Why are DBA skills necessary? #TSQL2sDay

Finally taking the plunge. First time blogger to T-SQL Tuesday here.

I would have to start by saying that as I’ve grown in DBA skill and knowledge coming from the dark side (developers) I can see right off the bat some skills that are critical. Here are just some basic examples (near and dear to my heart) where a good DBAs skill-set is invaluable:

Backups
Ok. So this is a no-brainer. Choosing a backup strategy should be pretty evident. There is nothing worse than developing an app or a database only to have your work tampered with or worse…having the a server go belly up. Devs have source control, DBAs have backup/recovery plans. The point is learn how to back up your work/database/office doc/files and be religious about your method. It will never steer you wrong and could save you tons of re-work.
(DBA’s are rock stars with backups by the way).

Performance Monitoring
Know it, love it, and it will serve you well. Pay it no heed and it will give you a major headache whilst your manager is peering over your shoulder going “have you fixed the problem yet?” There is nothing cooler than to watch a DBA peer into the crystal ball of performance data and diagnose the problem as if by magic.

Vendors
I think a DBA is critical here, but this could map to other areas of technology. A lot of times the database is an afterthought with vendors. I have asked vendors point blank what version of SQL Server they support. I cringe when they say “oh it’ll run on anything 2000 and up”.
This is code for: we only dump data into the database and know nothing of features like Indexed Views, DMVs, and Extended Events.
These are the same vendors who do stuff like not allowing you to add your own indexes (with documented performance gains) for fear of “altering” their database (true story).

All in all I think a DBA skill set should pertain to many different roles to have a successful I.T. department.

Ultimately you can learn a lot from a DBA. I have.