Wyatt Underwood's Website

former database administrator

You might be surprised at how difficult it is to find a picture that shows a database. A database exists as an ordered set of files of magnetic units. There is nothing to see, hence no good photographs. Hence no photo for this webpage.

What is a database? A set of computer files that contain data about people, things, weather, stuff. The files are usually highly structured and interlinked. Usually a commercial program collects and dispenses the data in the database. Yes, humans have to enter the data, and usually other humans ask the right questions to get reports which they then interpret.

what is an administrator? An administrator is responsible for the design and maintenance of the database. He doesn't care much about the data in it, but makes sure that data is secure, and consults with users if they request it on getting the data they really want, and helps them get it efficiently.

Have I any good stories? When I took over the database, it seemed to me that the database had not been designed but cobbled together with not much thought for efficiency or effectiveness. I had just enough room on the disks to set up a parallel database using my design. Then I tested the two extensively and confirmed to myself that the two databases were equivalent. After that I began moving our requests to the new database and validated a few more of them before weaning everyone off the old database and onto mine. Customers claimed their reports took less time and cost less. I felt very validated.