Re: Remote DBA

Gabriel,

  Well I'm actually looking for the opposite... I'd like to stick to the
technical side of DBA and not the people management side that large
companies try to enforce... furthermore, I live in Argentina, so for me it
makes a lot of sense to work for a US or EU based company, earn in U$D,
Euros, Swiss Francs or Pounds and spend in Pesos... I know very few people
who achieve this and they are usually managers in large companies that have
been sent to AR.

  I'm trying to figure out whether it's possible to do it as a DBA (perhaps
not right now, since I'm involved in a few interesting projects) but as a
carreer prospet it's attractive. I'm used to working remotely in both ways,
I'm never near the servers, I have a laptop and connect through SSH if I
need to work locally on a server or use one of the several administration
tools (EMGC, SQLDeveloper and some happy times even toad) and I can do that
both from the office and from home.

  When I'm in the office, I usually get distracted (most of all by my boss)
every 10 minutes. When I work from home (I live alone) I can focus 100% on
what I'm doing. On those days my boss usually gets three or four questions
together and then calls me... :-P which is a real time saver...

  I consider myself in the lone ranger category, I like problems and I like
solving them... however, being constantly distracted or having to switch
contexts too often (working and solving 20 problems a day) has a huge drain
on me and I end up really tired... I usually prefer getting deep into two or
three problems until I solve them, and then tackle other problems...

  I've found all your comments very helpful and interesting.
Alan.-


On Mon, Sep 27, 2010 at 11:18 AM, Aragon, Gabriel (GE, Corporate,
consultant) <gabriel.aragon@xxxxxx> wrote:

>  I've been working as a remote dba for almost all my professional
> experience, also I have contact with many dba's from several countries,
> India, Spain, Mexico, etc.. I think your questions has many things involved,
> first of all, are you planning to hire independent dba's or otusourcing
> companies which give dba services? no matter if we are talking about a COE
> service or individual dba services. Also pls keep in mind that when you have
> some dba's working remotely, they may be at the same office (same projects,
> different projects same customer, different customers) and have the
> oportunity to work as a team helping each other to solve issues. At this
> moment Im working with dba's in several countries and also in several cities
> in those countries, and sometimes working part of time from home, that is,
> coming to office until noon and then finishing day from home, also working
> on oncall schedules where barely coming to office, that is afterhours or
> weekends, very important is that they can be reachable as needed, that is
> all of them having mobile phones in their countries, off course depending on
> service level agreements. Many companies are moving to this approach, I
> think due to price.
>
> Now, besides the location of your team, you need to be sure to make a very
> good interview to candidates, or having in every location a "lone ranger"
> mentoring several "ticket closers" which can grow to the next level, that is
> a good approach that makes high performance teams. Also Im sure you know
> that sometimes a very good interview may give you a very good technical guy
> but it doesnt mean the candidate will be a problem solver or a
> "communicator" or a leader per se.
>
> In summary, you need to look for a good outsoursing company or independent
> candidates with trustable recommendations to start making your team, anyway
> you will need a couple of tries before getting the correct people, and even
> when getting the correct people you will also have to deal with people
> leaving companies very oftenly.
>
> HTH
> Gabriel
>
>
>
>  ------------------------------
> *From:* oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:
> oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] *On Behalf Of *Guillermo Alan Bort
> *Sent:* Domingo, 26 de Septiembre de 2010 04:27 p.m.
>
> *To:* oracle-l-freelists
> *Subject:* Remote DBA
>
> Hi List,
>
>     I've been reading a lot about remote DBA services, these appear to be
> companies based on different locations that provide customers with DBA
> services while having all the DBAs physically in one location (or a limited
> number of locations). These services are usually hired by companies whose
> primary focus isn't IT.
>
>     My question now is...would this work in reverse? Having several DBAs
> working out of their own homes in whatever city or country they want for a
> single company (or for one of the remote DBA services)? I understand the
> complexities of having people without Green Cards or working VISAS working
> for US based companies, even if they are now physically in the US.
>
>     This one may be for recruiters or decision makers: Would you hire
> somebody you've never met (or met only by phone) who lives in another
> country (worst case) and whose experience you can't verify if they asked for
> half of what an on-site DBA would?
>
> Thanks in advance
> Alan.-
>

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