December 18, 2012 at 6:43 am
I come from the developer rather than the DBA perspective and the article is still definitely applicable. I'd go one step further though. I don't just aim to be replacable, I aim not to need to be replaced. If I can leave a client with a product that no longer requires a programmer then, and only then, is my work truly done.
The greatest compliment I can be paid is to be made redundant by a satisfied client.
February 18, 2013 at 8:03 pm
I agree with a lot f what has been said. I would add that spreading the knowledge, particularly to developers helps them be better developers and me a better DBA. When everyone in a development team starts to get it together, and I inlcude the DBA here, creating and maintaining software becomes a pure joy. I liken it to playing in a band when everyone is hitting the beat and the groove comes alive. Or playing basket ball in a well drilled team, you can pass the ball almost without looking because you know your team mate is going to be in the right spot.
I have always sought to make myself redundant but have never succeeded! One day...
But for now, to all the DBA's out there who think otherwise, keep on keeping it dark and mysterious for others. Create poorly documented processes, create overly complex flaky systems that need your special touch to keep them going. Because one day I will take your job (and your mate's too, the one guy who knows your secrets and covers for you) and be paid very weel for it. And I love to reverse engineer your processes and look like a hero when I take a tasks that runs for 5 hours with some manual intervention and no one else knows exactly what it does, but the business has to trust it anyway, and get it down to under 1 minute, no intervention and document it so I can replace it all together and get it out of the OLTP database, and make the process visible to the stakeholders.... Always look great during the annual review.
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