Today is International DBA Appreciation Day! Go hug your local DBA (if they’ll let you!) There have been many articles about the death of the DBA, the evolution of the DBA, how to feed a DBA, etc.
Rob Sewell has posted on the many meanings of the DBA acronym, and let us not forget that it also means “Doing Business As” to the greater population! So what kind of a business are we doing?
In my promised and upcoming Business Continuity video series, I mentioned some of the details of being a DBA (seriously, they were in the can, but then I was asked if I could improve my looks, so I’m going to let my cat speak as she’s better looking! They will be released soon!
DBAs are certainly different animals and there are different types of DBAs, the core DBA (like me), the Application DBA, the Developer DBA, and the Accidental DBA. Even though my job title was made DBA in the year 2000, I didn’t think I was really a DBA until about 2003. It’s more than learning how to administer an RDBMS or how to tune an application, it’s that knowledge of the environment, the application, the users, and the business drivers. I think that most Senior IT staff will have a similar understanding of all of those pieces, but the DBA needs to know the data as well. Not only do they know what and where it is, they SHOULD have a really good idea of where it’s running, what it needs, and how it can best be used by the business. If you don’t know these things, go learn them – NOW. Seriously. If you want to be “just a DBA”, then just know how to do the basics of the job. If you want to be “the DBA”, learn, grow, communicate, and understand the business! Not only does it help you do your job, but it adds value to the position and it WILL help you during trying times.
I asked “what kind of a business are we doing?” It really does depend… As DBAs, we need to reach out and communicate. We need to be hungry for knowledge. We need to be flexible and patient. We need to be understanding. And most importantly, we need to want to grow and evolve. If you stop learning, you’re going backward.
My first real IT boss told me about when he interviewed for a job. The interviewer told him “I can teach you anything you need to know for the job, but I can’t teach you how to work hard and how to work with other people”. I’m paraphrasing a bit, but I still hold that true to my heart. I am persistent. I do like working with other people. These are important things that we all need to remember as they will help you in life, not just in the job.
Happy Fourth of July!
