Re: DBA Skill tree
- From: Jonathan Intner <jsidba@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: Mark.Bobak@xxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 3 Apr 2009 12:28:18 -0400
Hi All:
That's a good point, that is, all that experience or certifications do is
provide evidence of expertise. This evidence can then be shown to be
accurate (or inaccurate) by interviewing the candidate and, assuming the
interview is successful, hiring the candidate and reviewing their work over
time.
Personally, I think its a matter of looking at a combination of experience,
education and certifications to determine good candidates to interview and
then asking the same set of detailed, technical questions of all candidates
to be able to compare skill sets. However, the proof is always 6 months
after the person is hired and you see how they recover a corrupt database!
I have also seen several exceptions to any rule: I recall the traffic on
this list many years ago ridiculing a candidate who said the equivalent of
"5 years' experience with 11g" today and one of the best Pro*C-PL/SQL
Developers I ever worked with was handed the version 6 SQL Language
Reference when he boarded the plane in India and came off the plane an
expert (I found this out years later, when I saw the person at another place
that he'd never seen Oracle before he read that book on the plane!).
Just my $.01,
Jonathan
On Fri, Apr 3, 2009 at 12:14 PM, Bobak, Mark <Mark.Bobak@xxxxxxxxxxxx>wrote:
> Ok, fair enough. It’s probably more accurate to say “competency”.
>
>
>
> -Mark
>
>
>
> *From:* Dan Norris [mailto:dannorris@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
> *Sent:* Friday, April 03, 2009 12:08 PM
> *To:* Bobak, Mark
> *Cc:* kerry.osborne@xxxxxxxxxxx; Oracle L
> *Subject:* Re: DBA Skill tree
>
>
>
> I'd again have to disagree on using experience as a measuring tool of
> anything. I think instead of experience, you mean proficiency or competency
> (hope I'm not putting words into your keyboard). I'm sure we can all think
> of people we've known or worked with in the past that were "experienced" but
> not competent to perform the tasks that were part of their job. At least I
> can. Part of my work is made possible by those fine individuals :).
>
> Dan
>
> Bobak, Mark wrote:
>
> Going along w/ Kerry’s comments about a certain threshold of experience
> being important, it seems to me, the best people are the ones who have at
> least some level of experience as C programmers and unix admins **before**
> entering the DBA arena.
>
>
>
> Honestly, if someone asked me the required skills to be a great DBA,
> they’d be:
>
> Good solid understanding of algorithms and data structures
>
> 3-5 years experience as a C programmer
>
> 3-5 years experience doing unix admin
>
> 2-3 years doing storage admin
>
> 2-3 years doing Oracle development (SQL, PL/SQL, Pro*C, Java, etc)
>
>
>
> If someone starts with that base of experience, and can manage to enter the
> DBA field and still be curious and interested in learning, they’ll soar to
> the top in no time. Then, it becomes a matter of staying there. Staying
> engaged, interested, and ready to learn more. Cause you know the next
> Oracle release is always around the corner, and ready to unleash a bunch of
> new features.
>
>
>
> -Mark
>
>
>
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