in reply to (OT) Old blood versus new blood
To add my two cents...
A DBA who doesn't know (much) about normalization isn't (necessarily) a bad DBA - in general a DBA is more concerned with space management, index tuning, backups and similar tasks. Also keep in mind that while the guy (or gal) might not really know the exact definitions of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd normal forms, s/he will very likely understand them intuitively - you can't be a good DBA without getting exposed to normalization issues in one way or another.
In several shops where I've worked the DBA(s) often didn't really know the data model. They knew which tables tended to grow fast, which tables tended to cause locking problem, etc, and how to intervene to solve those specific problems.
Michael
A DBA who doesn't know (much) about normalization isn't (necessarily) a bad DBA - in general a DBA is more concerned with space management, index tuning, backups and similar tasks. Also keep in mind that while the guy (or gal) might not really know the exact definitions of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd normal forms, s/he will very likely understand them intuitively - you can't be a good DBA without getting exposed to normalization issues in one way or another.
In several shops where I've worked the DBA(s) often didn't really know the data model. They knew which tables tended to grow fast, which tables tended to cause locking problem, etc, and how to intervene to solve those specific problems.
Michael
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