Help: Any DBA out there? OCP, DB2, etc....

[bcmind]

First of all, thanks for looking cuz I needed help/guidance very badly.

I'm studying OCP right now and had passed 2 of 5 tests already. While I'm still studying OCP, I noticed that the demand for DBA is not as great as I first thought it would be. Most companies are, mainly, looking for 3+ years experienced DBA. So I might be out of luck in finding a good job, if any, after I get certified.

My standard of a good job is $65,000/year starting salary. I held a BS degree in Business Admin., specialization in MIS. Furthermore, I?ll be an OCP 8iDBA, Developer and Sun?s certified Solaris8 administrator. I also have 3+ working experiences non-related to I.T.

So my question to you, OCP or not, is how did you get your ?first? 3 to 5 years of experience as DBA or into I.T. Industry? Any tips in finding DBA jobs are welcomed.

Also, am I asking to much as a starter even I held 3 certifications + BS degree?

Thanks for your time!

 

[yoyo25]

Well, I just landed my first full time job after college, in todays market it is kind of hard negotiating an offer when you dont have many years of experience or counter offers. Certifications without experience is really not too helpful, I have an mcse, but i think a OCP is definately more useful. Also, with a BS degree in business, that is not considered valueable to a technology company, they mainly want engineers or computer science people....unless you can prove otherwise you know your stuff. My offer was in the upper 55-60k range, and was given 1500 stock options for a publicaly traded company, which i think is pretty fair for someone that recently graduated. Maybe after a year or whenever a performance review is done, I am sure raises will be given prob around 5-10% increase a year, so that is also something to consider. Also, which school you graduate from helps too, I graduated from Ga Tech, which is considered prob in the top 10 of engineering schools in the country, i basically found my job from on campus interviews. Anyhow, good luck with your job search, it is just very competitive right now...just getting an offer without much experience is in itself a great thing in todays economy.

oh yeah, also...the city/area you live in is a big factor in salary...if you lived in NYC, or California.....65k would be considered crap to live off of, but 65k in like Texas or Georgia would be great....try to factor in cost of living!