Copyright 2004-2007 David Russell
Throughout the life-cycle of any software product there are operational changes taking place. They should be planned toward reducing costs vs. dying a painful death, usually after throwing tons of money at the patches and upgrades.
You may currently have a programmer acting as DBA, or perhaps you have not had a DBA for six months to a year. If development is almost finished and there are still people around with knowledge, it needs to be captured. At some point there is a long list of things you need for the next 15 operational years, or longer, look at banks and COBOL.
Bring me in to review, monitor, or maintain some aspect of your database environment. It does not have to be a lead position within your organization as long as it has a stated purpose to a named individual, preferably you. We will add the details to our agreed statement of work as an anticipated outcome, and we will report regularly as to the progress.
Do you like to "hire from within"? Do you have someone in mind who might become a DBA? If only you could see them for awhile and see how much effort they were willing to put into it. Want to give them some hands-on training on your databases? Because of the nature of learning there is a constant need to document. During normal modes, documentation can get behind. During training/evaluation mode, things get done.
This can be an entry-level position! Yes, entry-level. A $35,000 salary is sufficient and with minimal annual recognition you should be able to keep this employee for years. This is a wonderful opportunity for someone to get their foot solidly in the door at your company.
Training is the basis for success as a DBA. What is important to look for? What sort of things are problems that need to be addressed by others? What can safely be ignored? Can you recover what you need? Or is there good reason for no recovery under some circumstance? What are the routines? The DBA needs to learn what politics are important, as well as to understand the rules.
All of these things can be taught.
Promising entry-level jobs are so rare that many recruiters are willing to refer friends, or applicants they otherwise can’t find a job for, for free. I’m not suggesting that you should take advantage of friendships, or that you should avoid paying fees when we are a fee based service also. This is not the level of job to be fee paid.
Two or three applicants and you will see the quality from the start. Give them an interview assignment to write instructions for a peanut-butter-jelly sandwich, and then see how they progress. Do they ask questions? Or do they just blindly write? Do they use features of the medium? What medium?
There is no way to guarantee performance on this training, as anyone can fail. A lot can happen during training, and a student can go from bad to worse and still achieve excellence in the end. Three to six months to create someone capable of caring for YOUR databases with “first line” support is an achievable accomplishment.
You hire the trainee and he or she will help with documentation of your systems 50% of the time. Documentation will be placed in some form of repository: PDF files, website, or other library.
This really works. Let’s talk about it. I have trained government employees at various levels in the Pentagon. I taught office automation to GS/GM employees for the Army Materiel Command. I have taught small groups of developers and other technical users in technology issues. And I have taught larger groups in Administration at UCSD extension.
Oh! Yes! I have trained DBAs.
Last Revised: April 2007