January 21, 2010 at 3:27 am
Without trying to devalue this topic's importance, I'd point out that many of the points in the article are not DBA issues; they're business and management issues. "Being told to do one thing by one manager, but then being told to do something completely different by another manager" is certainly not unique just to IT, let alone DB-related IT, and the roots of that problem are far from technical. Ditto "being assigned a project without the necessary resources and time to complete it successfully". I could go on, and I've no doubt everyone else could too.
Nonetheless, employment these days appears to be far more pressured typically than it ever was before, presumably due to the drive for achieving more and better, quicker with less. It can also often be difficult for someone to keep focussed on the idea that most of us work to live rather than the other way round. I'm lucky, since the company for which I work pays very close attention to whether or not people are maintaining their work/life balance, and even more attention to spotting the early signs of adverse stress and tackling them (where possible) before they become an issue. I wish more companies operated in the same way.
Semper in excretia, suus solum profundum variat
January 21, 2010 at 3:42 am
about:
- Many DBAs don’t work typical 40 hour weeks. Many work weeknights, weekends, and holidays, all without any overtime pay.
i think dba's can blame themselves a bit also. if you just do everything and only know the word yes: the demand on you as dba will only grow. sometimes you have to hit the break. realize that keeping your self in a good shape is also important for the company. i've noticed people in general forget that part often. the ultimate "hit the break" is finding a new employer.
in my opinion an ideal dba also has good communication and influential skills and is aware of the human (political) environment around him/her. i say ideal cause i've only seen one dba who mastered that (not me). this part, if by heart your a technical person, is difficult. it's probably why some dba's are called "senior".
January 21, 2010 at 4:53 am
Brad,
Great article!
I find that physical activities away from being a DBA help. I lift weights 4x a week and train in Kempo, Arnis and Aikido 4x a week. Helps manage the stress, and keeps me in pretty good shape.:cool:
Mark
January 21, 2010 at 4:53 am
i work on average 10 hours a day.. paid less than US$2000 a month (salary+allowances) and can save about US$50 only.. being a 2nd level DBA, i have to be on standby outside office hours including weekends for at least one week per month, and no overtime pay for that, just time-off..
going home with all the stresses, but somehow, they are gone when I see the cheerful face of my daughter..
January 21, 2010 at 4:59 am
Very hard to do, esp when the little ones have been driving their mother mental all day!
Glad she has that relaxing affect on you though! 🙂
January 21, 2010 at 6:13 am
I am a dba for a large distributor - of wine and spirits. My answer to stress is easy.
Kevin
January 21, 2010 at 6:15 am
kcox-889321 (1/21/2010)
I am a dba for a large distributor - of wine and spirits. My answer to stress is easy.Kevin
I love that!
January 21, 2010 at 6:31 am
Martial arts. Getting to pop someone every so often keeps you from wanting to pop someone every so often.
"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
- Theodore Roosevelt
Author of:
SQL Server Execution Plans
SQL Server Query Performance Tuning
January 21, 2010 at 6:46 am
For me for a bit it was enjoying the company of women. But now it's been doing manual work around the house. Finishing the basement, painting the main floor, when winter's over, start a garden, etc. Seeing actual things that you've accomplished is a good feeling. I accomplish a lot at work, but it's all electronic and not in front of me like sitting in my living room and not seeing crayon on the walls anymore.
Sounds like martial arts is popular among the folks here. I believe there is an Aikido school down the street from my house. I've been exercising lately at home, I may take up a class there too.
January 21, 2010 at 6:46 am
My previous job was that of an Air Traffic Controller, so the DBA stress doesn't compare.
You have to find routines to "get away" for a bit. I like to take a nice brisk walk during lunch. Breathing the fresh air, getting the blood flowing and letting my mind relax does wonders.
January 21, 2010 at 6:49 am
Im really liking this thread. I used to suffer from anxiety, and once you are prone to this, its always in the back of your mind.
The thought of doing something incorrectly in an emergency situation that could make the issues worse or cause extra ssytem downtime, while GM's etc are looking over your shoulder expecting you to save the day is a nightmare scenario for me.
