Wonder-time For DBAs
I always loved to go to school since I can remember, whether it was elementary, mid or high school, university, or later on the DBA program. Even if school was not as much fun as it is now, I still loved going.
I always liked to learn new things and challenge my brain.
Recently I got a letter from the school my kids go to, that they are going to have every Friday for an hour a special time, called “Wonder-time”. This is an hour when each child can think about their wonders!
If they wonder how cookies are made, they can research and make cookies.
If they wonder how to knit, they can research and with some help can learn knitting.
If they wonder how do computers work, they can research and understand, even learn about computers.
The list is infinite. You can wonder about anything you want, anything you find interesting.
This made me think, wouldn’t it be wonderful if we would give ourselves the gift of Wonder-time, once a week, to think about our own wonders? These wonders could be anything, but since we are talking about databases, I would like to keep it technical and relevant to our jobs and field!
What could YOU wonder about?
How about anything that works with or is related to your database, but it is not the database itself? Sound complicated? Let me give you some examples!
Wonder about the storage for your database! What type of storage do you have? How does it work with your database? Is the design optimal?
Wonder about the operating system that your database is running on! What don’t you know about the OS, and would benefit you in your job?
Wonder about the application that runs in the database! How does the application work? How does the GUI for your app look like? Many times, as DBAs, we have no clue on how the app even looks like, we just support the back end.
Wonder about the challenges that users are facing! How could you help them?
Wonder about how backups and restores work! Go into detail.
Wonder about how Data Guard works!
Wonder about how to tune your database! Where would you start? What would you do?
There are so many wonders that you could have!
Benefits Of Wonder-time:
Wonder-time will keep your brain engaged, curious, and hungry for more!
The more you wonder, the more you want to wonder!
Improved technical skills.
Better understanding about the environment you’re supporting.
Better at your job!
If you only wonder one hour a week, that would add up to 52 hours in a year! Just think about that!
What do you want to wonder about? Leave a comment below , I read every comment!
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Thanks, this is brain tuning. I wonder about how dataguard is works on a RAC clusters … I really need to wonder more . …most importantly takes steps to find out how?. Thanks again
Thank You Diana.
This is really good and helping to grow your professional and also help in same manner in personal.
Am telling you.. this is a different blog i ve seen so far.. genuine..simple and easy to understand even for a fresher..
Good job Diana !
[…] year, I introduced you to the idea of Wonder Time For DBAs. I have not come up with the Wonder Time idea, instead it was introduced to me by no-one else, than […]
Good job Diana! something different in blogosphere.
Thank you!