Loving to Hate the Data Administrator

You can just hear it now: At the table down the hall, there’s a group of people having, (as it seems to you) yet another academic discussion on the merits of third-normal form and the structure of primary keys. You’ve heard many discussions like this before — it all seems so pointless. After all, doesn’t it just boil down to “create table” commands and a bunch of DDL? You mastered all that in your first DBA class. What could be so hard?

Software patents: stupid or insane?

Lest the headline mislead you as to my biases, I consider software patents to be both stupid and insane. I raise this issue because it is currently rearing its ugly mug in the world of open source software, but it has affected much development in the proprietary worlds of Windows as well.

First of all, patent laws were created long ago, which is not to say the thinking was correct then either, but we have to recognize the intellectual and technological climate back then.

Employee Retention

A SQL Server DBA seems to be a stable job and many of us stick with the same job for an above average length of time. However employee retention in general is important to a strong and healthy company. Steve Jones starts a new series looking at this topic and why an employer might want to worry about retention.

Disappearing DBAs

In response to an article the Brian Knight write on the death of the production DBA, Sean McCown writes about the role that DBAs may play in shops that upgrade to Yukon (SQL Server 2005).

A Call to Arms

Long anticipated, the arrival of radically restructured database architectures is now finally at hand. By Jim Gray of Microsoft Research.

Becoming More Productive

Taking a break from SQL Server and DTS, author Haidong Ji shares a few tips and tricks to becoming more productive, whether as a DBA or developer. These hints and tips could help you separate yourself from the pack come review, raise, or interview time.

Don't Get Left Behind

Production DBAs may be a dying breed. At least according to some sources. While we're not sure that we agree with that, there is definitely a trend that should have you working on your career. The day of the DBA that only manages the operational data store is waning. Today's DBAs need to be flexible and have a number of other skills. Brian Knight looks at a few of the skills that you might to add to your arsenal to be prepared for the future of SQL Server.

Pro Developer : Throwing Money Out the Window

It's common knowledge among programmers that most of the ills of the software industry, and most particularly the companies where we work, could be solved by simply letting the technical people make the technical decisions. Obviously, since this is so incredibly logical and sensible, it's a given that most companies leave management decisions to managers, and technical decisions to the computer guys.

The Dot Com Bust - Part 2

It's been a year since Steve Jones last wrote about the state of the DBA job market after the economy soured. Here's an update of the last year.

Death of the Production DBA

If you see a priest outside your cubical, beware! He could be trying to read you your last rites. If he hasn't showed up yet, don't worry, he'll be over shortly because the production DBA is dead or will be shortly.