Oracle 11g automated many dba tasks.

WHat do you think the future of the oracle dba in terms of job stability. DO you think it is a good field to pursue or the demand will be in web and database application development instead.

I think most Oracle DBAs out there do not have 20%-30% of the knoweldge you have. If you would make horrible DBA who would be a good one.

I still have not met a good one yet...still looking.

I agree database development is much more exciting field that database administration. It is a good skill to have because many future jobs (if exist) will require various skills. Many jobs might only need 2 hours a day DBA work. They cant hire a full time person for that.

Dear Reader,

I guess your comments apply to everyone in general. I am a DBA (know quite a bit about developement, though I have never worked as a Developer). Just picked up a fair bit of knowledge & skills by reading, trying, following forums like AskTom, etc.

I am yet to come accross a good "Developer" myself. Still looking.... :)

(I dont prefer to consider Tom as a Developer or DBA or any such combination. He is in a diff league of his own and that is not easy to achieve.)

I have helped a LOT of developers correct their code (SQL, Stored Objects) and tune it.

Speaking in general, there are not enough good Investment Bankers either (eventhough they have passed out from some of the BEST MBA universities in the world). Proof : The recent "Great Recession".

I am not trying to project myself as good DBA, I am just doing my job and I love every bit of it. That is what pushes me to learn, improve myself and strive harder.

But that is true for a lot of us.

Cheers,
"Just another DBA"

That is true too. Good Developers are not easy to find these days...

If you want sloppy ones that create maintenance nightmares, who write 1000s of lines of code when you can get the same output in a few lines, you can find a ton of them.

My development job has been cleaning up spagetti code crap written by others. We had a develoepr that wrote 3000 lines of code for one report that took 6 minutes to run while user is waiting.

I rewrote it in 300 lines and it runs in 5-10 seconds.

so yes, there are a lot of nightmare coders...that sometimes it is better to do things manually (paper and pen).

You are right about Tom.. He must be from a different planet than this "Earth" planet.

If you compare other people to him, then everyone is bad.

I have worked with databases for a long time (almost 20 years). Have worked as DBA, developer, architect, tuner, and even as sys admin. Although there are many half-baked DBAs out there in the field, I have worked with some really good DBAs too. Although it is hard to find DBAs who are experts in all aspects of DBA roles (development, operations, infrastructure, tuning etc), there are many DBAs who are pretty good for the roles they are assigned and that includes a decent understanding of the applications. In comparison, it is really hard to find developers who have a good understanding of the databases. There are several out there with good coding and analytical skills and can write functionally correct code as per design specs, when it comes to designing and writing applications for large scale deployment, database performance, high concurrency etc, they usually don't have a good enough understanding of the database to do a good job at that.

I would say there are 2 main types of DBA. The Sys Admin/DBA and the Developer/DBA, reflecting the main area they originally came from. I don't believe you can just be a DBA without having significant expertise in either systems administration or database development.

The admin type will be more concentrated in the systems architecture(storage, clustering, redundancy), operations, backups/recovery,system monitoring, upgrades, patching etc..

The developer type will concentrate more on application architecture(entity design,code architecture, coding, business requirements), performance tuning/monitoring etc..

The 2 roles will crossover in many ways depending on the actual needs of the role, but ideally I can see a good need to have both types if possible with a significant overlap in the central DBA type area. From my experience I would say the admin type is what many people think of as DBA while the Development DBA role is at least equally important and in my opinion more interesting. The development DBA is in the ideal position to bridge the often very separately defined development and operations
areas.

Tom:

You are a very *modest* person too.

You really think that your *Knowledge* and *Intelligence* and *Expertise* and *Analytical skills* match up with other people who have been working for 23 years. Give me a break!

I can tell you that I met a lot of people who *supposedly* have been working for 20+ years and know nothing - Zippo. They mainly cause problems with their ignorance and stupidity and not reading oracle manuals or books.

Now, the users here say there are some good dba s and some bad DBA s.

What makes a good or bad DBA is relative. It is based on each person standard and bias. Many people will make a person good because they like him or because he speaks their langage.

But in reality, I guess you can say a good knowledgable DBA should be able to pass the Oracle DBA certification exams.

