February 7, 2011 at 2:31 pm
I didn't mean to let this die so long, but a blizzard and several other issues intervened. We are going out with a new job description and a new recruiter, but wanted to close the loop here and see what people thought. I tried to take what was recommended here into consideration, some I agree with (like losing DB2) and some I might not so much.
Comments welcomed. (It doesn't show up nicely formatted and I am too lacy to try to see how much HTML this thing will support, so apologies for the poor formatting).
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Summary:
Senior DBA required for physical administration of very large databases (>1TB) in both OLTP and OLAP environments on Microsoft SQL Server. The position’s primary responsibilities will be physical administration, but as time permits will have opportunity for participating in development of new transactional and data warehousing applications, including both data modeling, implementation, and change control. The company is beginning a major push into SQL Server, and this is an opportunity to help create the environment, not just administer it. The position requires a high degree of technical skill, as well as strong organizational skills to prioritize, addressing both long term projects and acute production issues. Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English are a must.
Essential Functions:
1) Typical DBA duties on numerous small, and a few large databases, including:
i) Install, configure and administer SQL products in development and production environments
ii) Design, implement and test backup procedures
iii) Design, implement and test contingency plans and failover, including various forms of replication
iv) Monitor and adjust the production environments, preparing and implementing automation to ensure reliable, relatively hands-off, continuous operation.
v) Work as a team member with network, server, and applications staff to ensure good performance, and prepare capacity plans for future growth
2) Assist in the development of change control processes for the organization as it moves into larger scale SQL work, and carry out the DBA role in implementation.
3) Establish and administer database security.
4) Assist the development group in developing database programming techniques and standards, and provide advice during periodic code reviews.
5) Configure ETL and database linkages between heterogeneous database environments.
Qualifications:
1. B.S. or B.A. degree is required, and M.S. degree is desired.
2. Minimum 10 years I.T. experience and 5 years in database administration on Microsoft SQL Server, including experience in SQL 2005 and SQL 2008.
3. Thorough knowledge of physical and logical database design principles, and specifics in the Microsoft SQL 2005, 2008 environments.
4. Experience in the maintenance and tuning of terabyte-sized SQL Server databases (OLTP required, OLAP desired)
5. Experience in replication and disaster recovery failover in database systems.
Desirable skills and experience:
1. Experience working in a software development environment, including data modeling and skills in both OLTP and OLAP database design.
2. Experience in configuring and using SSIS for ETL and database maintenance.
3. Desirable experience with Information Builders products including Web Focus
February 7, 2011 at 2:44 pm
You say this:
"Senior DBA required for physical administration of very large databases (>1TB) in both OLTP and OLAP environments on Microsoft SQL Server. "
OLAP may mean that you want someone that knows Analysis Server, but it may mean something else.
If you actually need Analysis Services experience, you should state that specifically. If you don't need Analysis Services, you should refine the description a little more to explain exactly what you are looking for.
For example:
Do you just need someone to support the SQL Server databases used by an OLAP engine?
Do you need someone to support some third-party OLAP engine?
February 7, 2011 at 3:05 pm
Michael Valentine Jones (2/7/2011)
You say this:"Senior DBA required for physical administration of very large databases (>1TB) in both OLTP and OLAP environments on Microsoft SQL Server. "
OLAP may mean that you want someone that knows Analysis Server, but it may mean something else.
If you actually need Analysis Services experience, you should state that specifically. If you don't need Analysis Services, you should refine the description a little more to explain exactly what you are looking for.
For example:
Do you just need someone to support the SQL Server databases used by an OLAP engine?
Do you need someone to support some third-party OLAP engine?
I'd disagree with this. I believe anyone with familiarity enough for this position will know that OLAP <> SSAS.
I'd agree, he's going to get some applicants with little familiarity with SSAS from this description, but I dont' think the entry is misleading.
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February 7, 2011 at 3:11 pm
Craig Farrell (2/7/2011)
Michael Valentine Jones (2/7/2011)
You say this:"Senior DBA required for physical administration of very large databases (>1TB) in both OLTP and OLAP environments on Microsoft SQL Server. "
OLAP may mean that you want someone that knows Analysis Server, but it may mean something else.
