I'm still confused about these jobs. I believe that DB admins monitor, manage and maintain database(s). But what exactly DB developers do? Do they write query to create table, to update database,... or they write programs (in ADO.NET, for example) to connect and manipulate data?
What are the cons and pros of these jobs? Can you tell me?
Thank you.
DB Admins maintain MOSTLY the servers. index recreation, backup, storage issues, performance and capcity planning. They normally live in operations - as such they are, in larger shops, seaparated from developers. They also oversee data loading tasks for data warehouses etc.
Db develoeprs focus on programming database servers (stored procedures) and actually know a lot about how to tune queries etc. They live - obviously - in development in larger shops, not in programming. They dont focus on front end technologies (ADO.NET is trivial, though). You may be surprised how many web develoeprs pretty basically rape their database servers thanks to not knowing even the basics about the relational theorem, or what an Index is ;)
What you like more depends a lot on what you.... like more.
in general, not every case
usually DB developers work 8-5, while DB admin work same 8-5 but with 24/7 on call.
DB developer will get caught up in business logic, meeting with users other developers, have deadlines for projects, etc, while DB admin is usually more isolated away from business logic and users.
DB developers write more code, usually in support of the front end creating developers, than DB admins
DB Admins set up database installations, handle security issues etc...
DB Developers develop applications that work with databases.
DB admins need to set up the database so that the applications th DB developer creates will work...
Db developers often do more than write queries, they design relational databases, they design data warehouses, they create ETL processes, they write reports, they performance tune. Often they are backup on daatbase admin and should have basic admin skills. They tend to spend more time in development and qa than prod.
DBAs keep the production server running well. They probably maintain the other servers as well, but their focus is on prod. They perform backups and restores, update statistics, make sure the right indexes are present. They also usually performance tune, espcially when there is a query running on prod that is causing a problem. Often they are on call to handle middle of the night issues. they often get involved in recommending new hardware and installing it. They set up SANs. They monitor the health of the system including noting trends that will require more hardware in time to get it before the need is critical (running out of disk space for instance).
Only a large shop will have both. There are many smaller shops, like the one I started in, where both responsibilites fall on the designated database person. If you are interested in getting into the database world, this is often the place to start as you get to see what both are like and can choose your path. DBA is often a higher stress job as you have to fix prod now when something goes down. I can't say that's a con though becasue some peopl clearly thrive on this kind of responsibility. One con I can see for both jobs is it is hard to get recognition for good work. In the database world good work means everything is running smoothly and no one notices, they only really notice if things aren't going smoothly. No one is going to reward the dba because there were no major problems this month (in fact it might lead some management types to wonder if the person is needed) and no one is going to reward the database developer because that ETL package that runs dailly hasn't failed ever.
As far as pros and cons, I think the two jobs are both good career paths if you are interested in databases. I think what distinguishes which is better for you is if you are more interested in the data and its meaning or more interested in the system and hardware.