blandry (11/11/2008)
A DBA who does not know VS? That's a DBA? I oversee staff for four companies (part of our corporate org) and I have never hired any "DBA" who simply knows SQL Server. Our companies could not run, let alone stay in business with such staff.
Depends on the company and the IT setup. At the place I used to work there were 7 full time DBAs. Of them, I was the only one from a dev background and I didn't do anything other than SQL development while I was there. We admin'd 400 or so database servers, a mixture of SQL, Oracle and Sybase and there was always quite enough admin work to go around. From monitoring jobs, backups and performance (and the paperwork required for that) to upgrades, new installations, troubleshooting problems and optimising there was more work than hands to do it. The company also had a dev team of 10 or so C# and web developers.
I'm not lost in VS, but I barely use it. If I open VS once a fortnight it's a lot, and that's mostly for SSIS and reporting services. I can develop, but my skills in that area are very rusty due to lack of use.
Maybe my thinking is this way because I came up in computing from the late 70's when you had to know it "all", and I must admit I am shocked at times these days when I interview or talk to young people who "specialize" in something so narrow that I am left wondering what these people do with the rest of their employment time.
The thing is, the fields are so wide now that I doubt it's possible for someone to know everything about SQL Server (from the DB engine, through Analysis services, Integration services and reporting services) let alone everything about SQL and two or three other areas.
Gail Shaw
Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
SQL In The Wild: Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability