What's the job market like for remote dba work?

Question

What's the job market like for remote dba work?

rsteckly

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July 18, 2009 at 8:21 pm

#207102

Hi,
I'm interested in starting my own small business doing remote dba and software development work. I recently passed the certification in SQL Server 2008 (BI, Database Developer and DBA exams) and would like to start offering remote dba service alongside my software services. I am going to bring some senior people on board as consultants in the event that my lack of experience with DBA work is a problem.
I have worked primarily as a developer and don't really know much about the DBA/Database Developer world. I'd prefer to work for clients remotely. Is there a market out there for that? I've seen widely varying prices--some for $1400 a month for 24/7 monitoring to $300 a month per server.
Could anyone fill me in on a) whether there is good demand for remote dba services and b) what the price ranges are for the services?
Thanks,
Ron

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ps. One Orange Chip Points: 29422 More actions · Answer 1

rsteckly (7/18/2009)
I have worked primarily as a developer and don't really know much about the DBA/Database Developer world. I'd prefer to work for clients remotely. Is there a market out there for that? I've seen widely varying prices--some for $1400 a month for 24/7 monitoring to $300 a month per server.
Could anyone fill me in on a) whether there is good demand for remote dba services and b) what the price ranges are for the services?
Thanks,
Ron

Remote DBA support is in good demand as i work for a company that supports remote database activities to many clients and know many biggies that support remotely to customers. The pricing part remains with management so i'm unaware abt that. However, you'll need some infrastructure to securely connect to the remote client. We use a jumpstation at our end to connect securely to client's citrix server and from there we connect to the actual server.

Also, this requires experts with different level of expertise at vendor's side. If you get projects, i suggest u also hire some experts to work for you and also hone your dba skills simultaneously. marketing of your company and actually working for it are two different domains altogether.

Pradeep Singh

Jeff Moden SSC Guru Points: 1003857 More actions · Answer 2

Just my 2 cents... I've never been satisfied with the service of remote DBA's (nor in house DBA's) and I'm trying to kill all such remote contracts.

Pradeep... I've seen your posts... have you a website I could visit?

--Jeff Moden

RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for Row-By-Agonizing-Row.
First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
________Stop thinking about what you want to do to a ROW... think, instead, of what you want to do to a COLUMN.

Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.

Helpful Links:
How to post code problems
How to Post Performance Problems
Create a Tally Function (fnTally)

rsteckly Say Hey Kid Points: 664 More actions · Answer 3

Hi Jeff,

Would you mind emailing me offline to talk about the problems you've faced? I really want to make sure that what I offer people doesn't give them the same headaches you've had. My email is rsteckly@idealcode.net. I understand if its too much time to email though I'd really appreciate hearing what some of the problems are so I can anticipate them.

Thanks,

Ron

Jeff Moden SSC Guru Points: 1003857 More actions · Answer 4

It's real simple, Ron... [font="Arial Black"]MIL-TP-41[/font] which stands for "Make It Like The Print For Once". Another way of putting it is "Say what you do and then do what you say". If you claim to have a 1 hour response time on a 24/7 basis, then you'd better have a 1 hour response time on a 24/7 basis. And, if you're doing backups remember that backed up data NEVER saved anyone's DB... only RESTORED data did. If you claim to be a pro, you'd better act like one from womb to tomb and be able to meet or exceed whatever contract items are in the contract and a couple of more to boot.

I'll also admit that it's a tough job...

--Jeff Moden

RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for Row-By-Agonizing-Row.
First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
________Stop thinking about what you want to do to a ROW... think, instead, of what you want to do to a COLUMN.

Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.

Helpful Links:
How to post code problems
How to Post Performance Problems
Create a Tally Function (fnTally)

rsteckly Say Hey Kid Points: 664 More actions · Answer 5

Hmm...thanks for the comments.

Obviously, coming from the developer world I might be "certified" but short on experience. I'm going to partner with a much more seasoned DBA to ensure that I can deliver quality results at that level.

I'd also like to over deliver, which I think you hinted at in your post. I normally do that with my programming work--set a deadline and then come in earlier.

