July 20, 2014 at 12:55 pm
Been a loooong time since I last came here, seems like forever and yet remarkably familiar.
Anyways, really got my curiosity peaked at the moment, spend a lot of time on LinkedIN as you do, continually amazed about how many Database Architect are actually out there.
I am confused how you can work as a DBA and then suddenly by magic your next role is a database architect. So i thought I would check the definition of a Database Architect via good old wiki.
A data architect, as defined within Wikipedia, is a person “responsible for ensuring that the data assets of an organization are supported by an architecture supporting the organization in achieving its strategic goals. The architecture should cover databases, data integration and the means to get to the data.
So I don't understand, what is the difference between a DBA and Architect apart from a Architect tends to be considered a more senior role with more money.
Does the Architect handle the design only, or the design and implementation of architecture that encompasses the support of the data assets of an organisation.
Should any DBA who understands architecture and how it fits into supporting the company data, consider themselves a database architect, or am I missing something fundamental here such as certifications for Architects.
Comments and opinions welcome, as I don't really understand the difference.
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July 22, 2014 at 1:29 am
No replies after 2 days, 66 views and no opinions, guess this place isn't what it used to be.
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July 22, 2014 at 2:08 am
It more likely the designation you get from a given company then a role basically. if you are working in a organization especially IT related company, they are tends to have difference job designation for front end and back end team. So mostly what i have seen people promoted from DBA to architect. I know its a very common mistake but it happening.
July 22, 2014 at 2:10 am
Silverfox (7/20/2014)
So I don't understand, what is the difference between a DBA and Architect apart from a Architect tends to be considered a more senior role with more money.
Quick thought, the main difference would be the operational aspect of the DBA, something that does not apply to the Architect. Normally one would assume that all Architects are qualified as DBA but not vice versa.
😎
July 22, 2014 at 2:19 am
I still don't understand how one person can work as a DBA for one company and then in next role at another company be a architect, it is the difference in skills or experience that I am after.
How do you transition from DBA to Architect, or to put it another way, if I said that I was a database architect at a position, how would someone be able to tell if that is true, what form of questions/experience would back that up.
For all I know, I could have been able to call myself a database Architect for years now, only reason I haven't is because I have not understood the difference in roles.
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July 22, 2014 at 3:20 am
Silverfox (7/22/2014)
I still don't understand how one person can work as a DBA for one company and then in next role at another company be a architect, it is the difference in skills or experience that I am after.How do you transition from DBA to Architect, or to put it another way, if I said that I was a database architect at a position, how would someone be able to tell if that is true, what form of questions/experience would back that up.
For all I know, I could have been able to call myself a database Architect for years now, only reason I haven't is because I have not understood the difference in roles.
you are not the only one here who cannot understand the logic but like it or not these anomalies are gonna stay here for a very long time.
July 23, 2014 at 5:55 pm
The distinction doesn't make a lot of sense to me either.
My impression is that a DBA would be skilled in installation, backup/restore, security configuration and other Administrative functions, but not necessary how to build a database from scratch.
An Architect would seem to be someone who could design data schemas and a Developer would create stored procedures, triggers etc.
But from what I've seen, performance tuning seems to be a DBA function, but effective performance tuning would require a lot of knowledge on how queries work and development skills.
So a representation on what Database Administrators, Architects, Developers and Engineers do would seem to require a Venn Diagram with lots of overlap.
July 23, 2014 at 6:10 pm
An older article of mine, but it may help.
http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Career/71608/
That said, it's in the perceptions of the bestower to decide if a title is worth it for a person. Said person may not have enough knowledge to know it's undeserved, but it's still there... and no person is going to turn it down simply because of the impression it's given you (and others).
I've also seen architect more recently expanded as a title towards the warehouse architects, which does require a decent amount of training and knowledge to do well.
Never stop learning, even if it hurts. Ego bruises are practically mandatory as you learn unless you've never risked enough to make a mistake.
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July 23, 2014 at 7:10 pm
In most cases it is the company that decides on the title they want to call their personnel.
DBAs should be architecting solutions on a constant basis imho.
I have also found that many architects (by title) don't know any better about database design, or data access than a good senior dba would know. I don't consider an architect to be more senior.
Jason...AKA CirqueDeSQLeil
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July 24, 2014 at 1:30 am
Silverfox (7/22/2014)
I still don't understand how one person can work as a DBA for one company and then in next role at another company be a architect, it is the difference in skills or experience that I am after.How do you transition from DBA to Architect, or to put it another way, if I said that I was a database architect at a position, how would someone be able to tell if that is true, what form of questions/experience would back that up.
I may not have the depth and breadth of some people in the forum... I don't have gray hair yet , but I've always considered "architects" people with gray hair 🙂 ( "silverfox") sounds like a name that has some ? 🙂
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July 24, 2014 at 2:19 am
I may not have the depth and breadth of some people in the forum... I don't have gray hair yet , but I've always considered "architects" people with gray hair 🙂 ( "silverfox") sounds like a name that has some ? 🙂
Ouch, not sure if that is meant to to be a compliment, even if it comes a with a back hand. I do have grey hair for whatever hair that is left.
The only thing that makes senses if architecting also means doing the technology road map, also design work not at a a database centric level but for a solution.
But I still believe that some people call themselves an architect without have the abilities and a lot of people who do architect work are not titled as a architect.
It is going to make me think very differently to how I market myself to new roles and companies, considering how many people i see seem to elevate themselves with fancy titles with relatively basic experience and knowledge.
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December 17, 2014 at 10:38 am
Reviving a dead thread because it's late at night and I'm waiting for SSIS to finish running. For me the difference between SQL Developer, Architect 1, DBA, and Architect 2 is in your duties and skill-sets.
SQL Developer: Creating the tables, views, stored procedures, indexing, etc, to support the back-end of an application.
Architect 1: Akin to a Business Analyst, they sit in boring meetings and write down the vague requirements from a business, and turn them into magical conceptual models (tables, relationships, etc) as well as ways for applications to interact with those models (XML schemas and .NET classes, etc). They then farm out some of the database-side work to the SQL Developer and DBA accordingly.
DBA: Operations. Keeping the databases up and running and healthy. Doing the setup, backups, restores, maintenance, instance upgrades, rolling out database schema upgrades to PROD, finding problems which affect the entire server fleet, general performance tuning, and higher-level functions like compression, in-memory tables, etc.
Architect 2: Putting together ideas for how a data centre of SQL Servers should be built up; from the hardware (SANs, CPU, RAM, SSDs etc), to software (server OS, clustering, AlwaysOn, etc), to configuration (archiving event logs, offsite backup locations, etc). Much of this is then farmed out to the DBA afterwards.
I've been in the SQL Developer role and (currently) DBA role. But I think moving into either Architectural role legitimately is a pretty tall order.
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