DBA or Developer?

I've always considered myself a developer and a LOWER(DBA). I may have recovered perhaps one database and that was just a sandbox, nothing production worthy. I've built out instances for development and testing and I've installed the software a few hundred times, at least. I've done DBA-like duties, but I just don't think of myself that way. I'm a power developer maybe? Whatevs.

I'm sure it would be nearly impossible to come up with One True Definition of The DBA ™. So I won't.

I've read that Tom Kyte does not consider himself a DBA, but I'm not sure most people know that. From Mr. Kyte himself:



At the same conference, I asked Cary Millsap the same question:



I read Cary for years and always assumed he was a DBA. I mean, have you read his papers? Have you read Optimizing Oracle Performance? Performance? That's what DBAs do (or so I used to think)!

It was only after working with him at #kscope11 on the Building Better Software track that I learned otherwise.

Perhaps I'll make this a standard interview question in the future...

Semi-related discussions:

1. Application Developers vs. Database Developers
2. Application Developers vs. Database Developers: Part II