How I Became a...SQL Server DBA

Kevin Hill mentioned this idea/series on a SQL community slack channel back in April and I thought it would be a good way to get back to blogging. The timing worked out well as I had just started a new job, my first with the official title of “SQL Server DBA.” So how’d I get here?

School

In college, I took a single database course. I’d messed around with Microsoft Access a bit, but wanted to get a better handle on what I was doing. The course was not at all what I was expecting. I passed and did OK, but I didn’t completely grasp the material. The class was mostly deep RDBMS theory including “how do we store this on disk” - I wrote minimal amounts of SQL in this course because it wasn’t required.

Early Jobs

I graduated and took my shiny new Computer Science diploma to my first job, and within a few months I had a solid handle on Classic ASP, building apps with it and handling some of the server admin stuff on the NT4 boxes that hosted them. I spent a little over 5 years there and got minimal exposure to databases as that wasn’t what my job function demanded - I’d write some queries against DB2 on the mainframe or a SQL Server instance, but that was about it. The DBAs took care of everything else.

After a few years, I moved on from that position as I wanted to relocate for personal reasons. I found a job doing some Java work on an in-house application and system customization/integration for a purchased application that was used as the hub for the company’s core business. In the course of working on those systems, I started doing a lot more SQL work, but at the time I only knew enough to be dangerous.

Finding the Community

During a project to upgrade that system, I got a crash course in writing good SQL from Allen White (blog|twitter), and learned much more about how SQL Server works from both him and Kendal Van Dyke (blog|twitter). Allen and Kendal also introduced me to the SQL Server community and my eyes were opened. This was huge.

Over the next several years, I discovered that I was a developer who had DBA tendencies that I just hadn’t realized yet. I started to get involved with the SQL Server community. Talked to so many people. Subscribed to dozens of blogs. Attended SQL Saturdays and PASS Summits.

Then, one evening after we finished unpacking equipment and supplies from one of our Rochester SQL Saturdays, Matt Slocum (blog|twitter) just asked me, point-blank. “So do you wanna be a DBA or what?” Ding! The lightbulb flicked on. I’m already doing a whole bunch of this stuff, and enjoying it - why not go for it?

Moving Forward

I refocused my efforts on really understanding how SQL Server works. Looked for ways to leverage my programming experience with a slant toward managing databases. Did a lot more non-production DBA type work (I didn’t a lot of access to production, which was probably a good thing). After searching for a while, I landed a job as a full-time production DBA with a company operating a SaaS platform. It was a bit of a leap but one that I had to take as it was the right thing that came along at the right time. I’m nearly 2 months in now and I’ve learned a ton already. Made a few slip-ups, but that’s to be expected - just have to learn from that and move forward.