SQL Guy 1 (2/12/2014)
It is very strange to hear that a DBA applies for bunkropcy. We are highly paid professionals who receive much more than the average value in the country, must be able to manage our own finances.How you can manage complex database systems if you can't manage your finance? Frankly, I would not hire you, even if all the rest qualities that you posess are outstanding.
I'd have to quibble with this statement, also. Depending on where you live, and who you work for, DBAs aren't "highly paid professionals" at all.
The DBA/developer that preceded me at my last job was paid minimum wage, because "you just sit at a computer all day, so you shouldn't expect to be paid as if you're doing hard work". After converting the business from brick-and-mortar to an online seller singlehandedly, which increased gross income by a few million dollars every year, he was given a raise to $12/hour. That later became my starting wage when I worked there, since they figured programmers were "a little valuable".
I moved on from that job, and, with 3 years' experience, now make $19/hour, about what a starting programmer usually expects to make, I believe. However, there's just not many places in my area that are looking for programmers, and the ones that do typically want a ton of experience.
My roommate works for a different company, and is salaried at $22,000 a year. He works about 60-80 hours a week, from on-site and from home. He's asked for a raise once, after bringing in three new clients and increasing business income by quite a bit, and was laughed at for trying. Sadly, he doesn't think he can find a new job if he quits, and he doesn't want the place to crumble by quitting (which it definitely will; he's their sole tech person, as their DBA/developer).
I also know a person that works in Texas as a traveling IT/helpdesk worker for large businesses and households alike. He makes money per job, but it's pitifully low; some months, he brings in as little as $600 total, for a job that normally pays quite well at a business that knows the value of the work he does. But, again, there's no other IT jobs in his area, and he's too poor to move, so he just has to stick with it while working a second job. He's hoping that, eventually, he'll get enough experience to get into a better company.
Bottom line, though, IT work, even that of a DBA, who guards a business's data and may well be the only reason they're capable of functioning at all, isn't necessarily paid well. You're paid what your employer thinks you're worth, and your employer is completely free to believe you're worth the same as a burger jockey.
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