Currently how i deal wtih it is surround myself with a capiable team. Im in a nice safe job with people who i can rely on. I also push myself to do things out of my current depth.
I try to understand the underlying concepts of topics (mirroring, log shipping, replication), things that cause a lot of poetntial downtime when there are issues is good also. again, i am working on this also.
I think planning is also the key. if you plan for something then its expected if it occurs. Im still working on this and am not the best at planning, but am considerably better than i used to be.
To de-stress I visit the gym regurlarly and play guitar. I find guitar a great way to concentrate your mind, so you dont have so many spare compute cycles to use up on worrying and stressing.
Im looking to jump to a new job as a consultant for large companies on their DB architecture and general db improvement. it would be a hugely stressful job so still deciding if it would be the one for me, so this thread is most useful.
January 21, 2010 at 6:52 am
I start with some advice from my maternal grandmother 'If you can't fix it, don't worry about it, otherwise (paraphrase here) crap or get off the pot".
-- Fight hard to change what I think is wrong in the environment that might be causing the stress (under performing hardware, poorly designed code)
-- commiserate with coworkers. I find everyone has stress and sometimes hearing the issues of others puts yours into perspective
--Hobbies: I love to bake. I'll come home and make a complex dessert (the more complex the less brainpower I can put to thinking about stress)
--I'll sometimes vent to my wife. After 16 years she still has little understanding of what I do, but sometimes just expressing the problem is relief (or sometimes presents a solution which relieves the stress)
--Blog about something.
Josef Richberg
2009 Exceptional DBA
http://www.josef-richberg.squarespace.com
http://twitter.com/sqlrunner
January 21, 2010 at 7:04 am
Lempster (1/21/2010)[hrI also try to end each working day with a completed task, however small, rather than leaving something mid-flow. To quote Blur 'it gives me an enormous sense of wellbeing' 😀 Lempster
good tip, I left last night 'mid-flow', and it bugged me all night, although I managed to not get on from home to try and finish. I'll try to rectify tonight and finish something just before I go. 🙂
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How best to post your question[/url]
How to post performance problems[/url]
Tally Table:What it is and how it replaces a loop[/url]
"stewsterl 80804 (10/16/2009)I guess when you stop and try to understand the solution provided you not only learn, but save yourself some headaches when you need to make any slight changes."
January 21, 2010 at 7:06 am
Forgive me the indulgence of replying "cold" - I normally read through as many of the existing comments as I can, but for now I want to make one quick contribution of a stress issue that I don't have an answer for yet.
The basic issue is one of scope. Due to advancing technology, the DBA's scope has expanded such that more data is being put in the DBA's arena. Now it's not just data in a database, or data that might go into a database; sometimes it's also data in a spreadsheet on some computers of one department, or email or attachment data that has to be processed in a database, or web services that need to be used with XML to get data, and so on, and so on.
This expansion also includes the relevant meetings wherein those items are covered as well as the necessary (self-)training and trying to learn if there are already best practices for doing those things, all of which can take great amounts of time.
I know part of this growth is just my learning more about the career, "unknown unknowns," as it were, that are becoming known to me. But I also think there is a real scope expansion effect as well.
I at least have a handle on how I can deal with straightforward stress associated with such tasks as keeping jobs running, fixing SQL errors, researching the technical or syntactical way to accomplish a database task. But the increase in scope has been a little overwhelming at times. I'm curious to know how others handle that "scope inflation," for lack of a better term.
Thanks!
- webrunner
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A SQL query walks into a bar and sees two tables. He walks up to them and asks, "Can I join you?"
Ref.: http://tkyte.blogspot.com/2009/02/sql-joke.html
January 21, 2010 at 7:06 am
kcox-889321 (1/21/2010)
I am a dba for a large distributor - of wine and spirits. My answer to stress is easy.Kevin
*clink*
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A SQL query walks into a bar and sees two tables. He walks up to them and asks, "Can I join you?"
Ref.: http://tkyte.blogspot.com/2009/02/sql-joke.html
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