I agree with the technical guys. Sure, in general businesses want DBA's to be communicate more on the business level... but for those that don't need the big bucks... well lets just say, if you can't live without a DBA, then you need them. Even with the 'GUI', who is actually going to recover. (the outsource from India of course). But there are just loads of things to do technically in oracle. Believe me, as the sole DBA in the last two companies, I can assure you that keeping up is hard to do. Let along know all the moving parts. Joel Patterson Database Administrator joel.patterson@xxxxxxxxxxx x72546 904 727-2546 -----Original Message----- From: oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Ranko Mosic Sent: Monday, March 03, 2008 9:25 PM To: Oracle-L Freelists Subject: Oracle DBA future Hi List, Bit defeatist and off-topic, I admit, but I'd like to hear what's the opinion on future of our profession and which way to go. My experiences: 1995 - Oracle DBA collegaue says: it will all be automated - no DBA's needed ( no real threat, now we know) 1999 y2k, no work, Yourdon predicts y2k/programmer Armageddon; I work both as Oracle DBA and programmer, just to survive 2001/2 we know what happened; IT doesn't matter ( Carr ); that ended too 2007 I experienced firsthand offshoring to India ( works quite well ) What I read in trade press is that DBA's and geeks in general can't be just technical any more, we must get into business side. What does list think ? If we all must be more business savvy, what's the best way to get into it from where we are now ? Data modeling ? Suggestions, ideas, thoughts please. -- Regards, Ranko Mosic Consultant Senior Oracle DBA B. Eng, Oracle 10g, 9i Certified Database Professional Phone: 416-450-2785 email: mosicr@xxxxxxxxxx http://ca.geocities.com/mosicr@xxxxxxxxxx/ContractSeniorOracleDBARankoMo sicMain.html -- //www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l -- //www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l