Depends on the organisation, The production environments have always had been the DBA pregorative and closely guarded, being a developer as well as a dba for a number of years i can see both sides of the argument. The trouble is, is that not all developers are alike or even have the same skills/knowledge/attitude.

Some of the organisations I have worked for in the past, the dev boxes have literally been given over to the developers who have done what they want to them, having full sysadmin rights. I have mentored in the past, junior dbas and developers who wanted to learn. But never within any other environment then development. With all the best intentions, a production box is not a toy or a learning curve for inexperienced people. I personally think that mentoring is down to the individual and based on his/her experiences. if you have developers who constantly screw up. it does influence your decision in what rights you give them. No developer should have access to a production box, and I believe that strongly. as a dba you have sole responsibility for production and your job rests on that. I also believe that developers should be able to do what they need to, in a development environment without restriction and if they need help they can ask a dba for it.]

So basically, a protector of the production environment and a mentor for the development environment. A good dba can be both. 😀

~Silverfox~