I'm a lone developer. I am currently developing an application which is seeing me get way way way out of my depth when it comes to SQL DBA'ing, and have come to realise that I should hire a DBA to help me (which has full support from the company).

Problem is - who?

This SO thread sees someone hire a DBA only to realise that they will probably cause more harm then good! Also, I have just had a bad experience with a ASP.NET/C# contractor that has let us down.

So, can anyone out there on SO either...

a) Offer their services.

b) Forward me onto someone that could help.

c) Give some tips on vetting a DBA.

I know this isn't a recruitment site, so maybe some good answers for c) would be a benefit for other readers!!

BTW: The database is SQL Server 2008. I'm running into performance issues (mainly timeouts) which I think would be sorted out by some proper indexing. I would also need the DBA to provide some sort of maintenance plan, and to review how our database will deal what we intend at throwing at it in the future!