Over the next couple of months, we will be featuring a day in the life of one of our partners and/or employees. As you can imagine, a Business Analyst at cargo company can be completely different than a Business Analyst at a financial firm. Just as Database Administrators (DBA) can have the same job title but what they actually do throughout the day can vary.
As our first feature, we asked all of our DBAs a series of questions about what a day is like for them, from sun up to sun down, as it relates to their work schedule. Our DBAs range from part-time to full time and semi retired. See the questions and answers summarized below.
- Who do you report too?
- Managing Director – Chet West
- What are your responsibilities?
- Database support for our clients, taking care of escalated issues and new projects assigned to us.
- How do you spend your time though out the day?
- 50% Managing database system
- 20% escalation
- 10% new projects
- 10% Ad hoc work
- 10% Documentation and studying/learning new things
- What are your database management challenges?
- Just when I think I have seen it all, Oracle database or E-Business Suite shows me something new.
- Which do you prefer? Utilizing GUI tools (TOAD, SQL Developer, etc) for SQL queries against the database or prefer the command line?
- I started out using punch cards and command line interface and have seen the development of many different interfaces. I find advantages and disadvantages in each technology. I did use TOAD, SQL Developer and OEM routinely and I still prefer those tools for most automated tasks; however, there are times when the interface just gets in the way. I think as an industry, we are sometimes too quick to try and force fit all tasks into a new “cool” technology. As an example, I saw a very pronounced decline in productivity for key punch applications when windows and a mouse replaced keyboard and function keys. So for me, it all boils down to what works for the task at hand.
- Do you use monitoring software?
- We are using Nagios and shell scripts. PL/SQl Scripts. I prefer Oracle Enterprise Manager.
- Which do you prefer? The thrill of resolving system emergencies
- I do like a challenge however, for me it has always been about providing the highest level of customer service. I would prefer to proactively maintain systems so that the end user is disrupted as little as possible.
- What is the first thing you do every morning? What is the last thing you do before you “sign off?”
- I do the same things for when I first start my day and before I sign off. Those consist of basic system health check, checking my inbox, any pending actionable line item and ensuring there is no ongoing issue.
- What is the best thing about your job?
- This work has allowed me to satisfy my intellectual curiosity, earn great compensation, and not work in such a physically challenging environment for much less compensation. (I started out working in my father’s auto body shop and a number of manufacturing jobs before completing a degree at age 28) I also enjoy working for a company like RadixBay, as they are just as passionate about their employees as they are their clients.
- What is the thing like doing least as a DBA?
- I have no real complaints. I always preferred logical DBA work, analyzing and planning logical structures to be translated into physical structures over physical database management.
- What career accomplishment makes you the most proud?
- Hopefully, I have provided quality service while doing something I enjoy.
If you are interested in building a career at RadixBay, like our Database Administrators, please submit your resumes to careers@testwww.radixbay.com.