Introduction

This blog will extol the virtues of the DBA lifestyle. That is to say, I will be writing about the world of databases and whatever needs venting.

I have no purpose, nor even a desire, for this blog. I am thinking that it will probably be a seldom updated and heavily biased journal of my database administration. Yeah, a work diary; thanks for making that sound lame.

I am proud to be a DBA. I have been dealing with databases most of my professional career. I became a DBA way too young--my early 20's. I had four absolutely amazing mentors, the likes of which I have never met. I love what I do.

The misuse of the title really annoys me. You are probably not a DBA if you consider Microsoft Access to be a DBMS or think that prefixing tablenames with 't' or 'tbl' or anything to indicate that it is a 'table' is a good idea. Creating a table or two for an application does not make you a DBA. Nor does a certification a DBA make.

I do not think that you have to know each normal form to be a DBA. I do not think that working on one DBMS or another makes you more nor less of a DBA. I do not think that every DBA needs to be well versed in the relational model. I recognize that not every database administrator is interested in the design and theory of the relational model. I do not think that you need to care about all facets of databases to be a good DBA; nor do I think caring about all facets makes you a good DBA.

Personally, I think that there is more to being a database administrator than DBMS installation and configuration and backups--a lot more. We can use titles like database architects, developers, designers or any other term/phrase (I often refer to myself as a data monkey) that sounds good this season. As a consultant, I understand specialization and titles. I also understand that all of these roles are part of database administration. And all aspects of database management are fascinating (and most of them are enjoyable) to me. Because of this, I do not take what I do for granted. It makes me angry when people trivialize database administration or claim the title without understanding what it entails.

As database administrators, we need to keep the circle strong. Strive to know your product(s), understand your data, know the terminology (but don't use it to intimidate people), know the best practices, learn the theory and always seek a logical answer (they are usually the simplest).

Never forget to represent DBA4Life.