May 5, 2009 at 7:33 am
I had one Fortran course as an undergrad and one PL/I in grad school. I got a Ph.D. in Math and taught at university for 10 years, first math, then I started taking CS classes and ended up teaching CS. But -- publish or perish -- I perished 🙁 So I was hired by the IT department of a medical school to do mainframe software development, based on my CS teaching experience. 20 years later I'm a mainframe and a C# developer in the same shop. Here the developers do all database design and implementation for home grown applications. I'm not a DBA, the DBAs manage the databases for PeopleSoft and other purchased applications.
This place requires a bachelor's degree of all IT employees. Either the degree is in an IT or science field or 3 years relevant work experience is required.
Terri
To speak algebraically, Mr. M. is execrable, but Mr. C. is
(x+1)-ecrable.
Edgar Allan Poe
[Discussing fellow writers Cornelius Mathews and William Ellery Channing.]
May 5, 2009 at 7:35 am
I'm a developer/architect rather than a DBA but my bachelors and masters are both in geology & geochemistry. (I had been working toward a CS minor in college, but ran out of money and needed to graduate before I finished it). I worked as a petroleum geologist for a couple years before switching to IT because my ex got transferred during a slump in the oil industry. While I have to admit the ideal career would be working with geological software, I haven't really regretted my switch.
I don't think a CS or IT degree is necessary at all. I don't think it hurts, but much of what people learn in university programs is more theoretical than business oriented anyway. You often find courses in the more cutting edge technologies in the community colleges years before they show up in the universities (or at least that was the way it was about 10 years ago when I was considering going back to school to get an IT degree... I was able to find all the courses I needed at the local JC and the university curricula didn't even have them anyway.)
--
Anye Mercy
"Service Unavailable is not an Error" -- John, ENOM support
"You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means." -- Inigo Montoya in "Princess Bride"
"Civilization exists by geologic consent, subject to change without notice." -- Will Durant
May 5, 2009 at 7:36 am
For degrees, I have a BA in Comparative Litrerature and a BS in Civil Engineering, and we won't go into the minors to fill the gaps. I got into computers back in the TRS-80/Apple IIe days, and have kept current to stay employed. Though I'm currently doing a bit of DBA work, I'm doing more business analysis now that my former job, where I was the DBA, software developer, legacy support, sysadmin and telco for locations in two countries. I honestly don't think the degrees matter when it comes to being a DBA, it'smore about being able to look at a problem, come up with a solution, and build a backup in case it doesn't work the way the bosses want.
I think Powell put it best, "I'm fairly well read, but at the same time I'm not an academic. I'm a practitioner, somebody who was raised to see a problem, analyze it, have views about it, and have passion for a solution."
May 5, 2009 at 7:37 am
Thats really true
its not just a matter of having A DEGREE but its matter of your way of utilizing you abilities in the sensiful manner .
Even in a long journey of my life i have collected many degress
and got lot of experiences in different fields also and i realize that the knowlede can never be dependent upon the degress what u have its only depend upon the right use of you tallent/
May 5, 2009 at 7:37 am
I love this issue.
I studied International Marketing with German, when this was new in Europe After a couple of years in export sales/marketing , I realised I didn't want to wait for dead man's shoes to get ahead and took a 4 month course in computer programming, which many wanted to do, but few could pass the aptitude tests. I learnt flowcharting, Cobol, IBM and ICL Assembler and how to use a punch machine. In my first job after graduation, I had to learn BASIC and never used punched cards again. My business background helped enormously in the early years. I progressed from trainee programmer, to Projects Manager in 4 years and quadrupled my salary.
I worked in small teams on minicomputers, where everyone needed a wide set of skills, so I did design, programming, testing, implementation, user training, systems management etc. I spent nearly 6 years with Digital (now HP) developing and installing applications all over Europe, in the US, even in Australia.
At the end of my DEC career, I took a 5 day course and did some programming with their relational database product (VAX Rdb). I left DEC in 1986 and became a freelance Rdb DBA. I was doing that for 21 years, but last year I switched to Sqlserver.
In the early days, I met a few people with CS degrees. CS study at the time was very scientifically oriented, so graduates came into commercial IT with the expectation that they would advance rapidly, but tended to get frustrated and bored quickly, because they were used to programming in memory and not dealing with disk files. I would therefore say that then a CS degree was a disadvantage in commercial IT.
I definitely found my business background was a big help in IT, because I could talk to business people in their own language and was able to use my IT skills to make their business processes easier to operate. I designed accounting systems (Credit is nearest the window :-)).
Business is essentially about processing and manipulating data, so I became less interested in hardware / software and more interested in data management and manipulation. From there becoming a DBA was the logical option, although nobody called me a DBA until 3 years after I started.
May 5, 2009 at 7:43 am
BS in Audio engineering when only two schools offered it, music and pre-med minors. We heard of computers then and there was one on campus. The degree helps with the larger companies as it does in any field, but means little with the work itself. Math, esp. stats, and physics occasionally make a difference. Psych rotations in med school definitely help dealing with mgt.
May 5, 2009 at 7:46 am
No degree - I was driven by the potential income when entering college in 1981 under General Studies - I took all of the computer courses required for a BA for the first 3 years and nothing else - no Econ, Philosophy, Business, Math, etc - just core computer ! I went to work full time in 1983 and have not stopped since !
RegardsRudy KomacsarSenior Database Administrator"Ave Caesar! - Morituri te salutamus."
