Many many moons ago, in a universe far, far away, yours truly was a junior DBA tagging along the senior DG (database genius) as she was making her rounds in the server room with a clipboard in her hand with a maintenance checklist. We were in a middle of a scheduled maintenance downtime and had to make sure that the database would come back healthy and well tuned.
Ah, the good old days!
So, clipboards and maintenance windows are a thing of the past and for many years now DBAs are struggling to adjust to the new reality. What is a “modern” DBA supposed to be like? Are they even an administrator any more? Or not just an administrator?
We discussed these and similar questions at our recent CTO roundtable. It was a great discussion that we plan to develop further and use it as a springboard for learning and information sharing.
Perhaps this is the right moment to note that there is always a method to our madness. There is a reason why we held a roundtable discussion and not a webinar or some other broadcast. This is because at BitWise, we specialize in effective communication and knowledge transfer, and we know that “broadcast” learning is very inefficient. Interactive learning in a properly moderated discussion setting can be inspiring and thrilling and has a greater retention rate.
This is also why we’re going to do the bulk of learning and information exchange in the BitWise discussion group #CuriousAboutData – https://www.linkedin.com/groups/7431700/ please request to join it in order to participate.
Here is a list of topics that we touched on and will be discussing in the above group:
WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN A GREAT DBA:
BITWISE’s CHECKLIST FOR CTOs
Domain-specific technical knowledge
DB tuning
Backups
General maintenance
High availability / disaster recovery
Maintaining a data dictionary
Math behind data
Capacity planning
Holistic understanding of systems
Knows how to troubleshoot
Server hardware
Network architecture (OSI model) TCPIP, ports, tracing packets.
Development methodologies, DataOps / DevOps , CI/CD, OOP
Plan ahead on Sprint with developers and do code review
Usage of tools, develop own tools
Parsing tools
Soft skills
On-call rotation
Assisting users
Personality
Cultural fit
Mastery of the scientific method
Ability to present technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders
Communication, empathy, collaboration skills
Ambition to improve, to achieve broader and deeper knowledge
We like people, so feel free to call or write. Humans only.
