Senior MS SQL Server DBA , Alexandria, VA
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There is a Senior MS SQL Server DBA position open in Alexandria, VA.. Applicants must have three years of experience and must have extreme skills
(don't bother applying if you are mediocre because you will get destroyed in the technical interview). We have over 100 ms sql servers, 1000 databases, and manage many terabyte databases, and we are growing; hence if you are slacker do not consider this job. The environment is young, intense, and competitive. If you don't work hard, smart,
and long hours you will not succeed in this environment. If you are a DBA with 10-20 years experience and think past achievements will substitute for hard work, think again, this is not a banking or government job; you will be ask to stand and deliver every minute of every day. This a 24X7 operation and you will be required to be oncall, when you are oncall
you will not be able to leave town, get drunk, etc., i.e. you must be available 24X7.
The candidates our HR has presented to us in the past were so weak the we (DBA group) have taken upon ourselves to find the player who has the game to play on our team. If
you have the skills send your resume to: sqlserverproexpert@hotmail.com
We will review the resume and sent it to our HR if we think you have the talent.
PS. Our company will not pay for relocation. The candidate will be required to have an in person technical interview and travel to the interview will not be paid for.
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What a professional advertisement and first impression of your "company."
Be great!
Michael
Be great!
Michael -
Well, he is honest
quote:
What a professional advertisement and first impression of your "company."Check this out http://dbforums.com/t803315.html
Cheers,
Frank
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Frank Kalis
Microsoft SQL Server MVP
Webmaster: http://www.insidesql.org/blogs
My blog: http://www.insidesql.org/blogs/frankkalis/[/url] -
quote:
PS. Our company will not pay for relocation. The candidate will be required to have an in person technical interview and travel to the interview will not be paid for.With this sort of position on interviews and based on the amount of 'tude in the post, I can understand why they are having so much trouble finding top notch talent. They've basically restricted themselves to candidates in the DC area. The 'tude comes across as extremely unprofessional (puns intended). Therefore most seniors would look elsewhere.
K. Brian Kelley
http://www.truthsolutions.com/
Author: Start to Finish Guide to SQL Server Performance Monitoring
http://www.netimpress.com/shop/product.asp?ProductID=NI-SQL1
K. Brian Kelley
@kbriankelley -
I live in Alexandria, have 30 years of hands-on IT experience, including 10 as an Oracle DBA and 5 as a SQL Server DBA.
Fortunately, I currently have a very good DBA position. But, if I were looking, this posting would turn me off. Sounds like they are looking for peons, not professionals.
Hard work is one thing, "young, intensive, and competitive" is OK, but the general tenor of their workplace sounds outright abusive.
Edited by - yellowlark on 06/03/2003 12:04:40 PM
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First let us start out by saying....
> If you are an expert DBA that was offended by this post then we apologize.
> If you are a novice DBA that applies for every job that has SQLServer listed in the posting this was meant to discourage you.
The initial posting probably sounded arrogant and harsh but our goal was to discourage non-DBA professionals from replying. This post was written by the DBA team, not the manger of the DBA team or the HR department. We were discouraged by the quality of candidates that applied to our "professional" post from our HR department. We figured we would try this "un-professional" approach as we could only do better. We were trying to write a post that we might have applied to, and at the same time scare away any novice DBA's.
Let us clarify, this job is not a "sweat shop" as some people might think. Do we work 80hrs a week? No. Do we work 50-60 hours a week, yes sometimes we do. (Let us know of a successful company that all the employees only work 40hours a week every week) What we do not want is a Fred Flintstone that rolls out the door after his\her 8 hour day everyday regardless of what is going on. Do we expect a new hire to put in extra time when they are first hired to get themselves up to speed......maybe....., If the new hire is an absolute genius I am sure they would be able to work only 8 hours and get things done.
Again sorry if you are offended but we want to find the right person, our HR posted the opening on the popular job websites and newspapers for 2 months, we received thousands of resumes but unfortunately most lied about there experience and qualifications and barely had any skills (e.g. did not know what an index or join was).
Our team has been frustrated by this process and the initial posting reflects this; we only want serious DBA candidates and we are not ashamed of it. All of us enjoy working here, and we want to ensure we get a candidate that has the skills and more importantly the motivation to succeed. For those who really need the work and have the skills then send us your resume. The work environment is actually a lot of fun, the pay is good, and you will be working for a publicly traded company with 99.9% name recognition in the IT field. The work is exciting and cutting edge. The candidate needs some production experience, we only judge you by your skills and willingness to work (we are not requiring 20 years of experience).
