RE: how to prevent DBA burnout?

Amen!  That's the reason I quit my last job.  I was the one-man-dba-team.  The 
thing that REALLY killed me is that they had an open position for a SR DBA and 
that position was open for more than a 1.5 YEARS!  yeah.  just let the JR DBA 
do all the work.  He's running things alright.  no need to waste extra payroll!

Jeremy
P Consider the environment. Please don't print this e-mail unless you really 
need to.

From: oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On 
Behalf Of Andrew Kerber
Sent: Monday, March 30, 2009 10:37 AM
To: robyn.sands@xxxxxxxxx
Cc: jerry59grp@xxxxxxxxx; Oracle L
Subject: Re: how to prevent DBA burnout?

have at least two dba's, if not, reasonable up-time expectations.  Nothing 
burns out a dba quicker than being on call 24x7, with no one else to take the 
load.
On Mon, Mar 30, 2009 at 9:24 AM, Robyn 
<robyn.sands@xxxxxxxxx<mailto:robyn.sands@xxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
Opportunities to learn ... classes, conferences and the chance to share ideas 
with others dealing with similar problems and environments.  Conferences and 
symposiums are beneficial on multiple levels - cutting training budgets is 
penny wise and pound foolish.

Burnout and boredom go hand in hand.  Doing the same thing the same way over 
and over again burns people out, as does dealing with the same problems day 
after day.

Today's card on indexed is perfect for this question:

http://thisisindexed.com/2009/03/ask-more-questions-youll-feel-better/

On Mon, Mar 30, 2009 at 9:44 AM, Jerry Cunningham 
<jerry59grp@xxxxxxxxx<mailto:jerry59grp@xxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
Hi all...

I came across this question on twitter (http://twitter.com/Michael_Corey). How 
do you prevent DBA burnout?

I know there are a lot of smart people on this list - any thoughts? I replied 
via my blog (more than 140 chars!)... here are my 2 cents:

===

1) Communicate with them regularly.  Forget business/corporate formality - 
everybody you work with is simply a person. From the security guard at the 
front desk to the CEO. How is life? Are you happy? What is stressing you out? 
If there are problems, what can I do to help?

2) Don't forget how hard it is to find good people. At a previous job, when 
interviewing for a vacancy, I had interviewed for weeks without a promising 
candidate. This made me realize how good the people we had were, and I told 
them so. I told them, that while they were working harder due to the staffing 
shortage, I was not going to settle for less than the high standard they had 
set.

3) If somebody resigns (and you value them) - make them a counter offer 
immediately. It amazes me how often this does not happen. Or, the employee is 
asked "what can I do to keep you?". Too vague - make a concrete offer.
===


Jerry
http://jerrycunningham.wordpress.com<http://jerrycunningham.wordpress.com/>




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