On St. Paddy’s Day we were fortunate to have Microsoft MVP and well-known author Brad McGehee speak to the Silicon Valley SQL Server User Group. Not only did Brad “the Hawaiian Irishman” wear a green shirt to the meeting at the Microsoft campus, but he left the crowd of almost 60 fans with a lot of good tips about advancing their careers.
Brad McGehee and me in Mountain View
Brad, as the Director of DBA Education for Red Gate Software, flies all around the world speaking at events such as SQL PASS, European PASS, SQL Connections, SQLTeach, SQLBits, SQL Saturdays, TechFests, and Code Camps.
According to Wikipedia, a database administrator (DBA) is an IT professional responsible for the installation, configuration, upgrading, administration, monitoring, maintenance, and security of databases in an organization. Why would anyone want to become a DBA? There are at least three good reasons.
- DBAs earn more than developers, on average
- DBA jobs are expected to grow much faster than average compared to all other jobs
- According to eWeek, DBAs are the second hardest job to fill after Enterprise Architect
Click here to see Brad’s presentation “How to Become an Exceptional DBA“.