OT: Anybody have info on what a Database Administrator does?

Have you ever done database administration?

It's very hard to choose a career that you haven't done a little bit in and experienced it. I HIGHLY recommend you do a lot of internships / co-op programs in college. I really like computers, and I thought, WOW, it would be cool to be a programmer!! Well, I taught myself a little VB 6.0, made a simple Database program here at work, and am in charge of it. After that, I closed the book and haven't opened it since. I dont like programming. When it comes to my mind at actually creating something, I can't stand it. I've found out I'm much better at managing a process and coming up with ideas, than I am at doing all the dirty work. Some people are the opposite, and are REALLY good at making a program do what it should.

This applies to all jobs, not just computer stuff. That can be an awful mistake..Going to college for a major, and THEN realizing you won't like it. Try your best in college to figure out what you like to do.

Now, if you really have worked with DBA's before, (which I'm doubting, or else you wouldn't have imposed this question on us ), you know what they do. It's pretty much, well, boring. They are the Administrators of a Database. Take care of all the permissions, user accounts, logons, and depending on the project different Oracle (Or other database program of your choice) programming tasks. I said it's boring because they pretty much do what needs to be done. Don't do much creation really, or come up with ideas, seems to me like a lot of maintenance.

Well, if thats what you like, go pursue it. But from how your question was worded, it seems like you haven't really been exposed to what you think your life career will be.

Mike

Being an IT Director and a DBA, I can shed some light. DBA's make good money, will be in higher demand, and have much flexibility.

For example, a SQL admin can develop programs with VB for data access and queries, or they can develop websites for commerce, or work with marketing and hr departments developing solutions. Now, learning to be a DBA is boring, but doing it with creativity and having opportunities to use the data for making financial decisions is awesome.

I use SQL everyday for all kinds of decisions. You get paid well for your ability to interpret data and I can tell you that a good DBA with 2 years experience can start at $65K a year. Manufacturers, law firms, hospitals, corporations, insurance companies, government...all use databases to run their operations...so this gives you many options to do what you like down the road.

Just remember that it's boring getting started...but your future can be insured. I don't think all those DMV databases are going anytime soon!