February 9, 2010 at 12:13 pm
The TERM DBA is used so loosely these days - no one is even sure what it means anymore.
With 15 years of SQL under my belt (both on the admin and dev/design sides) and 25 years of app dev experience, along with a strong sprinkling of network admin duties - I'm here to tell you it's as simple as this....
Most companies don't know they need a solid DBA - until - they need a solid DBA.
Most companies that figure this out too late suffer many issues before they hit bottom - and with varying degrees of hole depth - could take a long time to dig out.
Most developers are just clueless on good database design, optimization, portability, etc. They can be as good as they want to think they are but nothing replaces experience.
February 9, 2010 at 5:33 pm
I started off as a DBA almost 15 ago and never wanted to learn Business rules and write a line of development code. I felt at that time to be a DBA was like messenger of the GOD.
Times have changed I did a lot of DBA work and some performance tuning and little of DB Architecture over time. I finally found out that these years to grow with your Organization its good to be a good DBA/DBA_Dev/DBE/and Systems Engineering as many employers want a DBA to fit in the shoes of other engineering and development groups.
Today, I have a lot more skill set to successfully manage a DBA/Engg group and also adhere to company requirements and regulations.
Corner of my heart I still am a DBA(Da Backup Administrator), but I am able to bring a lot more to my management's table need based so I can keep my job.
February 9, 2010 at 5:48 pm
jtfromstl (2/9/2010)
...Most companies don't know they need a solid DBA - until - they need a solid DBA.
...
I would take that a step further. Many companies don't know they need a solid DBA - until they get one and see the difference it makes. Trying to have one person wear all of the Database hats is very difficult. A Database team is really what is best in many scenarios.
Jason...AKA CirqueDeSQLeil
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February 10, 2010 at 7:11 pm
There's so much that has an impact in answering a query about "dev's as DBA's" that there really is no straight answer. I've found that companies need to grow large enough to warrant a DBA, and that many dev's can do a reasonable job of DBA work in the interim (though unfortunately, the reverse is not always true.)
In my career I started off as a developer and made a conscious decision to follow a database-specific path. At one role after I just started I "met the team" of developers and explained my career history. One developer was bewildered that I would turn my back on VB and pursue databases. To them, this was akin to Anakin Skywalker turning to the Dark Side. (As Yoda might say, "Is that set-based logic I sense in you?") But therein lies, for me, a very important distinction in mindset. For a developer a DBMS can be reduced to a fancy flat file. Tables are just a form of TXT file, and SQL Server is just an Excel document with indexed worksheets.
As for support, I'm not sure I'd agree with rotating DBA work. The fact that it's rotating suggests to me that no one really wants to do it, and if they don't want to do it then what sort of a job are they doing?
S.
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