A_Day_In_The_Life

To accomplish that task successfully, Wood recommends that DBAs be very familiar, "with the structured query language (SQL), as well as possess a good understanding of operating systems," including Windows NT and Unix. "Your better DBAs are knowledgeable of the operating systems," he observed. They also should possess a general knowledge of popular tool sets, such as Oracle's Developer/2000.

While most DBAs don't get involved in programming, "DBAs will often help developers tune their applications," Wood said. DBAs with computer programming skills are more valuable to their employers, and all DBAs should be able to use common scripting languages, Wood advised. Web skills such as Java and HTML are also becoming increasingly valuable to DBAs as companies move their corporate databases to the Internet.

Laughery believes Oracle DBAs should be familiar with Unix servers, as well as IBM mainframes and their operating systems. "It helps to understand the Unix operating system as well," he said.