Azure and Cloud - Downsize

  • Our company is going on a big push to Azure to handle our SQL Servers and Amazon Redshift for some other things. Can this lead to downsizing, i.e. loss of jobs potentially? Does going to cloud-based servers lead some execs to think, "Hey, we don't need as many DBA's, because part of this is being handled by the cloud?"

  • That's one of those questions where you have to ask, how do you define your job?

    If, as a DBA, you see your job around setting up servers, handling security, and responding to user requests... yes. You're going to be downsized.

    If, as a DBA, you see your job as automating processes, working with developers and the business and administrators in a devops fashion, designing and growing new technologies and technological solutions, oh no. You're going to have WAY too much work to do.

    "The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
    - Theodore Roosevelt

    Author of:
    SQL Server Execution Plans
    SQL Server Query Performance Tuning

  • Grant Fritchey (8/31/2015)


    That's one of those questions where you have to ask, how do you define your job?

    If, as a DBA, you see your job around setting up servers, handling security, and responding to user requests... yes. You're going to be downsized.

    If, as a DBA, you see your job as automating processes, working with developers and the business and administrators in a devops fashion, designing and growing new technologies and technological solutions, oh no. You're going to have WAY too much work to do.

    Hey, I don't care what I am doing as long as I'm employed! No, seriously, I enjoy all aspects of DBA work, so that's not an issue.

    So - and sorry to be so ignorant - but do you still do performance tuning with Azure?

  • Whisper9999 (8/31/2015)


    Grant Fritchey (8/31/2015)


    That's one of those questions where you have to ask, how do you define your job?

    If, as a DBA, you see your job around setting up servers, handling security, and responding to user requests... yes. You're going to be downsized.

    If, as a DBA, you see your job as automating processes, working with developers and the business and administrators in a devops fashion, designing and growing new technologies and technological solutions, oh no. You're going to have WAY too much work to do.

    Hey, I don't care what I am doing as long as I'm employed! No, seriously, I enjoy all aspects of DBA work, so that's not an issue.

    So - and sorry to be so ignorant - but do you still do performance tuning with Azure?

    Absolutely!

    In fact, you can actually point to performance tuning as a mechanism to save money. You pay for processing within Azure. Reduce the processing needs, reduce the costs. That's unique for performance tuning.

    Also, people frequently lose sight of this, but it's still just SQL Server. The good, the bad and the ugly, all still there. Write bad t-sql, nothing within Azure SQL Database will fix it. Choose poor indexes, no magic within Azure SQL Database. You still have to do the fundamentals correctly.

    "The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
    - Theodore Roosevelt

    Author of:
    SQL Server Execution Plans
    SQL Server Query Performance Tuning

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