Re: Are Oracle GUIs causing a decline in DBA salaries?

forbrich_at_telusplanet.net said...
> Why of course ... grab the mouse, cover your eyes, point and click. What could be easier? Mind you, it's insane
> but who said anything about needing to do real DBA work?
>
> It's management's perception that counts. And if management thinks it can be done in 1/2 the time and at 1/2 the
> cost with 1/2 the expertise using GUI, they have the right to pay for what they get <g>
>

I'm sorry, but I must be missing something here. Why are GUI users equated with unskilled, rank amateurs? Why is something that makes my job easier a bad thing? And what's wrong with providing tools to assist those who ain't an old goat like me (eg, newbie DBAs)?

I didn't use GUIs with Oracle 5, 6, or 7 ... any more than I used a GUI to write my Fortran or Cobol programs ... but I don't see how a DBA who uses a GUI today is _less_ skilled than one who doesn't. Using the command line doesn't make a DBA _more_ skilled than one who doesn't.

And in many cases, using a GUI does allow a DBA to do some tasks in half the time. If there's a GUI tool that helps me do my job, I use it. If there isn't a GUI tool available, then I do it the old-fashioned way.

This idea that "real men don't use GUIs" is an old myth.

Let the flames begin!

-- 
/Karsten
DBA > retired > DBA