Being a database administrator is one of the toughest and most challenging occupations even in a technology sector that is known for its steep learning curve. The position calls for a great deal of intelligence, persistence, and hard work, not to speak of technical ability and communication skills. When you have a large activity relating to database administration, either local or remote, it is necessary for you to interact with lots of database administrators. You can very easily use your powers of observation and discover the various personality profiles. There are administrators who are shy, extroverts, abrasive, slovenly or even charming or posses other personality attributes that can indicate how hard or easy it might be to work with them.
The DBA that’s a Scientist
The reason why these administrators are termed scientists is because they have all the attributes of real men of science. Usually brilliant and often shy, they abhor disorder, chaos and puzzles. They pride themselves in keeping the offices and desks completely orderly and clean and take a lot of delight in optimizing the workspace arrangement and layout. They really enjoy delving deep into the innards of arcane databases to solve mysteries that would have otherwise bugged generations of IT managers. They see the world around them, especially their working environment, as a series of challenges and theories that need proving. Scientist DBAs pride themselves on being orderly, meticulous and leaving nothing to chance. They can really get obsessive over details; others may think nothing much about.
Scientist DBAs like to maintain very high standards of professional excellence. They genuinely believe that database descriptions can be very well done with mathematical equations and experimentation is the key to establish database behavior. Usually very disciplined and strict with those working under them, they habitually require developers to continually test the proposed changes in database operation for efficacy before finally approving the implementation. Database administrators of this personality type are usually verbose and tend to use words and syntax that can be quite difficult for the layperson to understand.
The Enthusiastic DBA
This sort of database administrator is characterized by an attitude that spells positivity. It is common to find a few administrators of this type in the best team of remote DBA experts. Possessed with a personality that is outgoing, they always seem to be in a hurry to do something and finish it off as fast as possible. Quite the opposite of the scientist DBA, their desks are in a state of complete disarray, which however does not prevent them from amazingly being able to locate whatever they are looking for in a trice. The gung-ho attitude of these database administrators makes them open to experimentation and less reliant on traditional database management theories. They prefer to acquire degrees in subjects that they think have real life application such as Computer Engineering or Business Administration.
The enthusiastic and confident database administrator tends to be highly creative and is inclined to develop new techniques to address database administration issues. Forever experimental, they love to test new theories. Since they rush into the process headlong they are often responsible for databases crashing and causing production outages. Extremely motivated, the enthusiastic DBA sees certifications as challenges and try and acquire as many as possible in the shortest possible time. They tend to be more focused on long term objectives of the database rather than operational details, which is why database chaos and disruptions leave them unfazed. They work best under challenging circumstances and can be relied upon to discover solutions under strict deadlines and budgetary restrictions.
The Empathic Administrator
The empathic database administrators are extremely people-oriented and possess a friendly and outgoing attitude that makes them very easy to get along with. They tend to be more concerned with the social aspects of database administration and DBA services and love working in a group in sessions such as those dealing with application design and database analysis. Even though these administrators can often be found lacking on the technical skills aspect, nobody in the team seems to mind since they are such nice folks to work with. The real forte of empathic administrators lies in being fantastic managers and possessing advanced leadership and team building skills. Extremely people-oriented, they also tend to be exceptionally forgiving of coworker shortcomings and lapses. They are very unassuming and modest and have no tendency to try and steal the limelight over others.
Author bio: Julian Remy is a behavioral scientist and specializes in advising companies regarding employee profiles that are suitable for identified positions. He has over two decades of experience in teaching consumer psychology in a leading private institution.