If you actually need Analysis Services experience, you should state that specifically. If you don't need Analysis Services, you should refine the description a little more to explain exactly what you are looking for.
For example:
Do you just need someone to support the SQL Server databases used by an OLAP engine?
Do you need someone to support some third-party OLAP engine?
I'd disagree with this. I believe anyone with familiarity enough for this position will know that OLAP <> SSAS.
I'd agree, he's going to get some applicants with little familiarity with SSAS from this description, but I dont' think the entry is misleading.
I don't see anything wrong clarifying exactly what they are after.
The problem is that potential applicants will not know if the people posting the ad know the difference, and may skip applying when they are really qualified for the job.
February 7, 2011 at 3:12 pm
Ferguson (2/7/2011)
Summary:Senior DBA required for physical administration of very large databases (>1TB) in both OLTP and OLAP environments on Microsoft SQL Server. The position’s primary responsibilities will be physical administration, but as time permits will have opportunity for participating in development of new transactional and data warehousing applications, including both data modeling, implementation, and change control. The company is beginning a major push into SQL Server, and this is an opportunity to help create the environment, not just administer it. The position requires a high degree of technical skill, as well as strong organizational skills to prioritize, addressing both long term projects and acute production issues. Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English are a must.
I like this. To the point and descriptive of the expected position.
Essential Functions:
1) Typical DBA duties on numerous small, and a few large databases, including:
i) Install, configure and administer SQL products in development and production environments
ii) Design, implement and test backup procedures
iii) Design, implement and test contingency plans and failover, including various forms of replication
Do you only want replication, or are mirroring and logshipping allowable choices as well? More a question than an issue. The various forms bit implies to me you are actually looking for data redundancy for High Availability issues, though I could be mistaken.
iv) Monitor and adjust the production environments, preparing and implementing automation to ensure reliable, relatively hands-off, continuous operation.
v) Work as a team member with network, server, and applications staff to ensure good performance, and prepare capacity plans for future growth
2) Assist in the development of change control processes for the organization as it moves into larger scale SQL work, and carry out the DBA role in implementation.
3) Establish and administer database security.
4) Assist the development group in developing database programming techniques and standards, and provide advice during periodic code reviews.
5) Configure ETL and database linkages between heterogeneous database environments.
Reasonable requirements. High end technical knowledge is needed, but I would feel that this is an achievable job, with a concentration in Administration.
Qualifications:
1. B.S. or B.A. degree is required, and M.S. degree is desired.
Whelp, I'm out. I usually rely on my experience to make up for this. If it's an absolute requirement without having time served as a replacement, no love for me.
2. Minimum 10 years I.T. experience and 5 years in database administration on Microsoft SQL Server, including experience in SQL 2005 and SQL 2008.
3. Thorough knowledge of physical and logical database design principles, and specifics in the Microsoft SQL 2005, 2008 environments.
4. Experience in the maintenance and tuning of terabyte-sized SQL Server databases (OLTP required, OLAP desired)
5. Experience in replication and disaster recovery failover in database systems.
Desirable skills and experience:
1. Experience working in a software development environment, including data modeling and skills in both OLTP and OLAP database design.
Is this a requirement, or a desired item? Desirable skills are usually add-ons, nice to haves once the main portion is done.
2. Experience in configuring and using SSIS for ETL and database maintenance.
Same with this. The last point of the job duties is configuring ETL. Thus, I wouldn't put this under the desirable items.
3. Desirable experience with Information Builders products including Web Focus
This belongs here. 🙂
This looks good. It should bring you what you're looking for in general. Might just need a little reorganization here and there.
Never stop learning, even if it hurts. Ego bruises are practically mandatory as you learn unless you've never risked enough to make a mistake.
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February 7, 2011 at 3:45 pm
Craig Farrell (2/7/2011)
Qualifications:
1. B.S. or B.A. degree is required, and M.S. degree is desired.
Whelp, I'm out. I usually rely on my experience to make up for this. If it's an absolute requirement without having time served as a replacement, no love for me.
Desirable skills and experience:
1. Experience working in a software development environment, including data modeling and skills in both OLTP and OLAP database design.
Is this a requirement, or a desired item? Desirable skills are usually add-ons, nice to haves once the main portion is done.
