February 9, 2026 at 12:00 am
Comments posted to this topic are about the item The DBA is Dead; Long Live the DBA
February 9, 2026 at 5:22 pm
I ceased to be a DBA 10 years ago when I took a chance on getting into Big Data. I think regret is too strong a word, but I often wonder where I would be if I had stayed in the DBA world.
Although some large, conservative companies out there remain averse to change, I saw that the Amazon model of shared responsibility was going to have a big impact. I saw the push for micro-services as being another big threat to DBAs, too. I think those could have been a much bigger threat than they have been so far.
If I were a DBA today, I would see data warehouses like Google BigQuery and Snowflake, where there isn't really that much for a DBA to do. There is always a place for someone who can tune a DB so it runs like a Formula 1 car, but most companies are happy for something that runs like a Toyota Prius.
From what I can see, what businesses really want are people who are comfortable straddling the line between the technical and business worlds. The solution I would build as a pure techy is not the solution I would build as someone with an eye on where the business wants to be. It's a different set of compromises.
February 10, 2026 at 11:39 am
There's always going to be a place for some form of a DBA, changes in technology are just going to change WHAT the day-to-day work looks like.
Reading David.Poole's comment made me realize my position isn't entirely what *I* thought it was, turns out I'm one of those "straddle the line between technical and business." Keeping the tech side happy with enough hardware to provide performance to keep the end users happy while keeping the business side happy making sure we're not just grabbing the biggest CPU and RAM VM offering / performance tier SaaS and calling it good.
Even going "cloud" doesn't remove the need for some sort of DBA to sit between the developers and the data and then to work with both sides to find a compromise that doesn't cost an arm and a leg. And that may involve working with the devs to "tune the DB to run like a Formula 1 car (or maybe just a NASCAR car, LoL)" because in the cloud? Effeciency saves money in the long run.
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