June 27, 2015 at 11:09 am
Comments posted to this topic are about the item The New DBA
June 28, 2015 at 5:58 am
I'm only 2 years into my role as more or less the accidental DBA to most. However, that is not my title on paper. I am just a developer who wears multiple hats of the DBA, architect, manager, ETL developer, report writer and so forth.
For someone like me, DBA could easily mean a lot of things. Yet, I still believe that the DBA for one example is the one person who ensures disaster recovery, performance and security is at the highest priority of their tasks. While I do fill that role among many others, I humbly decline that I am a DBA regardless of quality while others look at me as the DBA.
That said, what is the catchall title for someone who wears multiple hats? I guess that is the problem. It's the DBA right? :hehe:
June 29, 2015 at 5:51 am
It works both ways - my job title is DBA but as well as managing the backups/restores, databases and security and query tuning etcI also do BI development, loads of ETL, some reporting, mentoring report writers in sql querying and am also one of four doing web application development in ASP.NET. Plus what we once called "Clause 10" - the final line of our job description, which always reads "Any other duties as required".
However we've just been taken over and the new owners don't seem to have read beyond the job titles and don't seem to realise they have staff who can do development and BI, just thinking traditional DBA, of which they already have several. Still it may mean a decent redundancy payment.
June 29, 2015 at 6:04 am
It's a question of scale. Titles don't mean that much anymore in IT as the IT world in general has evolved from the stereotypical "computer guy" who pretty much knew darn near everything and anything about computers to a much more diverse, specialized industry.
Our larger corporation just completed a huge exercise in aligning job titles across the board (not limited to IT). As it acquired various other companies with their own titles, duties and pay scales, it became very difficult to determine qualifications and consequently consistent pay scales save within very narrow job bands. Now we all have "internal" job titles that are more or less equalized across business units, divisions and companies in addition to our public-facing titles.
I personally prefer the term "Database Professional" for anyone who directly designs, creates, develops and maintains database platforms and the data therein. Someone who could work directly in the back end database engine with reasonable certainty of not screwing things up.
Some companies and businesses have the resources to hire multiple individuals to take on specific narrowly-defined roles (Architect, Senior Administrator, Junior Admin, Developer, what have you). Many more practically require a hatrack or two in the computer geek's cube/office.
Due to the vagaries of our unit (we're kind of this funny little island in the ocean of a very big multi-national corporation), I am effectively the architect, designer, developer, QA, administrator, domain admin along with several other titles that have zilch to do with databases. Five years ago I started as a desktop support guy who had a working knowledge of SQL but had never touched SQL Server. My external title is still "Desktop Support" and my internal is something like "Systems Support Engineer III".
I summed up my job to our VP/General Manager about a year ago as: "My job is to get to know all the people here, what their jobs are and how they do them, and make sure they have the systems and data available they need to succeed at their jobs."
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Just my $0.02 from over here in the cheap seats of the peanut gallery - please adjust for inflation and/or your local currency.
June 29, 2015 at 6:23 am
They say you are defined by your rivals. So a DBA in a large organization is the arch-rival of the SAN/Virtualization Admin...
😛
June 29, 2015 at 6:38 am
Being from Central PA, DBA = Jack of all Trades
since I relocated to the Washington DC area, I am finding DBA is more strict a definition, but you have different categories
Production DBA
Production DBA - Transactional System
Production DBA - Internet
Production DBA - Hosting
Reporting DBA
BI Environment DBA
Development DBA
Then there is the title Database director, which I have no concept of and is not the same anywhere.
(Specific software) DBA
Backup and Recovery DBA
ETL DBA
I am sure I have missed a few, I have been amazed at the topics people expect you to know in the interviews also, not because you shouldn't need to know them, but because they always ask questions that have nothing to do with the job or job description.
I was extremely happy to interview the other day and all the questions pertained to what knowledge I possessed that could move them in the direction they were heading in, or to solve the issues they were facing.
June 29, 2015 at 6:51 am
It has long bothered me that this is such a vague, catch-all term. We're supposed to be about precision, but can't bother to be precise about the different specialties in our field.
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June 29, 2015 at 7:15 am
At my current workplace, we have really defined and broken the various data roles into different positions so the individuals in those roles can dive deeper into their individual area. The skills required throughout the area of data is so vast that a person can not do all roles to any great depth. I really think we in the data world do ourselves a disservice by defining the term DBA as a vague catch-all term. It seems to me as data becomes more and more front and center, we as data professionals need to define data roles and how they interact.
June 29, 2015 at 7:26 am
lshanahan (6/29/2015)
...I summed up my job to our VP/General Manager about a year ago as: "My job is to get to know all the people here, what their jobs are and how they do them, and make sure they have the systems and data available they need to succeed at their jobs."
Sounds right to me.
June 29, 2015 at 7:46 am
lshanahan (6/29/2015)
I personally prefer the term "Database Professional" for anyone who directly designs, creates, develops and maintains database platforms and the data therein. Someone who could work directly in the back end database engine with reasonable certainty of not screwing things up.
That was similar to my new recommendation, but "Data Engineer" simply because it goes beyond databases and into API's and so forth that also deal with data.
June 29, 2015 at 8:03 am
While there have always been DBAs that tightly controlled their systems and acted as impediments to change, I think those positions are disappearing fast. More and more companies, if they even bother to hire DBAs, want those individuals to ensure data is useful.
Many people visualize the DBA as some guy who locks himself in the server room all day; swapping out backup tapes and munching on potato chips while staring at display screens waiting for the next fire to put out. Maybe that stereotype is valid more often than we'd like. But that stereotype is broadly false and destructive to our profession. Like you mentioned above, some organizations have decided not even to bother with a designated DBA, because they think we don't add enough value. However, a real DBA is so much more than that.
A DBA today needs to be a Renaissance Man when it comes to all things data.
http://www.wisegeek.org/what-is-a-renaissance-man.htm
"Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho
June 29, 2015 at 8:16 am
Database Administrator = People who look after the database server (capacity planning, backups, permissions, availability, patching, etc...)
Database Engineer = People who look after the data (ETL, automation, modeling, performance, BI, application interfacing, etc...)
I haven't been a DBA for a very long time, but I've always been a DBE.
June 29, 2015 at 8:22 am
I wish that was true, right now I am stuck out side a VP office surrounded by Data analysts . I miss my cave. I want it back. I have to walk 2 floors to talk to the VM\Network guys. Someone took the Term "DATA" base Admin in the wrong context.
June 29, 2015 at 8:39 am
WOW Steve, that definition of DBA is quite different from what I've been used to for many years. At best I have only considered myself to be an Accidental DBA. Creating a database, table, view of stored procedure as needed. (Many SP's, though.) But I don't have much experience at all with DMV's or anything like that. To me, those who know DMV's are "true DBA". Well, at least true SQL Server DBA's. Your experience is certainly wider than mine, so I guess that's the way the market as a whole is likely going. Very interesting.
Kindest Regards, Rod Connect with me on LinkedIn.
June 29, 2015 at 8:55 am
While there have always been DBAs that tightly controlled their systems and acted as impediments to change, I think those positions are disappearing fast.
Not fast enough. DBA too often means 'developers bother the analyst'. 😉
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