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Dorfdad
Starting Member
1 Post |
 Posted - 2010-02-26 : 11:16:10
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| 2nd time in 5 years I have been laid off due to the economy taking a hit. Iv'e been a PC repair / Windows NT admin for 10+ years and now I see I need to make a career change. Im not made for the running from site to site stuff anymore. I have had experience with installing SQL servers, setting up flat file backups and some restores. That is about the extent of my DBA skills.I'm looking for some members of this site to please give me some helpful books or training that I can do quickly to get me to understand some basic functions and how-to's for being a DBA. I understand its not a 21 days to DBA kind of thing, but I am applying for some entry level DBA positions with my Admin Background to help me, and I need to read up and do some DBA functions on my home servers etc...Thanks in advance for the answers, and I look forward to posting here quite often on my journey! |
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russell
Pyro-ma-ni-yak
5072 Posts |
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GilaMonster
Master Smack Fu Yak Hacker
4507 Posts |
Posted - 2010-02-26 : 12:13:52
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| http://www.brentozar.com/becoming-a-dba/how-to-get-a-junior-dba-job/--Gail ShawSQL Server MVP |
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willtech10577
Starting Member
8 Posts |
Posted - 2010-02-26 : 12:58:24
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| Yeah, I am in the same boat you are in Dorfdad. Luckly I havent been laid off yet in my IT exp but its starting to get to a point where career-wise and money-wise, I am getting tired doing mundane desktop chores. Apparantly a Systems Administrator is simply a desktop technician with benefits.For me I am still constantly reading ebooks and playing with SQL 2008 and install an app that uses SQL to store its files so I can see how it works in a production enviornment. |
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Kristen
Test
22859 Posts |
Posted - 2010-02-26 : 13:41:53
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Maybe we should have a Wanna-Be protocol here.The Wanna-Be posts a response to a question "Working on it ..." and then overwrites that post with "Solution="Others would hold off to give the Wanna-Be time for a crack at it, the re-post would mark the Thread as new, in the ACTIVE list, so other regulars would see it second time around and could then make other suggestions.Having said that Wanna-Be's are free to take the original question, work up a solution, and then compare it against the answers others have given, I suppose ...In additional to Backup Skills (where the "skill" part is making sure that the backup is a) continuing to be made and b) is actually Recoverable, rather than just making sure that the Backup is actually made in the first place!), I reckon that reasonable skills in Query Optimisation would get you Consultant Money rather than just DBA money  Perhaps I should run a one-day-course for "10% of your first year earnings" ...  |
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russell
Pyro-ma-ni-yak
5072 Posts |
Posted - 2010-02-26 : 14:15:01
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| lol good idea |
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RobertKaucher
Posting Yak Master
169 Posts |
Posted - 2010-03-01 : 08:42:32
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| If I might make a suggestion, I think the following bookhttp://www.amazon.com/Server-2005-Street-Smarts-Certification/dp/0470083492/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1267450613&sr=8-2fits in with the skill set for a junior DBA as described here:http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Miscellaneous/howtobeagooddbastrategyandtactics/1302/This book looks like it is going to be an updated version of the above for SQL Server 2008http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0470554207/ref=oss_product |
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blindman
Master Smack Fu Yak Hacker
2365 Posts |
Posted - 2010-03-01 : 12:20:40
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quote:
Originally posted by KristenPerhaps I should run a one-day-course for "10% of your first year earnings" ...
I will offer the same course for 9% of first year earnings, plus I will let everyone go home an hour early.Also, I will provide doughnuts. Mmmmmm.....________________________________________________If it is not practically useful, then it is practically useless.________________________________________________ |
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Michael Valentine Jones
Yak DBA Kernel (pronounced Colonel)
7020 Posts |
Posted - 2010-03-01 : 15:50:43
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quote:
Originally posted by Dorfdad
2nd time in 5 years I have been laid off due to the economy taking a hit. Iv'e been a PC repair / Windows NT admin for 10+ years and now I see I need to make a career change. Im not made for the running from site to site stuff anymore. I have had experience with installing SQL servers, setting up flat file backups and some restores. That is about the extent of my DBA skills.I'm looking for some members of this site to please give me some helpful books or training that I can do quickly to get me to understand some basic functions and how-to's for being a DBA. I understand its not a 21 days to DBA kind of thing, but I am applying for some entry level DBA positions with my Admin Background to help me, and I need to read up and do some DBA functions on my home servers etc...Thanks in advance for the answers, and I look forward to posting here quite often on my journey!
DBA are probably just as likely to get laid off a someone else. Maybe more likely, since they usually make more money.CODO ERGO SUM |
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tkizer
Almighty SQL Goddess
38200 Posts |
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robvolk
Most Valuable Yak
15732 Posts |
Posted - 2010-03-02 : 07:06:57
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I can also attest to the fact that being a DBA is not always all it's cracked up to be. If you are good at SQL, you get to clean up a whole bunch of other people's bad SQL. Which you told them was bad, and how to fix it, but they didn't have time.And even though you've rewritten all the SQL in a database(s), and fixed tables for performance and/or simplicity, and hacked 3rd party DB apps so that they actually work, and have been around a while and even understand the business, since you're "just a DBA" you don't know anything about application architecture or system integration, or any other new projects where you might learn (or teach) something valuable. And oh yeah, there's this report the client needs right away, and you know the data, can you do this?  I do think the economy is picking up a bit, and it seems some companies are realizing that cost-cutting their DBAs was not a good idea and are coming back around to hiring them. |
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GilaMonster
Master Smack Fu Yak Hacker
4507 Posts |
Posted - 2010-03-02 : 09:48:23
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| The other problem I'm seeing is companies, not realising how much there is to a DBA, hire the guys asking the least and get people who know absolutely nothing. Then later, if they get someone decent in, they get to fix up all the mess left behind.It does look like things are picking up. I'm quite a bit busier than I was this time last year and it seems less of a struggle to get people to approve projects. We'll see.--Gail ShawSQL Server MVP |
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RobertKaucher
Posting Yak Master
169 Posts |
Posted - 2010-03-03 : 18:47:04
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quote:
Originally posted by GilaMonster
The other problem I'm seeing is companies, not realising how much there is to a DBA, hire the guys asking the least and get people who know absolutely nothing. Then later, if they get someone decent in, they get to fix up all the mess left behind....--Gail ShawSQL Server MVP
And don't forget that the new guy will have a hell of a time actually being productive as he is too busy putting out fires or applying bandaids to actually do any real work! I had a job like that once. I hated it. I lasted 4 months. The guy who came after me also lasted 4 months. |
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Tired of getting laid off- I want to be a DBA!