Whose life is more hectic? Network admin or DataBase admin?

[slicksilver]

I'd really like to know as I'm not sure on what career path I should choose. I know you get paid well in both fields but I also want to know which is less hectic? Can you guys help me out with this....I'm really confused

Raj
P.S > I've done a MCSE course on NT4(not certified) some time back and now I want to do CCNA. The other option I have is getting in DBA.

 

[Daniel]

I think it depends on the company really, you could argue either path on any given day. What one seems to actually interest you more?

 

[SoulAssassin]

Hard to say but I always find that the DBA's tend to make my life harder rather than vice versa (except when I'm trying to piss them off).

 

[Rainsford]

Depends on the quality of your hardware/software. Hectic usually comes into play when people need to do something *right now* and your stuff doesn't work. I would lean towards network simply because everyone uses the network in a company setting, not everyone uses a DB.

However, don't pick on based on that. I work with Windows servers a lot and I actually enjoy when there are problems that I need to fix. It's what makes this job so exciting. If you are not that kind of person, I'm not sure any IT job would be right for you. Few other "office" type jobs have the time sensitiveness (unless there is no such word) of IT, so if you don't like that kind of thing, don't go into it at all.

 

[Mucman]

I do a bit of both... and both have their pros/cons.

I also agree with Rainsford; it's more exciting when you have problems . Especially when you reveal a
solution and people are "I would have never figured that out". That makes it rewarding.

 

[rutchtkim]

depends on the type of company and size. imagine being a DBA for amazon.com.

 

[Nothinman]

but I always find that the DBA's tend to make my life harder

No question.

 

[Smilin]

There will be exceptions either way but Network admin is downright stressful all the time.

In our shop there are 4 people with ulcers, 6 taking SSRI's and 3 with hypertension. Out of a shop of about 15.

 

[CrimsonKing]

Might depend on what you mean by Network Admin. Are you talking physical network, routing, etc? Or a LAN administrator where you control the servers/users/resources? Actually, that doesn't matter, I guess. I think a DBA can make their own bed. If they're organized and as anal as most that I know, they are able to avoid most urgencies and focus on design and maintenence. But that's just my experience. I'd say the DBAs have the fewest unplanned problems, but they have more planned weekend work than I do (as a LAN admin). The poor guys who handle the physical wiring and router installs probably have it the worst, at least around here, as far as planned off-hours work. Personally, I think our duty pager gets hit the most often and the problems are usually bigger and harder to fix.

But that's just one man's opinion. . .

 

[Hoober]

My life's pretty calm. I'm a DBA for a small college and as long as things work my life is pretty boring. Just general maintenance on the databases and accounts. It's when things break that I'm up a creek. But things don't usually break around here. I try to keep everything in pretty good working order so I don't have to run around like a chicken.

 

[hoihtah]

generally speaking, i find that dba's make more than sys/network admin.

 

[vi edit]

Too many "if's" to make a reasonable assumption.

I've seen both groups have equally difficult jobs. And equally "easy" ones.