Hopefully, I'll be able to get clients, survive and do the same in the DBA world.

Thanks again,

Ron

Joy Smith San SSC-Insane Points: 24877 More actions · Answer 6

Hi Ron,

Kindly let me know if you require people.

I have overall 7 years experience in IT out of which 3 years

as SQL DBA. Am about to get my MCTS certication as well.

Thanks.

rsteckly Say Hey Kid Points: 664 More actions · Answer 7

Hi,

Do you want to send me your resume, location and hourly rate to rsteckly@idealcode.net.

Looking forward to it,

Ron

Joy Smith San SSC-Insane Points: 24877 More actions · Answer 8

Sure. I will send it by today evening as am in office now and busy with some urgent work.

Thanks.

ps. One Orange Chip Points: 29422 More actions · Answer 9

Jeff Moden (7/19/2009)
Pradeep... I've seen your posts... have you a website I could visit?

Jeff, I work for HP GCI(Global center of India, Bangalore). I dont hv a personal website of mine. May be you'd like to visit HP's sites. I've not seen too many cases wherein the TAT was missed except for few in tens of thousands. We maintain our TTO(time to own) and TTR(time to response) very stringently.

Pradeep Singh

Lynn Pettis SSC Guru Points: 442467 More actions · Answer 10

ps (7/20/2009)
Jeff Moden (7/19/2009)
Pradeep... I've seen your posts... have you a website I could visit?
Jeff, I work for HP GCI(Global center of India, Bangalore). I dont hv a personal website of mine. May be you'd like to visit HP's sites. I've not seen too many cases wherein the TAT was missed except for few in tens of thousands. We maintain our TTO(time to own) and TTR(time to response) very stringently.

TTO and TTR you explained, but what is TAT?

ps. One Orange Chip Points: 29422 More actions · Answer 11

Lynn, TAT=Turn Around Time (not a defined phrase as per the SDD-service delivary document, but we use it for TTO+TTR).

eg. in one of our deliveries, Time to own the tickets is 15 minutes and Time to resolve the tickets is 3hrs 30 mins. so TAT becomes 3 hrs 45 mins (for Priority 1 tickets).

correction TTR= Time to Resolve and not time to respond as i mentioned in the previous post.

Pradeep Singh

Lynn Pettis SSC Guru Points: 442467 More actions · Answer 12

Lynn Pettis

SSC Guru

Points: 442467

July 23, 2009 at 9:24 pm

#1029438

Okay. Now all that makes sense. Thank you.

danfugett SSC Enthusiast Points: 165 More actions · Answer 13

In all fairness I have known in-house DBAs who fail to provide the level of service mentioned previously. My question is whether the company in question holds their in-house DBAs to the same standard as the remote (and hence outsourced) ones? Maybe your company does. My experience is that many companies dont hold their internal IT staff to the same rigor as they do the consultant/remote workers. I have known internal DBAs that missed backup failures because of the demand to get development projects done. That is unacceptable as I am sure you agree.

Dan Fugett, MS

MCITP: SQL Server 2008 DBA

MCTS: SQL Server 2008 Database Implementation and Maintenance

Security+

Network+

ps. One Orange Chip Points: 29422 More actions · Answer 14

danfugett (9/20/2010)
In all fairness I have known in-house DBAs who fail to provide the level of service mentioned previously. My question is whether the company in question holds their in-house DBAs to the same standard as the remote (and hence outsourced) ones? Maybe your company does. My experience is that many companies dont hold their internal IT staff to the same rigor as they do the consultant/remote workers. I have known internal DBAs that missed backup failures because of the demand to get development projects done. That is unacceptable as I am sure you agree.
Dan Fugett, MS
MCITP: SQL Server 2008 DBA
MCTS: SQL Server 2008 Database Implementation and Maintenance
Security+
Network+

That may be one off case. but personally I wont generalize whether in-house dbas are better off or outsourced ones. Depends on passion of work. I have changed my company now and we have both in-house and outsourced DBAs here and we have excellant coordination. nobody finds fault at others and both teams help each other.

Pradeep Singh