750+ registrations for the SSWUG SQL Server Virtual Conference!
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Books Directory Updated
We’ve been busy updating our books directory – have you seen it lately? From SQL for MySQL Developers to SQL Queries for Mere Mortals and more, we have some great titles for you to take a look at. When you get a few minutes, head to the SSWUG.ORG book directory and take a look – let us know if you have other titles you’d like to see listed.
Growing Your Position Into Unchartered Waters
I’ve had some great feedback on new technologies and their impact on the more traditional role of DBA. Here’s one of them:
From John: "I very much recognize the increasing draw that "non-traditional" DBA technologies like Sharepoint are having on our DBA role here and as for the horizon I’d say it was pretty much as of now that this is an issue.
Unfortunately, heresy though it may be, it coincides with Microsoft making the work of the DBA significantly harder and less intuitive with the loss of Enterprise Manager in SQL2005 and its replacement with the truly dreadful Management Studio. I initially thought I was some kind of demented Luddite for thinking these thoughts but so far not one of the techies from the twenty or so application suppliers we use has had a single good word for it.
Sorry, anti-Management Studio rant over.
For us the biggest problem with DBA "scope-creep" looks like its going to be finding people with the right skills sets. People with genuine expertise and experience of managing diverse SQL, Sharepoint and MS BI environments particularly where these are effectively one and the same, appear to be about as rare as hen’s teeth. We are spending significant (for us) cash on training some of our folks up but to be honest often our usual training suppliers are proving to be less than we would like in these areas."
Interestingly, I’ve heard a lot of people blame the shift on things getting easier, more automated for the DBA. Management Studio aside, the tools have evolved and the use of wizards and many automated processes has meant that many don’t feel they need as much "DBA" attention. While it’s not true that you don’t need a DBA any more, the general idea is that the day-to-day running of SQL Server has evolved – at least in the small-to-medium size installation.
If you agree that you need to be up to speed in these other areas, how do you get there from here? How do you learn the technologies? Any tips out there?
Drop me an email, let me know.
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