Re: Critical DBA Skills

  • From: Kenny Payton <k3nnyp@xxxxxxxxx>
  • To: Andrew Kerber <andrew.kerber@xxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Wed, 16 Sep 2015 09:22:29 -0400

I have a slight revision to your response.


"True DBA's are nerds. "

LOL


On Sep 16, 2015, at 9:21 AM, Andrew Kerber <andrew.kerber@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

True. DBA's are nerds.

Sent from my iPad

On Sep 16, 2015, at 7:27 AM, Kenny Payton <k3nnyp@xxxxxxxxx
<mailto:k3nnyp@xxxxxxxxx>> wrote:

#1 Soft skill by far in my experience is Aptitude to learn technology and
motivation to do so.


On Wed, Sep 16, 2015 at 2:27 AM, Herald ten Dam
<Herald.ten.Dam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:Herald.ten.Dam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>>
wrote:
Good point but sof skills are maybe also important. The most important skill
I encounter in my 20 years of Oracle DBO/DBA is the stress factor. If a DBA
cannot cope with stress, I think he can quit the job, it will be a
nightmare. I coached guys who wanted to become DBA, but if they already were
stressed about the educaction or the complexity of a database, I gave the
advice to search for another job to them, although some people managed your
list of skills.

So it is a nice list, but a technical one. So maybe another soft skills list
next to it?

Herald ten Dam
Superconsult

________________________________________
Van: oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
[oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:oracle-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]
namens Stefan Knecht [knecht.stefan@xxxxxxxxx
<mailto:knecht.stefan@xxxxxxxxx>]
Verzonden: dinsdag 15 september 2015 15:54
Aan: Charles Schultz
CC: Andrew Kerber; ORACLE-L
Onderwerp: Re: Critical DBA Skills

Some good point there already Andrew.

One thing I'd add is a basic level of social skills (writing professional
emails, attending or leading a technical phone call with a user or
customer). This is more and more becoming an essential skill to have.

Stefan


On Tue, Sep 15, 2015 at 8:08 PM, Charles Schultz <sacrophyte@xxxxxxxxx
<mailto:sacrophyte@xxxxxxxxx><mailto:sacrophyte@xxxxxxxxx
<mailto:sacrophyte@xxxxxxxxx>>> wrote:
This could turn into a very interesting conversation. Jumping ahead to the
next question, how would one ascertain if these skills have been achieved?
For instance, let us say you are hiring a candidate DBA - do you have them
perform all 11 (or whatever the current number is) tasks as part of the
interview? Can they be credentialed? Certified?

Or in other words, what is the point of calling these "critical"? (playing
the Devil's advocate here *grin*)

I know Dan Morgan at one point had a dream of applying strict standards to
DBAs, not unlike other professions like doctors. I am sure others have had
similar thoughts over the decades. Is there a need to standardize DBA
skills? Is there a need to have a piece of paper that says you passed a
test? What problem are we trying to solve?

I appreciate that you opened the door. Let's see what's on the other side. :)


PS - I would tie this into the OT discussion about digital or open badges,
which some want to see replace resumes.

On Tue, Sep 15, 2015 at 7:59 AM, Andrew Kerber <andrew.kerber@xxxxxxxxx
<mailto:andrew.kerber@xxxxxxxxx><mailto:andrew.kerber@xxxxxxxxx
<mailto:andrew.kerber@xxxxxxxxx>>> wrote:
Last night I put up a blog post at dbakerber.wordpress.com
<http://dbakerber.wordpress.com/><http://dbakerber.wordpress.com
<http://dbakerber.wordpress.com/>> on 11 critical skills for the beginning
DBA. I plan to follow up by covering each skill in more detail. I would also
be interested in comments from others on this list on what they consider
critical DBA skills. You are welcome to comment on my blog, or respond
(privately, unless others think this might be a useful discussion on the
list) to me with your thoughts.

Sent from my iPad--
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--
Charles Schultz

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