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Home -> Community -> Mailing Lists -> Oracle-L -> Re: Cary's book
I would like to comment on point 3) are "traditional dba's" endangered.
I think a DBA in a pure operational capacity could be in trouble. There will be a need for this type, but it might not be in your company or country providing this service. I think we need to expand beyond the boundaries of the services that people think a DBA would perform.
By and Large, the majority of DBA's I have met have been in the IT business for 10 yrs or more. Often, out of the application development or System Software management. This gives us a breadth of knowledge and experience that goes beyond what people think a DBA does. Many of the DBA's I have known could just have easily been Technical Architects, Advisors, Consultants beyond "the database".
I like what I do, but if I was just doing Backup/Restore/Build/Update/Install/tuning I would be bored out of my mind. I spend much of my time acting as a technical liaison between Management and our service provider or helping in research for project proposals, assisting in project planning or guiding developers.
The "DBA's" I have known and this list has the type, have knowledge that is very valuable beyond the database. I think if we want to stay employed we have to expand beyond knowing what the X$ tables are and how to tweak an obscure widget. The deep internals knowledge might be exciting, but to the typical manager it becomes difficult to justify the big dollars DBA's command to study some arcane item that doesn't have a visible pay back.
Heck, I bet most clients/management only think of the DBA's when things blow up and then not necessarily in a positive way.
>From: Mladen Gogala <mladen_at_wangtrading.com>
>Reply-To: ORACLE-L_at_fatcity.com
>To: Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L <ORACLE-L_at_fatcity.com>
>Subject: Cary's book
>Date: Fri, 03 Oct 2003 07:14:33 -0800
>
>I enjoy immensely reading Cary's book, but I have some questions that
>I want to ask publicly. Recently, I made a comment about Chris Lawson's
>book being a "Dale Carnegie book for a DBA" and now I see that Cary is
>also advising feeding the hungry business users ("buy him a sandwich").
>
>It is true that many problems are consequences of inadequate
>communication, general lack of business knowledge in the "computer geek
>culture" and even disdain for it, but, in my opinion, many problems are
>also a consequence of incompetent managers ("damagers"), office
>politics, and hard times. Hard times present problems because people do
>not want to pay for a competent DBA but frequently hire a shaman or a
>witch doctor who "improves" on the system based on snake oil type
>techniques. If I cannot get more money then some bozo after a
>performance tuning course (example from Chris Lawson's book), why bother
>reading and investing into myself? A cynical geekish attitude and the
>"old boys" network will do just as well.
>Characteristics of the "performance analyst", as described in the book,
>are the ones of the field general (has the overview of the whole
>problem, motivates, manages the problem) but performance analysts
>frequently work for the drill sergeants who mostly care how are they
>dressed (you guessed it, I hate neckties) and did they show up early
>enough.
>
>Now, after having indulged into lengthy preamble, let's ask the
>questions:
>
>1) This book is meant for performance analysts. Do you plan on writing
>one for management, as well? If performance analysts are held back by
>the damagement,they cannot perform any of the good work you described in
>your book. You have been both a DBA and a VP, so you have the
>credibility in both roles.
>
>2) Do you foresee a change for the role of a performance analyst in an
>organization to be more of a technical manager and less of a computer
>geek?
>
>3) What will happen to the "traditional DBA"? Are we an endangered
>species? Should I be wary of the poachers?
>
>
>
>
>
>
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>--
>Please see the official ORACLE-L FAQ: http://www.orafaq.net
>--
>Author: Mladen Gogala
> INET: mladen_at_wangtrading.com
>
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-- Please see the official ORACLE-L FAQ: http://www.orafaq.net -- Author: david davis INET: ddoralist_at_hotmail.com Fat City Network Services -- 858-538-5051 http://www.fatcity.com San Diego, California -- Mailing list and web hosting services --------------------------------------------------------------------- To REMOVE yourself from this mailing list, send an E-Mail message to: ListGuru_at_fatcity.com (note EXACT spelling of 'ListGuru') and in the message BODY, include a line containing: UNSUB ORACLE-L (or the name of mailing list you want to be removed from). You may also send the HELP command for other information (like subscribing).Received on Fri Oct 03 2003 - 17:04:26 CDT
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