Part-Time DBAs

• Steve Jones - SSC Editor

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  April 9, 2025 at 12:00 am

  #4572173

  Comments posted to this topic are about the item Part-Time DBAs

• david.gugg

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  April 9, 2025 at 1:09 pm

  #4576003

  A few places I've worked, including my current place, had no DBA position before I started.  I got there and spent a year or two stabilizing and improving the environment.  After hard work and massive improvements, the amount of work tailed off quite a bit.  There's a big difference between maintaining a well-running environment and fixing a poorly architected environment.  I think a part-time DBA would work much better for a well-running environment for these medium/smaller type places.  Either that, or the DBA needs to be able to do other stuff too - programming, systems admin, helpdesk, whatever.

  Be still, and know that I am God - Psalm 46:10

• David.Poole

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  April 9, 2025 at 5:18 pm

  #4576119

  I've been acting as a accidental/part-time cloud engineer.

  The common theme from when I was and accidental/part-time DBA is that the work ebbs and flows at different layers in the tech stack.

  • Infrastructure, slowest and most stable
  • Databases (with a decent model), slightly faster but also stable
  • Middleware, moderate speed, stable but with regular changes
  • User interface, irritatingly fast.

  It is not just who covers for ASH (Absence, Sickness, Holidays) it is also who peer reviews and sanity checks what is being delivered.

  I've noticed that I am a lot more confident when I know I can call on someone for help.  When I am by myself I am far more cautious and 2nd guess myself.  The work I produce might be exactly the same in both cases, just slower in the 1st case.

  Confidence comes with experience and confidence lets us move with appropriate haste.  Being an accidental anything makes me wary of being the fool that runs where angels fear to tread.

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• Steve Jones - SSC Editor

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  April 9, 2025 at 7:16 pm

  #4576205

  Good points. As the only DBA in a few places, I haven't had a ton to do after the first 6 months when I clean up the environment. In those cases, I look to help others.

  However, when I'm doing core DBA stuff, it's hard without a peer to sanity check. I used to try and over explain things to devs about modeling, queries, etc. so they could sanity check me a bit, even if they weren't experts.