SQL
What is DAMA?
DAMA is the Data Management Association International which is an association of data professionals. They have curated a certification program, framework, and documentation when it comes to database. There are many frameworks out there that you can use when dealing with data architecture:
- DAMA
- DCAM
- CMMI
- IBM
- Stanford
- Gartner
I’m not going to go deep into the others or their differences right now, but here’s a link from datacrossroads that talks about them all briefly. So, what exactly is the framework? Well, it is essentially a high-level guide to help obtain or work towards Data Governance while enhancing your company’s data maturity.
Why and who should become certified?
There are three camps of people I’ve met when it comes to discussing certificates in IT.
- Oh, that’s nice to have, but I’m indifferent otherwise. (95% of the people.)
- Oh, you are certified?! That’s amazing! I need to talk to you all about that! (3% of the people.)
- Oh… you are certified? So you’re one of those paper DBA’s huh? (Cue them throwing your resume in the trash.) (2% of the people.)
Certs can have a bad rap because there are many certs that you can achieve that hold little weight. Like when you complete a couple hour video training course that you pretty much need to just click through and at the end, you can pay money to have them issue you a cert.
What is the average day of a DBA? (Part 4 of 4)
Steve Jones has asked for some folks in the community to talk about what it’s like to work in our field across four posts. So how do I talk about my job across four job posts? If you didn’t read part 1, you can click here to read about what the day to day is like.
My four series post is structured as:
- Day to day, what is normal? What are 95% of my experiences?
- Best days ever, these are the highlights.
- Worst days ever, these don’t happen all of the time and this is what nightmares are made out of.
- Weird days, Brent Ozar said it best when he said Database Administration is weird.
The weird days of being a DBA.
You can run into a lot of weird things being a DBA, but I don’t think the topics I’m going to discuss are what you are expecting. Most of the weird things I run into are design structures or processes in place that go against best practice or are not typically practical. Kind of like if the past admin gave out Neapolitan ice cream instead of vanilla. Everything is custom, unique, and different, whereas I try to instantiate things as “vanilla” as possible. If things are predictable and implemented consistently, it’s easier for anyone to come in and troubleshoot or support.
What is the average day of a DBA? (Part 3 of 4)
Steve Jones has asked for some folks in the community to talk about what it’s like to work in our field across four posts. So how do I talk about my job across four job posts? If you didn’t read part 1, you can click here to read about what the day to day is like.
My four series post is structured as:
- Day to day, what is normal? What are 95% of my experiences?
- Best days ever, these are the highlights.
- Worst days ever, these don’t happen all of the time and this is what nightmares are made out of.
- Weird days, Brent Ozar said it best when he said Database Administration is weird.
The worst days ever for a DBA.
Some of the worst days you can have are when they are spent on firefighting. Your projects don’t get worked on so deadlines approach faster and you aren’t having the chance to work on being proactive because you are actively fixing the problem. What really makes those days bad though, is if policy and procedure are what’s allowing this to happen.
What is the average day of a DBA? (Part 2 of 4)
Steve Jones has asked for some folks in the community to talk about what it’s like to work in our field across four posts. So how do I talk about my job across four job posts? If you didn’t read part 1, you can click here to read about what the day to day is like.
My four series post is structured as:
- Day to day, what is normal? What are 95% of my experiences?
- Best days ever, these are the highlights.
- Worst days ever, these don’t happen all of the time and this is what nightmares are made out of.
- Weird days, Brent Ozar said it best when he said Database Administration is weird.
The best days ever for a DBA.
I should preface that you should have some passion or interest in technology if you are getting into IT. You can find some jobs where the duties and technology will never change. It will be the same forever, typically those are places that move slowly and they don’t need to innovate. These sites just need to keep their service afloat. Those are not the most common for IT, but those places do exist.
What is the average day of a DBA? (Part 1 of 4)
Steve Jones has asked for some folks in the community to talk about what it’s like to work in our field across four posts. So how do I talk about what it’s like in four different ways?
I figured I’ll structure my four post series as:
1. Day to day, what is normal? What are 95% of my experiences?
2. Best days ever, these are the highlights.
3. Worst days ever, these don’t happen all of the time and this is what nightmares are made out of.
4. Weird days, Brent Ozar said it best when he said Database Administration is weird.