Business Problem: Finding and/or Retaining DBAs

Does your organization have trouble finding and/or retaining DBAs? Take heart and do not be discouraged. Most likely, it is neither you nor your organization. It is important to note that several factors contribute to an increasing need of database administrators:

• A database can grow three to five times its current size after every three years.
• Businesses and their databases need to run 24/7.
• Technology is ever changing, and security of your database is more important than ever.
• Database administration skills can take numerous years to acquire and constant training to stay on top of the latest changes in technology.
• When you are trying to find a DBA, you are limited to local resources or a DBA that is willing to relocate to your area. (Believe it or not, a highly sought after DBA may not want to move from Florida to North Dakota.)
• Does your company offer an environment that will challenge a DBA? Many database administrators like to be challenged and work on the bleeding edge of technology.
• What quality of life can you offer a database administrator? If they will be your only DBA will they be on call 24/7? Will they have anyone to collaborate with or leverage if there is an issue they are uncomfortable with?  

RDX Solutions:

Whether you are looking to fill an open position to your existing team or looking to find your team of one, RDX can help put an end to your long and exhausting search for a DBA. When you bring in a organization like RDX, you will immediately reap the benefits of our entire organization. What benefits? Check out what RDX will bring to the table:

• Primary and Secondary DBA for each technology your organization needs supported: That’s right; our DBAs are not cross-trained so you know your support is coming from a Subject Matter Expert who is constantly working and training with the newest features and functionalities of each technology.
• Receive the collective knowledge of the entire organization: You suddenly find out that this year your organization wants to get heavily involved with new features within SQL Server. No problem. RDX can provide you with additional resources focused and specialized on high availability, business intelligence, upgrades, and even disaster recovery. “The collective knowledge of many is better than the limited knowledge of one.”

• 24/7 Coverage and Support: When you have an engagement with RDX, you have access to our resources 24/7/365. Your primary and Secondary DBAs will be providing you support during business hours, but in addition to that, you are supported by a highly-focused on-call team dedicated to your environment during off hours and our Database Operations Center (DOC) which will keep an eye out for all things that can go bump in the night. With RDX, you are truly covered at all times.
• Our support comes with a Mobile App! Have you ever interviewed a DBA that came with his/her own app? Monitor your environment, submit tickets for support, report and track incidents in real time, or even connect to our emergency support line with one click on our Mobile App.  

Hiring and retaining a database administrator is only one of the many DBA challenges facing many organizations. In the coming weeks, I will be addressing the most common concerns and problems that I hear week in and week out from IT Managers, DBA Managers, and CIO’s. I look forward to your comments, and I am always interested in learning from the experiences of others!