Developer to DBA?

Question

I have an opportunity to make a career move to dba from developer. I graduated college two years ago and enjoy development but I feel like I need to be researching new technologies if I'm going to keep up with the industry. I enjoy development but I also find it fun when trying to come up with complex sql statements. I'm thinking of switching to dba where I work and will be dealing with oracle and sql server databases. Here are some of the reason, I'm thinking of making the move:

1) Becoming an rock star dba doesn't seem like a moving target like being a rock star developer does.

2) Seems like a specialty career so that if I'm really good at what I do, it would be easy to change companies and demand the big bucks.

3) Kind of related to #2, but it seems like it's a more stable career( dbas aren't outsourced that much, probably would be easy to find a job ) and can potentially make more money.

Is this a good idea?

Answer 1

Becoming a rockstar depends on how much you love what you do and how much talent you bring into your job. Sometimes hard work isn't enough.

Answer 2

I think it's personal preference. Being a rock star DBA or a rock star developer both will be financially rewarding and provide a stable career.

My only concerns with a DBA career path (and these are just my opinion)is that

...if the landscape of IT becomes more and more cloud / hosted driven, there may be less opportunities since most companies will simply outsource this skill set. I personally fee infrastructure skill sets will lessen in demand

...I find management personally sees more value with developers than a DBA, especially in smaller companies. Many times this "DBA work" is just done by current staff rather than hiring a specialist. I have a difficult time convincing management the need for a DBA until the database crashes

Answer 3

If you enjoy DBA work then go for it! Remember money puts food on the table and all that but happiness and enjoying what you do are just as important! :)

Good luck!

Answer 4

I made that move a few years ago and am now considered more of a DBA than a developer. Your points are valid, at least in my company. DBAs are more of a valued resource than developers which in turn has given me more opportunities.

The downside is I HATE IT!!! There I said it. I absolutely hate working with databases and all the ad-hoc reporting tasks the end up on my desk every day. The challenge for me is gone and I think this is what is attributing to my burn out. I spend more time in Crystal Reports, which is the bane to my existence, than I do creating anything new.

For me the bottom line is earning a living and staying employed. There are just points in person's life in which you have to man up and do what you can do to support a family.

From my point of view professionally moving towards a DBA position is very sound, personally, though, I'd rather be coding.

Answer 5

I think your reasoning is weak.

"Rockstar" programmers are get their status by creating and being productive. And the most experienced and productive ones usually are the ones who are the most on top of the technologies that make them the most productive -- and that's why you see it as a moving target. Case in point: If I were a developer who did a lot of SQL and VB work 5 years ago, and I were to keep doing my job as I did 5 years ago, my productivity would likely be eclipsed by a person with equal talent who had learned Linq or NHibernate, etc...

(Production) DBA work is different. There are few "rockstars". In order to get even mildly interesting work, you have to be a DBA of a very large shop. If you're just punching the clock as a small time DBA, yeah, you might be able to get some work, but I've got news for you -- DBAs in small companies are becoming less and less relevant -- especially as small businesses start to put their data in the cloud. A rockstar production DBA is rarely recognized, but one that allows their systems to go down or not get backed up has his or her forehead squarely in the crosshairs at all times.

The bottom line is this: If you really LOVE being a DBA, and knowing the internals of SQL Server and Oracle and applying them to your every day work, do it. If you are looking for an easier, more stable job that you don't have to work as hard at, why don't you just quit computing altogether and focus on what you REALLY want to do instead?

Answer 6

From my perspective (as an independent developer, and from what I've seen in the finance world)

1. I have way more creativity as a developer. The DBAs I see are (generally) looking after databases (backups etc.), providing db resource for developers, or fixing their suboptimal SQL
2. As a developer, I tend not to be on call overnight (note the word 'tend'. Our DBAs are generally on a rota. I generally am not)
3. As a developer, I get to play with many more technologies than DBAs (who are often limited to a particular database type and, perhaps, tooling)

If you want to go down the admin route, I'd look at general system admin work, or perhaps networking. I think there's more scope for using new technology, and more variety in the day-to-day work.

I don't think outsourcing comes into it. If you're prepared to invest in your future (reading/training courses/learning about your particular business domain) then I believe that has a bigger impact on your future than the DBA/developer choice.

Answer 7

Why not both? There are flavours of DBA. Larger shops tend to have "developer DBAs" who do design and tuning...

Answer 8

I think life is too short to do things u dont really enjoy. So i would take the job i like best. I also think it would be quiet impossible to get a rockstar in smth if i dont like it at all. Imho first you need to love what u do and everything else will come automatically to you. You will get better and better the more you like what you do.