I think 80% of the DBAs out there will fail/flunk the exams.

I beg to differ (agree on Tom though)

Certification, by any means, is not a benchmark for how good a DBA is. Trust me when I say that since I have experienced it first hand. BTW, Tom is not certified.

You would not believe how people pass the OCP exams; "0" DBA Knowledge, "0" or negligible experience. They just pass it using the Dumps available freely, memorise it and get the certification. Well, we should not blame them as it has become sort of a fashion now, as a LOT (& LOT) of companies request for certified DBAs (Developers, Project Managers [just name it]).

They assume Certified := Good.
I guess it is a shame were a talent is judged based on the Certification rather on their skills.

Cheers,
"OCP DBA"

Sure, that can be true

I have seen people with Bachelors degree who cant write a paragraph or think logically.

I believe there are two things that will make a good DBA

1) Knowledge - you have to read & digest a lot manuals/books
2) Practice - you have to do apply the knowledge hands-on

The certification will test the knowledge (not practice).

Some might be able to memorize the questions.

If DBA certification has become pretty easy as you describe I am going to get one. I passed the developer certification but i have not had the DBA tests. I have seen the books for it though. It takes months to study. It is not that easy.

intersting article about lack of Quality DBA

http://vdevraj.blogspot.com/2006/09/dba-job-growth-statistics-are.html

According to Forbes the DBA career is growing and #12 on the hottest jobs. The salary listed does not make much sense though

http://www.forbes.com/2007/03/09/jobs-boomers-labor-lead-careers_cx_hc_0309jobs_slide_13.html?thisSpeed=15000

Hi All,

This is Raaj from chennai, I need guidance of Oracle DBA, Because right now i am in SQL SERVER DBA. I would like to change to Oralce DBA. If any one like to help me, Kindly call me at 91+ 9940024192

I have 2 yrs exp on oracle DBA, right now am working on Mysql DBA. what will be the growth in Mysql DBA. please tell me.
Which one is good and feature.

In response to DBA, I would like to draw attention of reader of this wonderful site.
As we all know today's market is growing really fast and various of DATABASE products are coming in the market. Some of the present database's customers are going for less man power. That is, they want to "minimize or remove" the job of a DBA. They claim those products are so highly optimized. Now, for database warehouse application, they say they would like to process data from such a database where retrieval is done fast. Me along with my friends were having a discussion that why some I Banks prefer database which stores/process data on column basis (like Sybase etc) unlike ORACLE which stores row wise. Please consider mercy on me, if I am saying anything wrong. That is the reason , I am presenting my views here to be corrected. They were even saying some more DB products are coming which are of less cost and with application (Data warehouse) those DB are performing well, like latest SAP product HANA. They say it's performance is highly optimized in many ways and the database is design so.

My question is, ORACLE really an under performer compared to those DB for warehouse application?
Is Oracle really a less performer than column based databases?

Specially to Tom, Please help me (us) to know the actual facts..
There are plenty of questions are roaming in my mind, but I just can't frame those here!! I am not sure whether I have asked or presented my interest here properly..

-Regards,
An ORACLE FAN, who is trying to be DBA

Hi Friends,
I am working in L1 n/w team.I wanna be a ORACLE/SQL dba.i cant gain experience regarding day-to-day activities(Backup,patch,installation)....how can i be familiar with those activities?..........how can i become dba?

help me.....

I have to agree with you that being a full time DBA is not nearly as fun a job as developing. As a developer you get to solve problems for people. They come to you with a problem and a frown and, a few keystrokes later, leave with a solution and a smile. Instant gratification.

A DBA's life is more like that of a security guard. A good day is one that is uneventful and boring. If things are getting exciting, that is because something has gone horribly wrong. Even worse is that developers can be seen producing code. A DBA just sits and watches performance data trying to find problems before they occur and trying to pro-actively prevent them. He tests and retests his backup and recovery plans. He reads up on the new features and changes that will affect his next upgrade. He tests his upgrade procedures to the point he can do it in his sleep, because that will be the time he will have to perform the upgrade for real. No one can see what a DBA is doing between crises.