PowerPivot – At the SSWUG.ORG Free Expo for January!
Come to the January SSWUG.ORG Expo for SQL Server and PowerPivot! Donald Farmer will be presenting at this free event and will be providing in-depth information on what PowerPivot is all about, how you can use it, what it could mean for your company and a lot more. Make sure you get registered for the January Expo right away – and pass the word to others that will be interested as well – it will be a great event!
About Databases, and Those That Administer Them
Ralph wrote with some feedback on working with databases – then I have a question…
"Based upon my experience, there are those who are experts at understanding the needs of users and organizations, those who are experts at translating those needs into system requirements, those who are experts at translating those requirements into system designs, those who are experts at translating those designs into the designs of all the components needed, and those who are expert at creating the various components of the system. However, there are also those who are most adept at documenting the systems, supporting the systems and the users of the systems, and maintaining the systems. Then there are those who are experts at supporting the infrastructures that allow the systems to exist.
Now, as a component of the over all system, there is the database. In order for the database to come into existence, there needs to be someone who is particularly adept at the creative aspect of database design. In order for the database to be maintained, there is a need for someone who is, frankly, a bit obsessive-compulsive and anal retentive (i.e. very detail oriented and very much into almost ritualistically following a step-by-step set of procedures ;-), especially with regard to things like maintenance plans, back-ups, and the security aspects of the database. In order for the database to operate at its peak performance, there is a need for another sort of creative person who has an almost intuitive insight into the impacts of indexes, the analysis of wait-states, and the creation of queries, triggers, indexes, stored procedures, constraints and other such integral components of the database. Finally, in order for the database to continue to exist and thrive, there is a need for someone who is technically savvy with regard to the various upgrades, service packs, network impacts, etc.
Back at the birth of the term "DBA", most of us who were around did some chuckling because we knew that the above sets of people were required. We also realized that the various descriptions were not likely to be found in any one individual because many of them are absolutely contradictory . . . when was the last time you encountered someone who was extremely detail and ritualistically inclined AND who was also very creating (much less capable of making the intuitive leaps that made for good debugging of abstract performance issues ;-)? Yet, the DBA has become defined (for the most part) by organizations as this all inclusive job title that encompasses all of the aspects of "the job."
After only about 30 years, isn’t it about time that people woke up to the fact that, just as there are different sorts of developers, there are different sorts of "DBAs"? Do we need to develop a different set of job titles/initials before the message can be conveyed?"
Yes! But my question – what successes have people had in explaining this change or need for different ways of addressing how we’re now using databases, with management and within companies? I receive emails on a very regular basis talking about the fact that people’s time is so fragmented that they only pay attention to more traditional DBA work as needed (in other words, when things break) and have to work the BI and warehousing projects along with other duties of reporting and such. It’s tough to explain, and tough to quantify.
(Last call) Quick Question… Virtual Workshops
Would you rather see a next virtual workshop on …
– TSQL from the ground up for mere mortals
– Troubleshooting SQL Server
– Something else (what?)
Please email me your thoughts…
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