I agree Trent. I'd be interested in hashing it over. Trent Shipley wrote: > I just finished the Master of Science in Information Management at ASU. > I guess there's nothing wrong with hiring a junior level JOAT to run > LAMP, and there's certainly nothing wrong with doing this early in your > career. The main downside is that unless the customer/employer gets > VERY lucky, they won't get the expert service a large firm would get > through specialization. In theory what these little companies should do > is outsource the IT department. This is especially true of non-profits > and small government departments where IT isn't strategic. Outsourcing > is more problematic for something like a b2c business where the IT is > strategic. Then you need a way to reconquer IT if your company grows. > > What this indicates is a need for professional, multi-disciplinary IT > consulting targeting small and medium sized businesses, non-profits, and > government units. The big guys don't want it. You can charge enough > and the meals are too small. The little guys, like Red7 and Data > Doctors, started as repair shops and may have trouble getting into the > consultant/contractor rent-an-IT-department mindset. > > I think there's definitely an itch here. I think it would be fun to get > together and discuss it. I'm thinking maybe a professional cooperative > as an organizational structure. > > > > > Michael Butash wrote: >> In my experience in big enterprise to small offices, either you have >> "the dude that kinda dabbles with everything", or you have quite >> separate roles. Primarily you would have a SQL Admin/Engineer (just sql >> performance/operations/engineering), Linux Engineer (os, apache, sql), >> and a Web Dev/Admin/Engineer (php coding, cms, site management). >> Usually you also have Security and Network folk in the mix too to keep >> things sane. Sometimes you have one person that likes to dabble in >> each, and can varyingly admin them all as so to *get by*, but they're >> subsequently "jack of all trades", and typically "master of none" kind >> of people. >> >> Finding an environment where you can "dabble" professionally in >> everything is typically going to be a low-pay, thankless job I would >> say, as a company wants 1 person to do *everything*, but will pay low >> because they don't know what they really need. They're often trying to >> find their magical unicorn employee that will do everything for little >> pay. Government agencies tend to be fond of these roles, but pay low >> enough they really have no expectation of finding someone close, so they >> settle for the closest that will actually apply. They learn and cope as >> they can, and move on once they pick one of those skills to focus on in >> bigger companies that have already learned the value of the separate >> skill sets among employees. >> >> -mb > > >> >> On Thu, 2009-08-20 at 16:27 -0700, Trent Shipley wrote: >>> I am used to seeing jobs involving MySQL as part of positions being >>> advertised for a LAMP generalist. I never respond. Not only am I not >>> particularly competent in any of the components, I have a hard time >>> seeing myself as competent to manage that kind of stack. I actually >>> doubt many people are really competent at managing a LAMP stack all by >>> themselves. >>> >>> However, I was recently looking for jobs on DICE and I saw >>> advertisements for dedicated MySQL positions -- with more emphasis on >>> DBA that development. I can imagine being a competent DBA. I taught >>> myself to work with Oracle and I like database work. >>> >>> In the early 2000's Oracle was complex, DB2 somewhat less complex, SQL >>> Server was almost friendly in comparison, and MySQL pretty simple to >>> administer -- almost a toy compared to the big boys. How much more >>> complex has MySQL gotten in the last five years or so? What would be >>> involved in gaining competence. Do you think you could read up on >>> MySQL, then find people stupid enough to let you work on MySQL >>> databases, preferably for money so you could get experience? How would >>> you encourage such stupidity? -- -Eric 'shubes' --------------------------------------------------- PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss