September 11, 2008 at 3:43 pm
I come in three days a week to do the DBA work for a small financial firm in Seattle (~100 employees). It has been an excellent arrangement on all sides. I make it clear to everyone that protecting the data is my top priority. This earns the respect and trust of my colleagues. Like someone else said, when there is a crisis, I am always ready to work as many hours as it takes, but I'm not going to come in to keep a seat warm.
Being an hourly employee means that the value equation is always fair. When there are necessary tasks, I do them and charge the hours worked. When the workload is normal, I can accomplish it within my normal Monday/Wednesday/Friday schedule. If there is an emergent need (mirroring failover, etc) I connect (via VPN) from my home office and solve the problem remotely. Or come in, if that is necessary. Whatever it takes.
Probably a good deal of acceptance of this arrangement is due to the fact that I am always upgrading our procedures and training others in Disaster Preparedness. I think this demonstrates to management and to the other IT employees that 1) I am focused on providing value to the firm, and 2) that resources and procedures are in place to take care of emergencies so there is no need to have the DBA standing by "just in case" something goes wrong.
Working every other day keeps my interest high and keeps the firm's expenses down. Good deal all the way around.
Elliott
September 11, 2008 at 7:13 pm
One of the folks on this very forum said it best... "The extraordinary DBA is the first person someone goes to when they need help, not the last." Sounds like you've done a good thing all the way around. Thanks for sharing it... 🙂
--Jeff Moden
Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.
September 12, 2008 at 8:11 am
MSG, thanks for reviving this topic! I have not found a part time job yet but I continue to gather information.
Here is an article on CNN that talks about highly skilled women who are working part-time as temps.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/worklife/07/17/skilled.temp.work/index.html
I posted my resume and looked at some of the sites. I think it is a great idea. Unfortunately, it is not an IT board. I haven't seen any IT positions, much less database ones. Hopefully, they will evolve to include more IT positions. Or maybe like you said, someone will soon start one.
I have also seen job postings on Craig's List for part time Sql Server positions in my area (Boston). How long the contract is, what the pay is, telecommuting options are all variable.
I read this interesting article about women at law firms.
http://www.boston.com/jobs/news/articles/2008/08/24/firm_support_for_the_family/
Apparently, law firms have been notorious for having long hours and being quite un-family friendly. But apparently this is all changing since half of all law school graduating classes are now women. Now several law firms have women partners who work part-time, expanded parental leave, etc.
So, here is my theory. Until, half of all graduates in IT fields are women, it will be unlikely for software companies to institute company-wide policies that are family friendly. I am not trying to be sexist and I don't mean to imply family issues are only woman's issues. But, when family friendly policies are put in place ( Flex-time, job-sharing, part-time, compressed work week) the requests have been usually driven by women. In the end, these benefits benefit everyone; men, women, those with and without children, those with sick parents, etc.
Elliott, thanks for sharing. Since you have what I want, how did you get it? Where you working at that company for a while before requesting the hours that you have now? Was the job posted as part-time? Was it posted as full-time and you asked for different hours at the interview? Thanks for sharing.
September 12, 2008 at 9:16 am
I was lucky in that the 3 days a week schedule was agreed upon easily during the final interview. I suspect that in many cases it might be necessary to start a new job at 40 hours to establish credibility and good working relationships before beginning the conversation to alter the schedule.
It's very strange that everyone's "regular" work schedule is interrupted by vacations, medical leave, etc. and businesses are able to adapt, but "part time" is viewed as a problem. Maybe there is an attitude that part-time does not represent sufficient commitment to the work or the company.
For me, the days that I am in the office are very productive because I come in refreshed and motivated to get things done.
I am also lucky in that I was able to negotiate with the IT manager so that the benefits were apparent to everyone. I didn't need to participate in the company health insurance plan, so that was an easy "give". I earn vacation and holiday pay on a pro-rated basis, so that's fair, and I work on an hourly basis so the company is always getting services for the time that I bill.
Be sure to sell your commitment to the employer's tasks and your own professionalism as a DBA and good luck landing that job!
Elliott
September 16, 2008 at 9:24 am
My part time job is as a retired DBA I know this may not apply but I thought I would share how I have structured the job. I am in the office Tues, Weds, and Thur. The initial support is through a Jr. DBA and I only become involved if he has problem.
I am on call and can remote into the system. Part of my time is to give mentoring/training to the Jr. DBA. I would look for a company that either does not need a full time DBA or a company that does not have a strong DBA and needs someone to mentor them. Good Luck as I love this type of schedule.
September 16, 2008 at 10:01 pm
Abba
I work as a 20 hour per week DBA. I've been in DBA and Unix Admin work for the last 15 years as a normal fulltime plus on-call worker. When I became pregnant with my child I started discussions with the company I worked for at the time to return as a part-timer after maternity leave.
Considering how unresponsive they where, I kept applying for any local suitable DBA jobs and mentioned in my cover letter that I only wanted part-time work due to my small child. Then at the interviews I kept ensuring we all understood I'd only do 20 hours per week at least until my kid went to fulltime school, but I understood the IT industry and would provide extra hours when the job really required it. On the day I was due to go back to my old 40+ hours job I was offered the 20 hours a week job at 1/2 the pay.
I was employed on the understanding that occasssional extra hours for installing patches/ upgrades / backfill /disaster recoveries would be needed from me, but arranged well in advance (to ensure childcare arrangments in place) and since my company had many small clients with reduced DBA needs this fitted well. There are two other DBAs at my company whom provide the normal 24 x 7 support normal to our work. I move to a number of clients during my working week, but the variety is nice and I will not be changing jobs for a while as I realise this job is a rarity.
Adonia
September 17, 2008 at 6:32 am
I just have a question. Why do you guys want to work part time? Do you have extra business on the side or you just want more time to do something else? Also do you care about your career or you just want to earn some extra money on the side?
I hope I am not offending anyone.
September 17, 2008 at 6:45 am
My reason is that I retired from full time work and I wanted to transtition to full time retirement.
September 17, 2008 at 6:47 am
I do have a seperate business that I manage during the two days a week that I am not working with the databases. And for me, it's incredibly healthy to be working a variety of tasks. I still consider myself the full-time DBA for the firm; I just arrange it so that I can fulfill those duties working on-site three days a week and handling any emergent issues remotely (via VPN).
It takes a bit different attitude. It is a career because I put a lot of energy and pride into doing it well. But it's not an arena where I am seeking to advance, except in the specific case of developing more skills and providing more value as a
DBA for my employer. BTW--having these limited objectives is very liberating. No office politics, no anguish over the size of my pay increases, etc. Everyone in the office just seems to be glad that I am taking care of that aspect of the business.
elliott
September 17, 2008 at 10:33 pm
My reason to work part time is my young child. I'd not work at all and be a fulltime mum if I could, but like everyone I have a mortgage and bills to pay.
However I am still updating my skills at present to become MCTS in SQL2005 as I understand I need to stay current (I study after little people go to bed).
My personal priorites have changed and I'd rather be on call 24 x 7 to my kid than add the extra pressure of also being on call to my employer as well , as I already know which one I'd give the first reponse to.
When my kid goes to school and is more independent, I'll be able to better able to juggle the extra work and responsibilites of full time work without having a guilt trip that I've in some way abandoned my child to make a quick buck.
Adonia
September 18, 2008 at 5:58 am
I would like to work part-time because I have two young children and would like to have better balance between work and family. (It sounds so cliche but it is true.) I actually really like what I do and I don't want to give it up to stay at home full-time. I do care about my career and take pride in my work. I get excited when I solve/fix a problem at work, just as I do when my children accomplish something new on their own. I feel like I would be a better employee (and probably mom! :)) if I had a little more wiggle room in my schedule.
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