May 5, 2009 at 7:55 am
I have a degree in Chemistry and Math, from a different country that too. I think being a DBA is all about attention to detail, staying abreast with technology and being available when they need you. Of course you do need people skills and some business knowledge to go with all that but those do not come from a degree, more from experience. I do believe though that if one needs to make *progress* using DBA skills as a means - by that if you are interested in becoming a DBA manager, and advance to other higher levels a degree might definitely help. Most companies including where I work demand a masters for positions above a certain level. Besides if you chose the right degree (I am currently doing MS in Information Systems from Stevens School of Technology) - you get to meet a wide range of people/network and also learn so much more. It can and does contribute substantially to progress in the long run.
May 5, 2009 at 7:58 am
B.A. in Finance. Took a job as a stock broker and hated it. Left there and became support/trainer. I spent more time with the developers then my boss liked but then I became a Webmaster, then Platform manager and now a DBA. Each position I took helped me become a DBA. I also needed a piece of paper to get three of the jobs, it did not matter what the degree was in, only that I had one. the forth job I was paid 20% more then the people with out a degree.
I do not think you need a degree to be a good DBA, but I think people with a degree are more rounded people and do a better job with the non-tech part of being a DBA.
Having a degree has been very beneficial to my career, I am now a MCITP - Database Administrator and look forward to a bright future.
[font="Tahoma"]John Burris:hehe:
MCITP Database Administrator[/font]
May 5, 2009 at 8:03 am
I have an Associates in Photography and BS in Computer Sciences. Wanted to be photographer, developed severe allergies to the chemicals. Started working, to pay bills and went back to school to get a career to support my kids. Started working as programmer during Y2K and before we ended the DBA left at the datavalidation phase. From just one or two college classes I started validating the data and eventually they made me the DBA. Mostly self taught in that and with the help of a mentor I figured it all out. Been a DBA for 8 years and finally had my first class a month ago!
May 5, 2009 at 8:06 am
I have a BA in Dramatic Arts and an MA in Acting. After I married another actor - one of us needed to get a real job and I was more suited to the 9 - 5 world. I got a programming certificate from the Computer Learning Center while working nights.
I have always maintained that my degree in acting actually makes me a better technologist. I have communication and listening skills that most pure CS majors don't. I can be the bridge between business users and programmers.
I also think common sense and a natural curiousity are more important than a degree. I like being a database developer/DBA because it's like putting a puzzle together - and the down in the data is always where it's at man...
May 5, 2009 at 8:10 am
I can honestly claim that I dropped out of both kindergarden and college!
I went to college for 1 quarter. Couldn't stand it.
I'm thinking of going back to get the piece of paper, but I don't know if I can stomach it this time either.
I got into my career as a DBA from a sales and marketing background. Was doing those for a small company, and they didn't have any sort of filing system or CRM or anything beyond post-it notes, for keeping track of customers and orders. I had WAY too much volume and WAY too many customers to keep it on post-it notes, and I'd heard of a thing called "databases" that seemed to sound like it would do what I needed. So I fired up MS Access.
Built a primitive, simple CRM for myself. Soon, everyone else wanted to use it too. (From questions like, "Can I use it too?", the program ended up being named "It".) In very short order, Access was no longer adequate as a database, so we upsized to SQL Server 2000 (this was in 2001), but kept the Access front-end.
Nine years later, all I do is SQL Server, and I haven't taken a sales call in 8 years. And I like to think I have a decent level of SQL skill.
- Gus "GSquared", RSVP, OODA, MAP, NMVP, FAQ, SAT, SQL, DNA, RNA, UOI, IOU, AM, PM, AD, BC, BCE, USA, UN, CF, ROFL, LOL, ETC
Property of The Thread
"Nobody knows the age of the human race, but everyone agrees it's old enough to know better." - Anon
May 5, 2009 at 8:10 am
Not sure if anyone has thoughts of retiring as a DBA? We are probably yet to meet people who have. The hassle of staying a DBA till retirement (to me) atleast is the demands of keeping up with technology and just the stress associated with the position like getting up at all hours and looking into issues. With a degree one can possibly get out of transactional DBA work into higher consulting decision making positions and with age that might be a necessity, not a choice, atleast for some of us.
May 5, 2009 at 8:14 am
I just have an AS degree in Computer Information Systems from a community college, but I was able to get in with a good company with that by starting out as an intern. Five years later I am the DBA. Having a CS or similar degree is certainly helpful, but most of the DBA's I have associated with do not have them. Most CS programs I have looked at dont really focus on database technologies anyway. I think the most important traits a DBA should have are attention to detail, follow through, and both the ability and the desire to learn new technologies.
May 5, 2009 at 8:25 am
What is your college degree in?
I have a BS degree in Computer Science.
How did you get from where you started to where you are today?
My degree helped me get my first job as a C\C++ programmer. After that first job, I held a number of programming positions. During Y2K, I built a Y2K testing center. The work involved included installing and maintaining the windows network, SQL Server databases, and supporting applications. During this time, I earned my MCSE. One of the electives to earn your MCSE was SQL Server database administration. After gaining that experience, I applied for jobs that were database related. After becoming a DBA, I earned my MCDBA. At this time, I have now been a DBA for 7 years and have been working with SQL Server since SQL Server 6.5.
And last of all, does your college degree really make all that much difference in your success as a DBA?
I think both college degrees and certifications do make a difference because some companies require degrees and certifications in their job descriptions. However, experience matters much more. I list my degree as one of the last items on my resume.
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