"For the record, in defence of programmers, I have to say that while DBAs are expert at administering and maintaining database servers, few of them would have comparable skills in database design/development, which remains a forte of teh best programmers. So, we are not complete dunderheads in the world of databases."

While this may be true in your experience it is most unfortunate you feel this way. I have spent a lifetime developing everything from device drivers to large multi-tier high-transaction rate applications before I decided to enter the world of being a DBA. As such I've had responsibility to set standards and make recommendations regarding database architecture (some of which is ignored).

It is my experience that most "programmers" are not very good database designers. They do not think in terms of set based processing from what I see, nor do they understand the ramifications of poor practices and SQL Server strengths and weaknesses, especially the ones that will bring a server to its knees. That is unfortunate because inevitably (unless the database experience low levels of activity) this leads to major performance and scalability issues which could easily have been avoided.

I consider being a DBA the higher plateau ... a culmination of years of systems design, software development and understanding of multi-tier clinet server based architectures. A DBA needs a good knowledge of all of this to be effective in a large shop.

That's my $.02