Re: SAHM considering database administration

Cristina Sovereign wrote:
> I am a 36 year old stay at home mom, with eight years paid work
> experience working with Oracle databases at the user level and
> analyzing data, and bachelors degrees in economics and mathematics.
>
> I am considering re-entering the workforce as a database administrator.
> Before I invest time and money retraining and gaining experience, I
> want to be confident that I will have made a sound decision.
>
> Before I move forward, I would like to know the answers to these 9
> questions:
> 1. How many hours on average each week does a dba work?

Depends. Some (rare) jobs are strict 40hrs. Some are 70+. I've seen a couple of new mothers actually do part-time. It is typical to have to work weekends/nights until things are fixed when they break. Sometimes there are a lot of _tough_ hours. I've seen places where they just work the DBA's to death. But overall, it is a high-visibility, rewarding job.

> 2. Am I too old to start in this career?

No. I was at a user group meeting in a large hall a while ago, presenter asked age ranges. Hardly any were under 30.

> 3. Should employment prospects be good in the next 15 years?

Yes, although there are changes going on. Personally, I think the work will increase, but the tasks may be transitioned to other-named jobs.

> 4. Is there ageism in this profession?

Of course. I've seen it both ways. Companies want to pay for two years experience but expect 10 years.

> 5. How long will it be before I start earning at least $38K a year?

Not long 'tall, depending on location. Well paid locations tend to be in expensive large cities. The days of easy 6 figures are gone, but fresh CS grads make more than 38, I believe. See salary.com

> 6. How does one gain entry into this career?

Dumb luck. But seriously, it helps to spend years doing PL/SQL coding. Work for places that use (or expect to use) Oracle. DO NOT expect to spend a few thousand dollars getting "certified" and go right into a job, unless you first find an employer that will pay for you to do that (ie, gummint). User-level use does not count (with the possible exception of "Functional DBA"'s in the Oracle Apps world, who generally do not hang out in this newsgroup).

> 7. What kind of people excel in this career?

Anal-retentives and complusives definitely have an advantage. One must be precise, careful, able to anticipate and recover from any possible mistakes, flexible, creative, diplomatic, trustworthy, loyal, helpful, able to solve complex and obscure problems, inquisitive, follow directions, be able to critically determine when _not_ to follow directions, must be able to anticipate trends, ignore fads, read documentation, research issues, understand theory, know when not to apply it. Some people succeed by being aholes, but that is more a function of their work environment. You definitely have to be able to deal with rock-n-hardplace situations - many peoples livelihoods are on the line with mission-critical systems, and you have to be able to fix things with managers staring over your shoulder. You need to be able to articulate complex computer concepts in a clear, often non-technical manner. I've seen unsuccessful CS grads, and successful musicians, econ types, ex-priests, and various other people with interests too broad-ranging to just be lawyers or doctors. Some people claim to be able to predict or evaluate whether any given person is right for it, I think that is total BS. There is a lot of variance between what companies expect, too. The people I've seen fail mostly have expected to be able to memorize their way through things. Some just plain screw up big time.

> 8. What is the career path?

Dead-end. You better _love_ relational databases.

> 9. Are jobs only plentiful in big cities?

Yes and no. There are many intermediate sized companies that need people with DBA skills, combined with other skills.

>
> If you are a practicing database administrator, would you mind briefly
> responding to some or all of these questions? I would be grateful.

Google this group, there have been a number of conversations on the issue.

jg

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