Late to the punch here, but I wanted to comment on the article and not just the mass discussions.

For me, it seems insanely hard to put everyone within reach of everyone they need. It's not just a DBA and developer issue, it's a global one across all roles whether you're a product developer, designer or a QA tester.

Having worked primarily in large-scale video game development of massively online games across multiple studios across the world, it's damn near impossible to construct a system where someone critical is siloed from view.

The trick, as in most organizations, is how leadership pulls everything together and bridges the gap between really insanely pity issues like why John the developer has to even interact with Dave the DBA. Or better yet, why it's important to look at the project as a system with many components that depend on each other equally.

If that cannot happen. Then you have a lot of weak points regardless of job titles. Your team, or so-called team, is falling apart in terms of working together. The keyword here being, together.

Sure, that's easier said than done, but at the end of the day, it should be pretty simplistic. Being a DBA is a profession that requires a certain skillset. You cannot simply stay at a Holiday Inn and become a DBA the next day just as you can't do the same for a developer or any other role in the organization. What it comes down to is respect, being a team player and looking out for who? The business and hopefully if you're doing things right, your clients.

Soo to recap, I see the split a lot in my career. I despise them greatly and avoid them at all costs. As a database guy today, I do everything in my power to emphasize team work with those around me. It has served me well in all that I have worked with including developers. So to me, the answer is simple. I promote what I think is right (i.e.: teamwork) and the return is exactly what I expected -- teamwork.