I was recently doing a somewhat random Google and found a note from someone about whether there is a “market for LAMP consulting”. Ha. Perhaps. The whole Linux thing may just be ready to get off the ground. ;)
Seriously though, I do wonder about this comment: “may be some market for MySQL work - optimizing adn [sic] so on”. Hmm. I know for a fact that there IS a market for MS-SQL specific consulting, e.g., performance tuning, security, installation, etc. However, I rarely see a need specifically for MySQL consulting. Generally, “MySQL” is thrown in with the overall need for a PHP developer.
Not that this should be the case.
A database administrator is a very important role in any organization, but it seems like MySQL administration is often bundled in with the software development. That’s not so typical with MS-SQL, Oracle, and DB2 work though.
To me, this ties back into the original roots of MySQL and its popularity: LAMP. LAMP breaks out into “Linux Apache MySQL PHP”, and is the development platform of choice for many people and organizations.
But is this limiting the growth of the “MySQL profession” in some ways?
No. It only helps the MySQL as a Profession.
Normally webapplications go on without using dedicated mysql database administrator. But when sites decide to scale their architecture, move to multiple machines (master-slave databases), then MySQL administrator comes as a default choice. One way to do this is by moving a software developer with good understanding of the mysql database to work on it full time. Thus database admin. will also have deep understanding of the software constraints and can better optimize mysql database. And leading to mysql profession.
Dustin it's a very good question. I am a PHP Developer for the Federal Government. Here we don't really have MySQL administrators but just a person who is designated as the controller. I think that many companies see it as OpenSource Technology and automatically assume that everyone knows it. I think if Sun decided to start charging companies would change there ways and hire DB admins, but is this a good thing to do? However, startups do realize that they need MySQL admins and are hiring them. So we are moving slowly in the right direction.
I think that in time, especially with Sun's acquisition of MySQL, the situation will change for the better. While MySQL is, arguably, an enterprise-ready technology, I feel that Sun's backing will give it credence with companies that aren't so open to F/OSS. In time, employers will realize that MySQL is a respectable database, is quit capable (maybe still not Oracle, but very capable), and therefore deserves the same level of support (a dedicated DBA) that any other database would have.
LAMP got MySQL off the ground, and made it what it is. But I'd guess that it was more of a jumping-off phase; now that MySQL is here and ready, it's time for acceptance throughout the enterprise.
This is a very interesting question. I do not know the answer though, but I would like ask another (similar) question. For some reason I find myself checking out Apache software again and again (Tomcat, Geronimo etc) and I was wondering where this kind of software is being used. Eg. If I would like to work with Linux/Apache/Eclipse, or open source in general, where do I go?
Luke, I am a LAMP Developer and I love to use Eclipes. There is a PHP Plugin called PDP or something like that. It's through Zend and is very good. As far as the Tomcat it is widly used by Java developers. I know a lot of companies using these packages. I guess it depends on your primary coding language.
Well, I would say that Apache and related projects are.. well, pretty damn popular. ;)
So if you want to pursue that then it's probably a good idea.
DBAs should know SQL and should therefor be able to work on any database the supports standard SQL. MySQL has flourished by releasing its code freely then selling support for the database, as a consequence there is a lot of good documentation on MySQL out there.
But now that Sun is muddying the waters, many Free Software developers will move to Postgres for serious db work or SQLite for fast web apps.
Seeing as the web is built on linux, I would say yes, there is a huge market for LAMP support.