Suresh B. (2/14/2013)

---

Must read "How to become an Exceptional DBA" by Brad McGehee

WWDMark (2/14/2013)

---

Not a bad read, here's a link to my copy of the ebook (pdf format): https://dl.dropbox.com/u/52486810/How_To_Become_An_Exceptional_DBA_Ebook.pdf

mr.neil.bryan (2/14/2013)

---

Any tips on making this career change?

Has anyone done this?

Many thanks,

ScottPletcher (2/14/2013)

---

That's a significant change!

In order, here's a quick list of the most important things to do first:

1) Make sure the DBA role will fit you. As a developer, you get to see things through to production; often as a DBA you don't get those 'payoff' moment(s). Can you be happy in the new role?

2) Study indexes: how they work, and how they're built, particularly clustered indexes since they are the most critical aspect of db performance. You can have a big impact immediately as a DBA by tuning indexes, esp. getting rid of dopey clus indexes on identities and replacing them with clustered indexes on the join column(s) when appropriate (which it very often is).

3) Starting learing the Dynamic Management views and functions. They are the life blood now behind most DBA activities. This one alone will take quite a bit of time, so it will overlap other tasks.

4) Learn to use Profiler. Not used as much now as it used to be, because of the DM views and functions, but anyone will expect a DBA to know how to use it, and it is still necessary at times.

5) Learn how to add simple "Severity Level" alerts in SQL. They are easy to set up and can provide a quick heads up of issues when you're getting started. Since you'll want to use email for these, it also gives you a lead into learning how to set up db mail, operators, etc., which you do in conjunction with setting up the Alerts.

ScottPletcher (2/14/2013)

---

That's a significant change!

In order, here's a quick list of the most important things to do first:

1) Make sure the DBA role will fit you. As a developer, you get to see things through to production; often as a DBA you don't get those 'payoff' moment(s). Can you be happy in the new role?

2) Study indexes: how they work, and how they're built, particularly clustered indexes since they are the most critical aspect of db performance. You can have a big impact immediately as a DBA by tuning indexes, esp. getting rid of dopey clus indexes on identities and replacing them with clustered indexes on the join column(s) when appropriate (which it very often is).

3) Starting learing the Dynamic Management views and functions. They are the life blood now behind most DBA activities. This one alone will take quite a bit of time, so it will overlap other tasks.

4) Learn to use Profiler. Not used as much now as it used to be, because of the DM views and functions, but anyone will expect a DBA to know how to use it, and it is still necessary at times.

5) Learn how to add simple "Severity Level" alerts in SQL. They are easy to set up and can provide a quick heads up of issues when you're getting started. Since you'll want to use email for these, it also gives you a lead into learning how to set up db mail, operators, etc., which you do in conjunction with setting up the Alerts.

mr.neil.bryan (2/14/2013)

---

Any tips on making this career change?

Has anyone done this?

Many thanks,