August 10, 2016 at 11:37 am
Do you give him/her a daily tasks to todo? How do you manage them? please help.
August 10, 2016 at 12:19 pm
S7 (8/10/2016)
Do you give him/her a daily tasks to todo? How do you manage them? please help.
Depends on what kind of DBA (operations, application, all of the above), how junior they are and why they were hired. Can you provide more details?
-- Itzik Ben-Gan 2001
August 10, 2016 at 12:21 pm
What's a Junior DBA? Sorry, I am the ONLY DBA in our company apparently even though I have seen advertisements for DBA positions at different sites in the US.
August 10, 2016 at 12:30 pm
A Jr. DBA is anyone other than a Sr. DBA who is a member of SYSADMIN role. :satisfied:
"Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho
August 10, 2016 at 12:33 pm
Thanks, Operational dba. The person didn't have a dba background but came from application support. I'm a senior DBA and the person was hired to help me. Doesn't report to me but I am responsible to provide things to do. The person seems to be waiting for me to give him things to work on. But, there are many things that can be done and i'm usually swamped with different tasks. I find myself struggling to manage the person and the person has been employed for over a year now.
August 10, 2016 at 12:35 pm
Junior DBA could also be an entry level DBA.
August 10, 2016 at 12:52 pm
The senior dba is someone other than me, though i do not like being thought of as the 'junior'. I'm the 'other dba', lol. Basically my background is much more development heavy, and the things i tend to be faster at are the weird 'move and transform the data' tasks while the senior dba is better at the sysadmin maintenance & setup tasks. So i tend to get most of the ETL design and setup, and the other person gets to stand up new servers. We cross over a lot and cross train each other a lot. We manage a KB between us so both parties are informed about obscure things unique to the enterprise.
So my question is, what is this person good at? What gap can they fill in? It would seem that the answer to that would help determine which tasks go their way.
August 10, 2016 at 1:08 pm
S7 (8/10/2016)
Thanks, Operational dba. The person didn't have a dba background but came from application support. I'm a senior DBA and the person was hired to help me. Doesn't report to me but I am responsible to provide things to do. The person seems to be waiting for me to give him things to work on. But, there are many things that can be done and i'm usually swamped with different tasks. I find myself struggling to manage the person and the person has been employed for over a year now.
First, define the scope of roles, responsibilities, and tasks for your team, and then it will be easier to delegate. Also, have a daily standup meeting, even if it's just you and the other DBA, and use something like a Kanban whiteboard or app to keep track who is doing what each week.
"Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho
August 11, 2016 at 2:09 am
This post by Kendra Little may or may not help to define what tasks to assign to your Junior DBA, I found it quite useful. Perhaps find out what the Junior DBA is already competent in, you could use the list on Kendra's blog, and delegate some tasks to them that way? Also as they're Junior they're in a position to learn so maybe get them to shadow/assist you with some of the Senior things? - for when your away/on Annual Leave etc.
http://www.littlekendra.com/2016/04/26/whats-the-difference-between-a-junior-and-senior-dba/
Hope that helps. 🙂
August 11, 2016 at 8:26 am
chris.jess (8/11/2016)
This post by Kendra Little may or may not help to define what tasks to assign to your Junior DBA, I found it quite useful. Perhaps find out what the Junior DBA is already competent in, you could use the list on Kendra's blog, and delegate some tasks to them that way? Also as they're Junior they're in a position to learn so maybe get them to shadow/assist you with some of the Senior things? - for when your away/on Annual Leave etc.http://www.littlekendra.com/2016/04/26/whats-the-difference-between-a-junior-and-senior-dba/
Hope that helps. 🙂
Let's help others a bit:
http://www.littlekendra.com/2016/04/26/whats-the-difference-between-a-junior-and-senior-dba/
August 11, 2016 at 8:55 am
A few things to consider. Does the junior DBA need some mentoring? Is this a go-getter type of person or someone who just sits around waiting for other people to make the decisions?
There are a number of people who are afraid of stepping on toes and causing problems with the team. Talk to the junior. As them if they know the basics of the job. Then ask them to get creative.
Maybe they can think about how to improve security monitoring processes, or backup processes. Maybe they can create a data dictionary or look for long-running procs to fix. Sometimes it's just a matter of empowering junior (by specifically telling junior) to make important decisions. If junior expects to be your assistant, junior might be wary of doing things that will undercut your projects.
Bring junior in on the ground level of some of these things or tell junior specifically what tiny things or large projects or meetings you don't have time for.
August 11, 2016 at 10:12 am
S7 (8/10/2016)
Thanks, Operational dba. The person didn't have a dba background but came from application support. I'm a senior DBA and the person was hired to help me. Doesn't report to me but I am responsible to provide things to do. The person seems to be waiting for me to give him things to work on. But, there are many things that can be done and i'm usually swamped with different tasks. I find myself struggling to manage the person and the person has been employed for over a year now.
What are you swamped with? I'm not looking for an answer, but asking you to think about this. If you're swamped, then train the junior person to do some of your work. This means things may slow a bit, or they won't get as much done, or you won't, but this is an investment. Teach them slowly with practical things.
Certainly you can have them double check you, or look for basic items. Are there any errors in logs? Job issues? Backup issues? Give them resources, or show them how to query these things and slowly build automation here.
However, you should be looking to lighten your load. Not today, but it will get lighter in a month.
August 11, 2016 at 10:27 am
Steve Jones - SSC Editor (8/11/2016)
S7 (8/10/2016)
Thanks, Operational dba. The person didn't have a dba background but came from application support. I'm a senior DBA and the person was hired to help me. Doesn't report to me but I am responsible to provide things to do. The person seems to be waiting for me to give him things to work on. But, there are many things that can be done and i'm usually swamped with different tasks. I find myself struggling to manage the person and the person has been employed for over a year now.What are you swamped with? I'm not looking for an answer, but asking you to think about this. If you're swamped, then train the junior person to do some of your work. This means things may slow a bit, or they won't get as much done, or you won't, but this is an investment. Teach them slowly with practical things.
Somehow I missed that this person doesn't have a dba background.
The worst thing you can do is assume your assistant can jump right in and handle things without being told. If you let this person shadow you and take notes, and explain what you are doing (don't keep silent), then this well help this person learn about the job. On simple things, sit at your assistant's desk and talk them through the job so they can make notes and learn by doing.
You should also get a dry erase board and make a list that the two of you can strike things off of as you work through them.
August 11, 2016 at 11:10 am
Thank you all for your inputs. Appreciate it a lot.
August 11, 2016 at 11:21 am
I am a junior guy myself (and NOT with a DBA background)... but, with an *excellent* senior DBA to learn from (and, it's not the only role he is assigned)...
I have been impressed with a nice combination of assigning the: "HERE learn this stuff... on your own" and report back; along with GOOD guidance on where to find resources, such as MSFT Virtual Academy (SQL Server Admin, videos) and some super blogs/webPage suggestions, like Brent Ozar's "Accidental DBA" six month class.
Assigning things like, "update the Server SPEC" collection of files, may seem mundane -- but, helps get the new guy familiar with your environments. And, besides, as the senior guy you had meant to get-to-that-someday-soon, I'm sure.
It takes patience -- especially where it takes time from your real job... but, the payback will *hopefully* be well worth it!!!
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