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Thoughts on how to pivot from a SQL Server DBA role to something more.

  • May 23, 2022 at 3:21 pm

    #4037692

    I've been a DBA for 12+ years, and while interesting, I feel I'm starting to stagnate. I saw this article from Brent Ozar from 2014 (updated 2017). I'm curious if with the advent of Data Engineering and Data Science blowing up in the last couple of years, these directions still hold true?

    For those who have successfully pivoted from a database admin role, what did you pivot to? I'm stuck as to where I can find something "useful" I can use in my company.

    If it helps, my manager said explicitly to NOT think about the company I am at now when determining a long term strategy in 2-3 years, where I want to see myself, but to just focus on a desired role.

  • May 23, 2022 at 4:19 pm

    #4037709

    Mostly it's just about proper branding when you're applying for a job if you have 12+ years experience working with data bases.  For example do you ever write queries?  Congratulations you're a data scientist/analyst.  Do you ever write stored procedures to help manage your databases?  Congratulations you're a developer.

  • May 23, 2022 at 6:29 pm

    #4037780

    I'm not sure that I'd trivialize the roles of Data Scientist or Data Analyst like that.  I know a whole lot of people that write some great T-SQL that would suck at those two roles.  I just went through this with someone... I asked them to make a chart about some data we had both been working on that clearly demonstrates a major problem.  They wrote some code and sent me the chart the code produced.  Without getting into the nitty-gritty of it all, the chart showed a max of "9" hours.  This same person had been working with me on the data for a couple of weeks and has seen multiple emails that said the max was up to "14.5" hours and yet failed to realize that his chart was incorrect.

    It takes a lot more than just knowing how to code to be a Data Scientist or Data Analyst.  You first must have the knowledge of why "limits" are important and then it explodes from there.

    --Jeff Moden

    RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for Row-By-Agonizing-Row.
    First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
    ________Stop thinking about what you want to do to a ROW... think, instead, of what you want to do to a COLUMN.

    Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.

    Helpful Links:
    How to post code problems
    How to Post Performance Problems
    Create a Tally Function (fnTally)

  • June 15, 2022 at 8:38 pm

    This was removed by the editor as SPAM

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