We do not expect the candidates to have the entire inner workings of SQLServer memorized, but we do want the candidates to have a general idea of how SQLServer works. SQLServer is at the point where an average user can manage simple tasks. Managing standard backup plans and index maintenance can be simple with the maintenance wizard. These wizards do not work in all circumstances and using these tools do not make a person a database "Expert".
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Thanks for the detailed reply.
I can certainly appreciate where you are coming from.
Actually, the additional facts and your desire to be clearly understood make your firm look attractive. Good Luck.
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Well, I live in Arlington and while I have the work ethic to work for your company, I probably don't have the experience. I've been with a startup since 98, I've gone from Software Engineer to supervisor to now being a DBA. I'm currently on call 24/7 and work at least 50 hour weeks. I've had 3 years SQL Server experience but most of it as a developer. I've only been the DBA for about 6 months. I'm in the process of being certified but I don't see that being a hurdle. If you have troubles finding anyone I'd like to hear from you.
Darren
Darren
Darren -
ps - Can you send me info. on your company? Website or something?
Darren
Darren -
Well, different approaches for different folks. I actually like this approach. Talk hard and weed out anyone not really interested. Even if the environment is hard like they say (and many are like that), a little extra hard talk to weed out the candidates never hurt.
If I was in the market I would be sending my resume to them.
David
David
@SQLTentmaker“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose” - Jim Elliot
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If I were interested and I read the post, I'd be turned off. It sounds like they want everything and don't want to give anything. The explanation given later is much more thought out and makes sense. Of course, that is what every employer really wants.
It sounds like an interesting job, but I have to say that not giving relocation really if a poor idea. What's $10k if you get the right hire? It's a pittance.
Steve Jones
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This company is clear. They are trying to make their expectations explicit. They want a strong professional and haven't found one. So I agree with Steve. Perhaps they should consider relocations. A reasonable compromise might be this.
Give everyone (including locals) a brief phone interview including a short qualification test commensurate with the skill level sought . In 10 short answer questions, both sides should be able to determine whether the fit might be right. Those performing acceptably can be invited for a personal interview. Either party may decide this is not the right fit and avoid any further outlay of time.
For out of town applicants, reasonable travel expenses for the interview should be reimbursed, as should relocation. That way, the professional they seek might be enticed to apply.
Larry Ansley
Larry Ansley
Atlanta, GA -
I would also agree on the relocation and the travel to the site for the interview. If a phone interview went well and they felt there was a strong potential for a fit then at least split the airfare.
On another note though I recently went through a search for a quality SQL Server person in my area and ended up recruiting an Oracle guy from another state and converting him (he worked out extremely well). Just my opinion but I think that the lack of experienced SQL Server DBA's is going to be the hardest thing for MS to overcome in getting the number 1 market share.
David
David
@SQLTentmaker“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose” - Jim Elliot
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Hi all,
quote:
Just my opinion but I think that the lack of experienced SQL Server DBA's is going to be the hardest thing for MS to overcome in getting the number 1 market share.just out of personal interest. It seems that SQL Server is far more often used in the USA than say in Germany. Is there really a massive lack of experienced DBA's? And how is 'experienced' defined? Are you always looking for a DBA that knows everything right from the start, or are there also chances for someone who does not know everything (who does?) but has a strong desire to learn to grow with his job challenges?
Cheers,
Frank
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Frank Kalis
Microsoft SQL Server MVP
Webmaster: http://www.insidesql.org/blogs
My blog: http://www.insidesql.org/blogs/frankkalis/[/url] -
Frank,
I can only speak for myself and I would say I could be looking for both. There are some times when it would not be fair to bring along an inexperienced DBA into a position where you know the requirements are going to be demanding from day 1. Additionally there are times when you have the opportunity to bring someone in with a little experience or a good attitude and a teachable mind. I have seen both scenarios and have recommended the hiring of both types of people.
As for my commment about the lack of "experienced" SQL Server DBA's, this is just something that I have seen. There are people out there with experience but when you get down to the specifics, the skills are just not there. Not sure why. My guess is that many learn through Enterprise Manager and never learn the fundamentals of database administration, scripting, tuning, etc. Ultimately the tools are there to get them 80% and that is good enough for them. Maybe the ultimate issue is the lack of drive to understand the workings and the processing behind the engine, etc. I don't know.
You can say "this guy must be picky" and you may be right. Well.... actually you are right.
Sorry for the long response. If you would like more details, feel free to email me directly as I'm sure this job posting is probably not the place for this discussion (even though it is a good one).
Thanks.
David
David
@SQLTentmaker“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose” - Jim Elliot
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