Actually I know a fair number of developers who became DBA's, or developer/DBA's. But a developer shouldn't be all of a sudden assigned the tasks of a DBA or you are going to run into issues. I've had to fix a fair number of DB/design issues over the years that were caused because while a developer may be a great developer .. that doesn't mean he is a great DB designer. They are 2 different skill sets.

I find it very interesting how a lot of members of management feel that its better to save money now by not having anyone with true DBA experience and don't think about the costs of improper development and potential crises in the future.

As an example of GSquared hadn't been at the company (or another DBA) the developers would have had a hard time fixing problem. Certainly fixing it as quickly/completly as GSquared did.

Maybe I'm just biased but I think having developers (not even someone who has experience with both) as a production DBA is just asking for trouble.

Kenneth