I came across an interesting blog post on jobs, which actually caught me eye after another blog on time spent on various things, many of which are not necessarily important to your business.
The first blog starts off talking about how often a high paid Data Architect ends up installing a RAID disk, a mundane task for a (probably) high-billing consultant. I'm not so sure it's a confusion of titles, but rather a "we need this done", you're a computer guy, do it. Most managers often don't think about the "cost" of getting something done. Instead they're strictly focused on the get it done and don't often consider the efficiencies of what's being done.
Or they don't see their people as that competent and somehow think a $200/hr consultant can do a better job of installing a RAID 5 array than their $40k/yr network admin.
I've always tried to be a team player, which means if a printer needs paper or a network cable needs to be built or you want me to process terminated employees (copy files, remove accounts, etc.), I'm happy to do it. As an FTE, it breaks up the monotony of what I normally do as a DBA, it's real work, as opposed to the tuning or log checking that I sometimes.
However it's not always that efficient. If you're paying me $80k+ a year, is it worth it for me to spend half a day closing out accounts? It might be or not, depending on what my other workload is, how much work the rest of the team has, how quickly things need to be done and more. It's not an easy decision, but I've always been sure to let my supervisor or client know that this isn't necessarily the most cost effective use of my time.
Just yesterday my wife mentioned that as a sales engineer, making six figures, her job this last week has consisted of scheduling meetings between salespeople and clients. She wasn't terribly pleased and mentioned that it wasn't necessarily a good use of her technical skills. A few people last week at PASS mentioned similar feelings in their job.
I can understand that and it is important to have job satisfaction. Some people definitely need it more than others but some are like me; they need it less. I'm perfectly happy to move cubes or rack servers if that needs to be done.
Heck for $90k a year, I'm happy to make network cables all day by hand if that's what you want me to do.
I'm getting into the podcasting business (maybe) and there's a link below to the audio cast. I think I have a face for radio and a voice for newspaper, but let me know what you think. Comments (good and bad) are welcome.
What Should a DBA Be Doing (Podcast 2)
Music for today's Podcast from:
