Category: Uncategorized

I’ve always said that it didn’t matter what the database was. If it could do the job then it’s worth using. I have never worried about whether I had an Oracle database, SQL Server database, or any other platform. If someone wanted to pay me to work on it, then I’d do it.

Someone asked me for some career advice this past week, and I thought that I’d put some out there for SQL Server DBAs that are looking for jobs, looking to grow their career, or make more money. The advice that I came up with was this:

FORGET SQL Server, and learn Oracle

PL/SQL, Oracle 11g, those are the platforms of the future. As I look at some of the numbers, it seems that Oracle is finally turned the corner and is starting to crush SQL Server overall in the US. More units sold, more license revenue, and more importantly.

Higher DBA salaries.

When the product costs more, it’s easy to argue with the HR people and managers that the people administering it should be paid more. And that’s what I find. Consistently there are more jobs listed on the major search engines at higher salaries than for SQL Server. And with Microsoft panicking and releasing a new version of SQL Server every 18 months, Oracle is looking better and better to decision makers.

Finally

This is the most important part of my career advice. Smile, and have fun. This is a complete fabrication, and Happy April Fools day.

I don’t see Oracle as better in the job market, and while it’s true that many Oracle DBAs make more money than SQL Server DBAs, there are more opportunities for SQL Server people. Stick with SQL Server and you’ll be fine.

The family returned back from the UK last night, after traveling for something like 14 hours, plus an early morning wake up. I was up at 5am, GMT, for a 9am flight. Got to Denver around 5pm MST, and then it took a couple hours to clear customs, luggage, etc. So when I arrived home at around 8pm, I was exhausted. A very long day, with work to be done last night.

I didn’t do much last night, just scheduling out the newsletter and getting it going, despite a few issues. However I still had a problem with one of the ads. I didn’t preview it since by the time I figured out what was wrong and sent myself a test, the newsletter started going out the door. 😦

Today was a busy morning, kids struggling to get ready, having to drive them both to school, and then my weekly meeting. As I prepped, I realized that I was in the hole with 800+ emails since last Wednesday. Two days of a publishing meeting, and then 4 days of no Internet connection had me way behind. A double whammy there being offsite and then away for a few days.

Now with a pipeline that’s almost empty, it looks like some busy days trying to get caught up and back in line. With April 1 tomorrow, and a few things to finish, this day is almost gone for me in terms of getting caught up on anything. No ski Thursday this week!

Once again, I need a vacation from my vacation. That’s bad, and it makes me hesitant to slip away for a day or two in the future. It’s much easier to just get a week away and leave everything for someone else to cover. That’s definitely something I need to address, and I realize that there has to be a better way for me to better balance time away from work when I don’t have connectivity.

And glad to be back in the US.

Imagine my surprise when I arrived at the Red Gate offices Monday morning to find Jeff Aven at the office. I had a double take since Jeff is one of the founders of Hyperbac, and since Red Gate has SQL Backup, I’m surprised that Jeff was even allowed in the building. They’re competitive products in the same space.

I assumed there was some deal in the works, but didn’t ask and remained quiet. I hadn’t tweeted or posted anything, and I’m glad. Even a “Just saw Jeff” probably would have gotten me into trouble. We all received an email later that day that informed us Red Gate had purchased Hyperbac (press release) and that it would be announced after customers were contacted. That’s good business, and while it seems silly, it makes sense. Most customers probably don’t care, but a few might.

What does this mean for Hyperbac? I’m not sure. In the short term nothing. There will be two separate backup products from Red Gate. My guess is they will be priced similarly with some choice, but who knows. We’ll see when the sales and marketing team has a chance to examine both products.

I think for the most part either product works for most DBAs. There are some technical differences in how they work, but for the most part they compress and/or encrypt backups. That’s almost a base, core function these days, especially as database sizes grow.

Hyperbac has a nice, core engine and my guess is that over time the best parts of Hyperbac and SQL Backup will merge somehow, depending on what happens with the built-in compression in SQL Server.

In either case, they’re both great products, and Red Gate has done a great job of supporting DBAs for years, so I don’t hesitate to recommend either product.

I did enjoy seeing Jeff, who I have known for almost as long as SQLServerCentral has been in existence.