Definition of an Oracle DBA?

[pando]

to be honest I dont know how you define a DBA now days, seems to many developers/analysts a DBA must know everything about Oracle, to management a DBA is just someone which looks useless and costs too much money

[adewri]

cheer up pando :-)
they cant survive without us...

[Sameer]

Originally posted by pando
to management a DBA is just someone which looks useless and costs too much money

May be its because now a days many of them states them as DBA without *really* understanding a term DBA which is quite broad in itself.. its like doing OCP as one of the academic career..

[pando]

Originally posted by Sameer
May be its because now a days many of them states them as DBA without *really* understanding a term DBA which is quite broad in itself.. its like doing OCP as one of the academic career..

I agree but may be the market demand caused this in the last couple of years

[Sameer]

Originally posted by pando
I agree but may be the market demand caused this in the last couple of years

and thus ended up introducing new terms in the market as Senior/Junior DBA or Database operator

[hany]

Originally posted by Sameer
and thus ended up introducing new terms in the market as Senior/Junior DBA or Database operator

I never really understood what a Database operator means, what is his job? what's the difference between a database operator and a database administrator, when someone mentions database operator to me the first thing i can think of is a Data Entry guy (no offense).

for instance if a guy plans a backup strategy, and writes the scripts he's a database administrator, but if a guy's role is to only make sure that backups are taken correctly, and that backups made are valid he's a Junior Database Administrator, i'd never call him a database operator.

Cheers.

[slimdave]

Re prseidents and vice-presidents, if one idiot has prior experience of being an idiot, and the other idiot is new to idioting, does that affect who is the bigger idiot?

[Orca777]

Hi,
what do you mean with DBA?
either

  Database Administrator ??

OR

  Database Assistant ??

I want to know it, i cannot sleep anymore!!!

Orca
;;;;;;--------------)))))))))))))))

[Tarry]

Craig s mullins has written an excellent book about who or wjhat is a dba check out an excerpt...
http://www.dbazine.com/dba_1.html

I personally think that being dba is entirely upto you. Some dba's can make developers sh*t and others can give it a rahter bad name by like pando said someone who does nothing and costs money.
Well you gotta show all what you can do , but it's also dependent upon how is it politically allowed within your environment without burning edges here and there.

Example:
When i joined this firm the db's were running on no arch log mode with no record of backups anywhere. Well that was being done by a dba who was doing it remotely by a "hi-fi oracle partner" shop. I'd say you had a peasant sitting on the throne.

Such retards make a dba job look so darn easy and then they get fired/ or leave and the next dba(who'd do a great job) can clean up his trash and be treated like trash.

So be a dba or don't, don't just mess around with the job profile, the reverberations(good and bad) go beyond your imaginations.

Tarry

[slimdave]

Maybe we need a new thread about crap DBA's.

Another Example:

I interviewed an applicant who listed their current job as DBA, but he did not know whether his databases were running CBO or RBO, and the backup recovery strategy was a nightly full export. H'mmm. Tough choice to make there.