No... paper means nothing... Resources mean nothing... Not when someone has dug in on being right. :hehe: The proof is in the performance of the code and the server. If you cannot prove the ROI of doing it right or, even if you can prove it, if managment cannot see the ROI, then it's time to prepare a different white paper... a resume. Find a job where people actually care about the data. 🙂

And, no... I'm not giving any advice that I haven't personally tried. It's pretty spooky, sometimes, but if you have the "hair" for it and time things correctly, you'll do very, very well. Remember... they can't eat ya. 😛 But too many people think they can and they simply give up.

If you like your job and you've been put into the position of DBA by osmosis, then you need to spend some serious time finding out what's right. Don't give me the ol' "I have a life"... you have a job and if you can't do it, they will find someone else. Spend some time studying especially on forums like this one. Make Books Online your friend. And, practice, practice, practice. Just think of it as "going back to school" and you'll do fine.