Dissect and improve
One of the best things about working as a Database Reliability Engineer is dissecting and improving a database environment. I visit many different customers who work with a business-critical system. That could be an accounting package, an ERP system or a CMS of a large website.
Often the package has been running for a while and the company has become dependent on the system. That is not to say that people are always unhappy with it, but you have to make do with what you have. When we take care of the database management, we are like a doctor taking the temperature every month.
How is the environment doing? Do I see bottlenecks that I can address before they really start to hurt? Making the environment more secure against the increasingly complex challenges of cloud integration is also a frequent theme. Think about usefulness and necessity of existing database permissions, protecting customer data and securing backups. Very valuable work.
Rescue buoy
Beyond being a doctor, as a DBA you are often also a life-saving lifesaver. We have a kind of hotline (0353690304), and it happens regularly that someone hangs on the line in panic. Then their own DBA is sick or on vacation or they just don’t know for some other reason.
We then jump in and in 99 out of a hundred cases we can help the organization out of the fire. This is extremely rewarding work and it demonstrates our expertise in a nice way. We are not afraid of complex problems; on the contrary, we dive in with love and provide a solution.
Dynamic
Our field never stands still and the importance of data is growing. Data is the new gold, we hear more and more. It sounds popular, of course, but there is some truth to it. Databases today are so crucial for IT applications that even the very largest organizations are nowhere without a well-organized database.
The fact that we contribute to that makes our work interesting, every day. We are not in the world to sell some fancy reports; we are really on the front lines. That performance pressure is kind of addictive.
Increasing complexity
We are enormously dependent on technology today. Digitization goes on and on, and there is a downside to that. Due to the increasing complexity and increasingly interwoven processes, things can also go wrong. There are still many steps to take in this regard. Data governance is becoming increasingly important, but having a good backup strategy is also crucial. We encounter it every day: organizations that think they have their backups well organized, while in practice they turn out to be unusable. But if you become a victim of a ransomware attack, having a good backup is your salvation. If you can contribute to that, it’s very valuable.
Fascinating
All these aspects mean that I have enjoyed ‘plodding around’ in the depths of the database world for over 25 years. It is an enormously fascinating field of study and a lively field of practice, and I could enjoy myself here for some time to come.
Curious?
Would you like to talk more about our services and what our experts can do for your business? Feel free to contact us, we would love to get to know you.