and dev admin) (lots other like vb and c++, although they
> > are not my primary skills).
> >
> > I had always been curious about Oracle and wanted to know in detail
> > about the same. So around one and half years back, I took the
> > certification and completed 8i recently. I started mere out of
> > curiosity but learned a lot in detail at the end of whole process. Now
> > I'm thinking, as I have completed the cert and also have good amount
> > of knowledge in Oracle administration, to get into the DBA profession.
> > As everybody else, obviously I'm looking for some lucrative career.
> >
> > Any suggestions are welcome regd,
> > 1. Whether to get into the dba profession or not
> > 2. Is dba is any lucrative career than J2ee architecture and design?
> > 3. Or any other thoughts you have regd this
> >
> > Santhosh.
>
>

I agree with everything hjr and Daniel said, with the below exceptions.

> Strikes me that the DBA job as it has been traditionally thought of is a
> dead-end. Someone who can do a bit of database maintenance, but in the
> meantime develop, debug and document, is likely more the way of the future.
> J2EE is a 'hot' technology (whether that's a good thing or not is another
> question) and is/will be in some demand.
>
> A developer that can't administer (or at least understand how to), is
> probably not a particularly good developer. A DBA that can't develop is
> likely going to be out of a job sometime soon.

I've seen some very good developers who can't administer, and don't seem too interested in understanding. As long as there is someone who can, that is not a problem. The real problem comes when a developer who could be good doesn't understand administration (because, hey, create table is in sql, right?) and craps up the db. But that is usually an attitude problem more than anything else.

I want to disagree about the dba who can't develop, but am unable to. However, I have been solicited for AS administration jobs, and can easily see them as being full-time administration. I would guess they expect super-development on top of that, though.

>
> None of it is particularly lucrative these days, because there are vast
> hoardes of people who will do the work for very much cheaper than you could
> probably afford to do it, even if they are located several thousand
> kilometres off-shore. The days of the hot-shot DBA commanding six figure
> salaries (if they really ever existed) are genuinely no more.

Not only have they existed, I was one, and know of several who made three times what I do for years on end. And some (not the 3X ones AFAIK) are still there.

I still command the salary, still do dba work, just don't call myself a dba because my customers don't understand the concept. It would be nice if I could dictate to them what I do, because I often see things that could benefit, but if they don't take my suggestions (ie, "can we _please_ use LMT?") because they are paying me the same money to do something else they consider more important, that's fine with me. They eventually come around to the necessary maintenance as part of some upgrade.

As far as the offshore thing, I've been more impacted by the dotcom oversupply so far. Management in many places want to see a body plunking away.

Santhosh, consider getting into project management. We all joke about PHB's, but you should seriously consider it if you can acquire the skills. It's both growing and may allow you to use your dba skills as a lead.

>
> Regards
> HJR
jg

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