In previous posts, I've written about making the best of your accidental DBA situation.  Today I'm going to give you my advice on the things you should focus on if you want to move from accidental DBA to full data professional and DBA.

As you read through this list, I know you'll be thinking, "But my company won't support this, that's why I'm an accidental DBA." You are 100% correct.  Most companies that use accidental DBAs don't understand the difference between developer and DBA, so many of these items will require you to take your own initiative. But I know since you are reading this you are already a great candidate to be that DBA.

Training

Your path to becoming a DBA has many forks, but I'm a huge fan of formal training. This can be virtual or in-person. By virtual I mean a formal distance-learning experience, with presentations, instructor Q&A, hands-on labs, exams and assignments. I don't mean watching videos of presentations. Those offerings are covered later.

Formal training gives you greater confidence and evidence that you learned a skill, not that you only understand it. Both are important, but when it comes to that middle-of-the-night call alerting you that databases are down, you want to know that you have personal experience in bringing systems back online.

Conferences

Conferences are a great way to learn, and not just from invited speakers. Speaking with fellow attendees, via the hallway conferences that happen in conjunction with the formal event,  gives you the opportunity to network with people who boast a range of skill levels. Sharing resource tips with these folks is worth the price of admission.

User Groups and Meetups

I run the Toronto Data Platform and SQL Server Usergroup and Meetup, so I'm a bit biased on this point. However, these opportunities to network and learn from local speakers are often free to attend.  Such a great value! Plus, there is usually free pizza. Just saying. You will never regret having met other data professionals in your local area when you are looking for you next project.

Online Resources

Online videos are a great way to supplement your formal training. I like Pluralsight because it's subscription-based, not per video. They offer a free trial, and the annual subscription is affordable, given the breadth of content offered.

Webinars given by experts in the field are also a great way to get real-world experts to show and tell you about topics you'll need to know. Some experts host their own, but many provide content via software vendor webinars, like these from SolarWinds.

Blogs

Blogs are a great way to read tips, tricks and how tos. It's especially important to validate the tips you read about. My recommendation is that you validate any rules of thumb or recommendations you find by going directly to the source: vendor documentation and guidelines, other experts, and asking for verification from people you trust. This is especially true if the post you are reading is more than three months old.

But another great way to become a professional DBA is to write content yourself.  As you learn something, get hands-on experience using it, write a quick blog post. Nothing makes you understand a topic better than trying to explain it to someone else.

Tools

I've learned a great deal more about databases by using tools that are designed to work with them. This can be because the tools offer guidance on configuration, do validations and/or give you error messages when you are about to do something stupid.  If you want to be a professional DBA, you should be giving Database Performance Analyzer a test drive.  Then when you see how much better it is at monitoring and alerting, you can get training on it and be better at databasing than an accidental DBA with just native database tools.

Labs

The most important thing you can do to enhance your DBA career is to get hands-on with the actual technologies you will need to support. I highly recommend you host your labs via the cloud. You can get a free trial for most. I recommend Microsoft Azure cloud VMs because you likely already have free credits if you have an MSDN subscription. There's also a generous 30-day trial available.

I recommend you set up VMs with various technologies and versions of databases, then turn them off.  With most cloud providers, such as Azure, a VM that is turned off has no charge except for storage, which is very inexpensive.  Then when you want to work with that version of software, you turn on your VM, wait a few minutes, start working, then turn it off when you need to move on to another activity.

The other great thing about working with Azure is that you aren't limited to Microsoft technologies.  There are VMs and services available for other relational database offerings, plus NoSQL solutions. And, of course, you can run these on both Windows and Linux.  It's a new Microsoft world.

The next best thing about having these VMs ready at your fingertips is that you can use them to test new automation you have developed, test new features you are hoping to deploy, and develop scripts for your production environments.

Think Like a DBA, Be a DBA

The last step is to realize that a DBA must approach issues differently than a developer, data architect, or project manager would. A DBA's job is to keep the database up and running, with correct and timely data.  That goal requires different thinking and different methods.  If you don't alter your problem-management thinking, you will likely come to different cost, benefit, and risk decisions.  So think like a DBA, be a DBA, and you'll get fewer middle-of-the-night calls.