For over 20 years one of my pet peeves and complaints has been that the term (or acronym) "DBA" has never had a solid definition. I still go into medium and large companies and get introduced to their DBA's and find that skill sets vary wildly - as does managements perspective of what "DBA" means. Ask about "Corporate Controllers", "Human Resource Professionals", and even "Developers" and everyone understands what these people do. Ask about a "DBA" and the most common answer I hear is that people are not really sure what [person's name] does, but its vital to the operation.

Its interesting then that in Andy's piece this morning he too falls into the same trap. Listing responsibilities, and skill sets to define "DBA". Well, my view of the future is quite different.

I believe DBA will become a graduate or undergraduate degree program. I believe all the things Andy lists will be taught in college classes, not on the job, through books, or video learning series. I believe there will no longer be any separation at all between those who do SQL Server versus Oracle versus [whatever].

And lastly I believe that when the term (or acronym) "DBA" gets mentioned people will know just what that person does - just like now where you can walk into any company and be introduced to the Human Resource Director and know pretty much what that person does.

And I believe that something I heard 15 years ago will go away for good... I once heard a CEO asked what his DBA does. His answer? "He's a DBA, ya know, 'Dont Bother Asking'".