Thomas Stringer (4/26/2012)
I think what is so wonderful about databases and data as a profession is that we oftentimes are the JOIN (if you will) between the high-level software (applications, code, etc.) and the low-level hardware (storage, etc.). Knowing nothing about either is just a time-bomb waiting to happen.I find it interesting that you explicitly stated networking as something we should know relatively well. I definitely tend to agree with that. Do you feel that structured network learning (i.e. CCNA) is a benefit to a database administrator?
I think it's good for many people to be IT generalists, outside of their specialty. Over the years knowing networking, AD, mail, etc. has helped me solve DB issues, or even helped me get applications to integrate well.
However I wasn't implying in the piece that DBAs should learn about IP networking. If you have people doing those jobs, inspire/motivate/ping them to learn more about their craft and better secure your systems.