Thanks for the comments so far!

Grant, I disagree with you on the certification part. I think it would cost money, but it would be self supporting. Picture a process like this:

- You achieve MCDBA status (satisfying our MS friends)

- You submit proof of MCDBA plus five years work experience as a DBA to PASS (and both are verified) along with your check for say $100 to cover the expense

- You take a 1 day hands on exam administered at a few sites around the country that are certified PASS test sites and that would require candidates to build a cluster, do restores, etc. Verify core level competencies on a real server - cost $500 per attempt, plus travel

- You PASS (sorry) the exam and get your PASS Pro 2007 polo, certificate, and wallet card - another $50.

- To get your PASS Pro 2008 shirt & card you have to complete x hours of continuing education (based on PASS assessments of value for various courses, events, article writing even) and maintain your MCDBA

I'm borrowing the Cisco model. To a large degree they have maintained value of their high end certs by requiring an hands on exam. Yes, it's expensive, but I suspect DBA's with the PASS cert might command an additional $5-15k per year.

Im open to tweaking the model, show me some ideas!