2. Experience in configuring and using SSIS for ETL and database maintenance.
Same with this. The last point of the job duties is configuring ETL. Thus, I wouldn't put this under the desirable items.
Degrees are always a sore point. I need to think about that a bit. I fully realize some people with great skills never got a degree. I also believe that in today's world, failure to get a degree more often than not says something about the attitudes or abilities of the person. I will give it some thought.
ETL/SSIS: To me SSIS is not ETL, many people have used many tools, including often just SQL and linked servers. I want people familiar with the trials and tribulation of large scale ETL, not necessarily a specific tool.
Modeling: based on mountains of feedback, I backed off on stressing software development participation as a necessary part of the job. Everyone climed on pretty hard saying it was a different role.
February 8, 2011 at 5:03 am
Ferguson (2/7/2011)
Degrees are always a sore point. I need to think about that a bit. I fully realize some people with great skills never got a degree. I also believe that in today's world, failure to get a degree more often than not says something about the attitudes or abilities of the person. I will give it some thought.
Something to remember. There are a lot of older members of the work force, good / reliable people, who never had an opportunity to get a degree for one reason or another. Even younger people may be retired military, or just people who never had the money for college.
If you're talking people just hitting forty (or younger), I completely see where you're coming from because people were told (while they were in high school) that they needed college degrees in order to "amount to something." But don't discount half the workforce, especially the more experienced members, just because they didn't have the opportunity.
Personally, I don't have a problem with that requirement because I do have a BA. But I know several people who chose the military route instead of the college route.
February 8, 2011 at 5:45 am
Brandie Tarvin (2/8/2011)
Ferguson (2/7/2011)
Degrees are always a sore point. I need to think about that a bit. I fully realize some people with great skills never got a degree. I also believe that in today's world, failure to get a degree more often than not says something about the attitudes or abilities of the person. I will give it some thought.Something to remember. There are a lot of older members of the work force, good / reliable people, who never had an opportunity to get a degree for one reason or another. Even younger people may be retired military, or just people who never had the money for college.
As I said, difficult issue. One of my best hires was someone from a disadvantaged background, minority, went into the military, and then used his VA benefits to get into I.T. What impressed me was that he did not go the ITT or DeVry route, but a real academic university for a BS, then was half way through an MS in CS when I hired him. This guy had nothing going for him at all originally - no money, no decent early education, minority in the South US -- but he had the will and stamina to work, and perhaps more importantly the wisdom to make good choices.
Are there people who apply similar will and stamina to their profession, skipping a degree? Absolutely. But pick a random person with a degree and a random person without and I believe that statistically that kind of ability to make good choices, and to follow through on a difficult path, is more likely in the person who went the college route.
I do not require a college degree in general. But I frequently put it as a requirement on the more complex, more difficult jobs, especially where I look for good decision making skills.
Should I here? need to think about it, as it is a more difficult role to fill and this reduces the available pool. But also a job where making good (if sometimes difficult) decisions is important.
PS. I think your cutoff at 40 is way, way too young. Anything under about 55 had lots of scholarships, and somewhere around then is when the draft switched to volunteer and the VA benefits got much better. Lots of individual horror stories I am sure counter that statement, but I believe statistically availability of college became far more wide spread earlier than people born in 1970.
February 8, 2011 at 5:52 am
Brandie, no disrespect but people in the military get degrees; especially highly motivated servicemen/woman. There are opportunities.
If you're choosing someone who recently retired from the military they must have experience in the job you are filling, correct? If not, why would you hire them for the "topic of this post" no experience and without a degree? Therefore this person was working as a software developer, DBA in their respective service or on the side. These type of jobs don't necessarily deploy to combat zones. These people do have the opportunities to pursue a degree; it's a matter of desire. That's the specific route I took during my Air Force career. One or two night classes a semester for 13 years before getting the M.I.S degree. I respect and honor our veterans and when conducting job interviews, I for one will favor a veteran over a civilian every time when the skills are evenly matched.
Steve
February 8, 2011 at 7:29 am
Steve,
I think you're misunderstanding what I'm saying. I'm not saying military people have no experience. I'm saying I know a lot of military people with the experience, but no degree (for various reasons).
They're all good people--dedicated, hard-working, and talented people.
All I was trying to say was that for someone who did the military thing, without a degree, but has the experience, the keywords "must have degree" might make them think they're unqualified for the position.
Ferguson brings up good points regarding what he's looking for, and this part of the resume really is dependent on what the employer wants.
I'm just used to seeing "must have BA / BS or equivalent experience" in the job description. And as someone who used to work for a Continuing Education College, where older students who didn't have a degree (or were getting a new one) could Clep their way out of classes based on life experience, I just felt the need to mention that experience can outweigh degrees.
February 8, 2011 at 7:57 am
I think the latest version of the job posting is clear enough and presented well enough.
Other than the degree requirement, it's one I would apply for if I were looking. I don't have a degree, so I wouldn't bother, but I'm sure there are others who would. I understand the desire for it, and as a yardstick, it's flawed, but no more so than "equivalent experience". (I've known plenty of people with decades of experience in doing things wrong. It's not a pretty scene. I've also known people with only a couple of years of experience and no degree, who were the brightest, most competent people I've ever worked with. It goes both ways.)
But the posted requirements and desirements (not a real word, but I think you'll know what I mean) are clear, concise, and applicable.
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February 8, 2011 at 8:30 am
Brandie, yes, I see what you are saying. I was just supporting Fergusen in that he could maintain his requirement of "Must Have" and not necessarily eliminate those who served in the military because many of them do obtain degrees.
More in the line of countering your statement:
"But don't discount half the workforce, especially the more experienced members, just because they didn't have the opportunity." Is it really half of the workforce?
I believe in higher education (not that you don't) and support the degree requirement even if it does mean a number of excellent candidates would be eliminated.
Steve
February 8, 2011 at 8:37 am
I agree that this is a much better posting, albeit one I am not qualified for.
I think that you should almost always include "or equivalent experience" when listing a degree requirement. Many of the top SQL People either do not have degrees or do not have degrees in C.S., I.T., or an Engineering discipline. I always find it amusing that someone will consider me because I have a B.S. in Physical Education and 11 years experience, but won't consider someone with 11 years experience and no degree or an A.S. or A.A. I'm not complaining because at least I'm getting something because of my degree, but it doesn't make sense to me. What does my degree prove about my ability to do the job?
Jack Corbett
Consultant - Straight Path Solutions
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February 8, 2011 at 8:42 am
Jack Corbett (2/8/2011)
I agree that this is a much better posting, albeit one I am not qualified for.I think that you should almost always include "or equivalent experience" when listing a degree requirement. Many of the top SQL People either do not have degrees or do not have degrees in C.S., I.T., or an Engineering discipline. I always find it amusing that someone will consider me because I have a B.S. in Physical Education and 11 years experience, but won't consider someone with 11 years experience and no degree or an A.S. or A.A. I'm not complaining because at least I'm getting something because of my degree, but it doesn't make sense to me. What does my degree prove about my ability to do the job?
Same here, I have what's called an AEC (which means only 1 year post high school). Yet I've spent 1000s of hours reading and helping on ssc.com.
So guess what, I'm more qualified than anyone with 6 years university and some sql experience (my very humble POV).
February 8, 2011 at 8:45 am
Jack Corbett (2/8/2011)
I agree that this is a much better posting, albeit one I am not qualified for.I think that you should almost always include "or equivalent experience" when listing a degree requirement. Many of the top SQL People either do not have degrees or do not have degrees in C.S., I.T., or an Engineering discipline. I always find it amusing that someone will consider me because I have a B.S. in Physical Education and 11 years experience, but won't consider someone with 11 years experience and no degree or an A.S. or A.A. I'm not complaining because at least I'm getting something because of my degree, but it doesn't make sense to me. What does my degree prove about my ability to do the job?
I am not saying I would not consider you, but I will try to answer your perhaps rhetorical question.
Someone who as a young adult decides to put in the effort and finish a college degree demonstrates an ability to make good decisions and finish something they start. It is in many ways easier to get (bored, stressed, poor) and move into the working world than to finish what you start. Or maybe even did not start.
Will it be a false positive or false negative indication -- absolutely.
But does it enrichen the candidate pool?
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