xsevensinzx (6/28/2015)
I'm only 2 years into my role as more or less the accidental DBA to most. However, that is not my title on paper. I am just a developer who wears multiple hats of the DBA, architect, manager, ETL developer, report writer and so forth.For someone like me, DBA could easily mean a lot of things. Yet, I still believe that the DBA for one example is the one person who ensures disaster recovery, performance and security is at the highest priority of their tasks. While I do fill that role among many others, I humbly decline that I am a DBA regardless of quality while others look at me as the DBA.
That said, what is the catchall title for someone who wears multiple hats? I guess that is the problem. It's the DBA right? :hehe:
Accidental or not and according to what I've observed in your good posts (although it's not my place to judge, you and several others on this site are great examples), you have a diverse set of skills that you've developed on your own through research and experimentation, you have a helpful attitude, you have intellectual curiosity, and you do have the right kind of humility. Degreed or not, certified or not, I think that if we combine two words that you've used, we end up with the very appropriate never used before title of and definition for...
[font="Arial Black"]Catchall DBA:[/font]
While possibly not an expert in some areas, this type of DBA can generally be considered to be a "Jack of all trades and master of many". Like any devoted System Administrator and Database Administrator, their first and most important tasks are to protect the company's data, ensure that it is always available for appropriate use, protect it all from inappropriate use, and protect the servers and other devices on which the data lays upon. Typically working for small companies as "the computer guy" and the "go to guy" (including the ladies), they are a quintessential part of the lifeblood of the company and virtually no task is too great or too small for them to attempt and usually exceed expectations of success in features, safety, innovation, and time to delivery. They can hold their own and, many times, excel in database programing, Windows Administration, Database Administration, computer infrastructure, system interfaces, and may even lay cable and punch down telephone wire. Some also double as the resident front-end programmer and many frequently double as system architects, both software and hardware wise. Don't let the possible lack of formal credentials dissuade you from hiring such a person. Although they frequently carry no degree or certifications, they are intensely motivated yet remain humble and mentor-like and they have a keen sense of what is right and what is not because they have suffered through the greatest course known to man... real life in the trenches.
It's both my pleasure and honor to work with so many people on this site that fit that description.
--Jeff Moden
Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.