• In some respects, automating 'the usual' is exciting in itself. I've learned a lot by being lazy enough to want to automate the grunt work but motivated by my laziness... <lol> Once you get things under control with monitoring, dashboards and alerts, it gives you time to explore new builds of SQL, try those odd functions that aren't needed by your current tasks but just cool, or focus on projects.

    I actually automated enough of my job at one employer that caused my Oracle DBA co-worker to want to take my stuff over after I left. I guess he liked the idea of drinking a cup of coffee while checking out a dashboard as part of his 'morning routine'. BTW: even though he's still really Oracle-savvy, his main focus is SQL Server now.

    I'd like to say he came to the dark side because of me... <lol>