Hi Justin,

This is an excellent topic as I have some personal interest in it as well. In the past few months I have been quite torn about what "path" I should follow in my career. I have been working with SQL server and Oracle for the past 5 to 6 years and not only am I torn between being a Developer or DBA, I can't decide if I should now consider gaining some managerial experience. Both academic and hands-on work experience. I have a few questions for you and I hope I'm not being too nosy!

1) How long have you been working as a database techie?

2) How long were you at your current job before you were promoted and you personally felt that you had the skills to take on a managerial job?

3)At what age do you think someone should consider being a manger? How long do you think someone should work as a techie before they can consider themselves as being someone good at their job? (I realise this is quite a difficult question to answer!)

4) How important is certification to career progress?

As for your issues around being a manager I think it really depends on the individual. I'm guessing that you enjoy doing technical work. This will always work in your favour. I have worked with managers who had minimal technical know-how and they were not very well liked within the team. And more importantly they were not always good at making the right decisions. And sometimes they adopt a defensive attitude probably as a result of an inferiority complex! I have also worked with managers who were promoted after working within the team for many years and had very good technical knowledge. They were excellent at their job because they knew how things should be done and also the team members respected them and would never consider bluffing their way out of a tricky issue! But it’s certainly a very difficult balancing act to keep your friendships and at the same time be their boss. Plus you will probably lose touch with the tech stuff as time goes on but I think it's inevitable. Unless you want to be a technical consultant! Anyway Good Luck with your new role!