The biggest challenge as any technologies is that while you are getting super specialist at what you do, the world around you move so much ahead that when you look outside your windows you feel that you are expert at the technology which is actually history. This is indeed true in the world of changing trends and technology.
We all know that the rule is – Either go wide or go deep in technology. However, it is easy to read but difficult to follow. The challenge is not only depending on the learning and developing skill but also driven by the social environment around us. There are many such examples when we are interested in one technology but due to business reasons, we might have to adopt different technology.
Here are the 3 biggest challenge for any DBAs –
Challenge 1: Cloud or On-Premises
Every time when I hear this conversation I feel the old time when people used to discuss “Relational or Business Intelligence“. The reasons people do not discuss relational or business intelligence is because everyone has learned that there is a need for both of them and both the technology has its own space.
Similarly, Cloud or No Cloud is a similar concept. There are places where the cloud makes sense and there are places where we still need an on-premises database. One is not a replacement to another one, they are absolutely needed and required in their own place. However, there is no denying that there is a world is moved to cloud. The reason is simple, there was no cloud existed when it was needed many years ago. Now the cloud is available and business which needed cloud is moving to the cloud. I think it is a natural shift and nothing to be afraid about.
Challenge 2: Heterogeneous Environment
This is an even bigger challenge for many DBAs. Most of the large organizations have multiple platforms. When they are using SQL Server they are also using Oracle, MySQL, PostgreSQL, and many other different SQL platforms. Which each technology may qualify for either SQL or NoSQL product, they all have the same heart and soul at the end and business stack owners prefer a DBA or Developer who is himself diverse in handling such workload.
This becomes very tricky when DBA has to handle multiple projects and there is a change of person in the team lead position. I have been through this experience and I can say one thing here that I had to often sacrifice my desire over what collective decision my team has taken. Though I do not regret working on the heterogeneous environment, I can tell you for the fact, it was much more fun when I was able to focus on one technology and learn more.
Challenge 3: Ever Increasing Workload
I have been working as a SQL Server Performance Tuning Consultant for quite a long time and I must say that I have yet to come across a successful organization where their data mass and growth is decreased. As and when an organization gets successful, the data grows and along with the data the need of the data processing increases.
For example, when a business starts there are a bunch of tables where the data is stored. However, when the business is really successful, it uses not only the relational database but also associated components like Integration Services, Reporting Services, Power BI and many other components which not only increases the data consumptions but along with the data the data processes as well.
The DBAs often has built their processes and routine with the limited amount of the data. However, as the data and processes grow, the routine and processes which DBA have to build need to be evolved. Quite many often do not time and skill to cope with the ever-increasing need of the data.
What Next? – Intelligent Automation
Well, so far we have discussed only three challenges but there are going to many more challenges. The only solution to this problem I see is Intelligent Automation.
If you enjoyed this article and want to learn what our future holds, I strongly suggest and encourage that you sign up for the webinar with is organized by Quest. In this webcast, we will discuss the three of the challenges which we have discussed and many more relevant stories. This webinar is not your run of mills session but just something DBAs often talk with their colleague when they think of their future.
Quest has many tools which help DBAs to overcome their challenges and also help them work efficiently and effectively.
Reference:Â Pinal Dave (https://blog.sqlauthority.com)
