I would agree with both Dan and Cary. As an 'old school DBA' having worked in the same position for nearly 15 years I often feel that I don't have the opportunity to broaden my experience 'under fire' if you will. I've often wished, and asked the University to investigate, the possibility of an occasional 3 month internship with a another company (faculty get sabbaticals after all). I think (although I might be holding too high an expectation) that the different experience I would pick up there and be able to bring back would be most useful. Granted, I have to learn new things regularly but nevertheless in the same environment. I'm not sure I am articulating well but I often felt that I learned the most when placed in a new environment. Just my $0.02. Thanks. Bill Wagman Univ. of California at Davis IET Campus Data Center wjwagman@xxxxxxxxxxx (530) 754-6208 From: oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Cary Millsap Sent: Friday, April 03, 2009 8:07 AM To: Oracle-L Freelists Subject: Re: DBA Skill tree To amplify Dan's point a little bit, I don't remember where I saw the quote, but somewhere I've read: "You don't have twenty years of experience. You have only one year of experience twenty times." I think that's important. Cary Millsap http://method-r.com http://carymillsap.blogspot.com http://www.twitter.com/cary_millsap On Fri, Apr 3, 2009 at 9:56 AM, Rajeev Prabhakar <rprabha01@xxxxxxxxx<mailto:rprabha01@xxxxxxxxx>> wrote: Fellow Listers, I have time and again come to believe that good old values like solid research, due diligence, initiative, dedication and ultimately your judgement related to problem solving is the key. The old or new school classification of the DBAs is a red herring.. My 2cents, Rajeev -- //www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l