What proportion of DBA skills are platform-independent?
- by Arkaaito
Problem: we've grown to the point where we need a real DBA. Real DBAs are hard to find.
Possible solution: I know someone with extensive experience (currently working on MSSQL) who is looking for a new DBA job. He might be willing to consider working for a MySQL shop (I haven't asked).
Snag: I don't know to what extent MSSQL DBA skills map to MySQL DBA skills. I'm a developer, so I know enough about MySQL to develop apps which use it (including the basic performance-tuning, index selection, etc.), do schema design, and perform simple utility tasks (backup with mysqldump, scripting, etc.). I don't know anything about MSSQL. Nor do I actually know much about the boundaries of the DBA role.
Can anyone with more experience - perhaps as a DBA - weigh in on this? Are there enough similarities between MSSQL and MySQL that it's worth asking a MSSQL DBA if he'd be interested in applying for a MySQL position?