This, by far, has produced one of the most interesting threads that I have ever read here ... I have been a DBA for nearly 20 yrs. Starting with IMS, DB2 mainframe, Oracle (UNIX/AIX) and now back to DB2 AIX/ Mainframe .. with a little bit of SQLServer ..One the most overlooked skills that I feel makes a good DBA is a very good knowledge of SQL !! Take a class in SQL. Learn it. Understand complex joins and complex SQL. Not just a simple sql clause with a where clause .. Which RDBMS to learn ??? Good question. But if you understand relational concepts, logical and physical design (also good classes to take), you can work within any RDBMS. After that, learning backups/recoveries/tuning and performance is pretty standard. Also, knowing database security is a HUGE plus nowadays. HIPAA and Sarb/OX rulings (become very familiar with these) are adding to the cost of all IT projects. These rules sound good and sensible, but the powers that be never realized how costly it is to implement ... In order to do the auditing, we have had to add more hardware (processing and DASD). We now struggle with controlling costs. I work in the healthcare industry .. I have to laugh when I hear a politician start talking about that rising costs of healthcare when they (congress/senators) are the ones who pushed these laws thru without realizing that there would be no return on investment .... We seem to be requesting more hardware each year and it is not for normal growth, but mostly to accomodate government mandates ... As a DBA, you need to be aware that supporting government mandates will increase your dasd, make your backups run longer, kill your performance (becuase of more audit controls) ... I agree with the person who said to stick to project mgmt ..


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