I agree with Brian and David both. I hv been a Production DBA for last 15 years. I started with Sybase and moved on to SQL Server. In the last 5 years, I hv seen job requirements changing from a pure 'System' or 'Production' DBA to a Hybrid System / Application DBA. Also, I hv seen that a lot of things which were managed traditionally by the database (such as security) now being managed by Application servers like WebLogic. Today's DBA is expected to know data modelling (OLTP as well as OLAP), CASETOOLS and also is needed to hv a good warehousing background in a lot of places.

Having said that, I must mention that though the 'fly-by-night' makeshift developer/DBAs are running a lot of installations, problems start appearing as soon as the data volume increases and a 'real' DBA needs to b hired to fix the things. That is never going to go away. More automation and features in SQL Server Yukon is only going to lead to more problems and more need for experienced DBAs!