Venting Frustration

We as DBA’s face an ever growing list of things to do and services to support.  We work in high pressure environments where time is of the essence and there is little to no room for error.  The very nature of our roles mean we have to work unsociable hours and in the majority of cases have some sort of formal on call process for 24x7 systems.  I and certainly the vast majority of DBA’s I have worked with over the years take great pride and care in the work we do, often spending hours of additional work to make sure a solution is as bullet proof as possible.  I enjoy going beyond the call of duty because I realise in the long run the additional work will save me time, effort and reduce stress.

It is, well certainly for me, infuriating when working with other “professionals” who do not seem to share this same mind set.  Everything is reactive as opposed to proactive and they frown when asked to put in extra hours.  I can’t stress how much this gets up my nose, no one is perfect I understand that but if you are only as strong as your weakest link then surely we are doomed as a team to fail?!

It is then of course up to us as DBA’s to go even further behind enemy lines and single-handedly win the war against incompetence and downright laziness.  I’m starting to rant so I’m going to get back to the subject of the post venting frustration now I have hopefully set the scene.

Rest and Relaxation are an important part of being a DBA without which we wouldn’t be able to function, well not without copious amounts of coffee anyway.  I enjoy being able to switch off, disengage from work and SQL Server and spend time with my family.  My wife is not a technical person so the answer to “How was your day?” is different for her than it would be for a fellow techie.  Trust me on this I’ve tried, I can see her eyes glaze over as I lose her with a technical response.

I do also like being able to vent my frustration to fellow DBA’s, just as much as I enjoy them venting their frustrations to me.  Not only do I feel a sense of release (Panders I know you are smirking at that!) but the DBA in me commits certain parts of this venting process to memory automatically, to learn from so I can evolve environments based on the mistakes and misfortunes of others.

I am lucky in this respect that I have a number of DBA friends who I can vent frustration at.  I have also found blogging very therapeutic, since I started this blog I have found another source of satisfaction, which I hope continues.

The SQL Server community is strong and generally very supportive.  Get involved and you too will start to reap the rewards.

Cheers

Chris