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Needing to stay abreast of the latest technology is utterly irrelevant: that's what your staff is supposed to do.

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This is true for some environments. In my role I'm also the database architect as well as the database manager. Part of my job is to stay abreast of upcoming technologies so I can lay a path for the future. I think to chart the technical course for a particular platform you need deep knowledge about your options. If one didn't have that knowledge, I don't see how that person could drive the platform forward. At that point I think the role is reduced to more of a care-taker role, just maintaining status quo, which is fine for some environments. I think if the environment is in a growth phase, the real value from the database manager role is someone who can initiate and drive creative technical solutions which constantly help scale the platform.