The Joel Test for DBAs

Sunday. September 30, 2018 - 1 min

When Joel Spolsky wrote The Joel Test: 12 Steps to Better Code in 2000 he may not have thought it would still be so relevant as a basic rubric for assessing the quality of software teams. That is to say, many teams still don’t meet enough of these requirements to make the questions irrelevant as a whole. Stack Exchange jobs even offers addressing these questions as a feature for job postings:

A job posting that uses the Joel Test on StackOverflow.

Variations on a Theme

Over the years many have created alternative versions of the Joel Test for other technical roles, like the Joel Test for Continuous Delivery and the Joel Test for SysAdmins. Naturally, the world deserves one for DBAs as well. And just as the Joel Test was supposed to be applicable to all software teams of all sizes and types, so too should this be achievable by organizations both large and small, based on my experience at various companies over the years.

So, here is the Joel Test for Database Administrators.

The Joel Test for DBAs

Do you use source control?
Do you automate database changes?
Do DBAs have quiet working conditions?
Do you use the best tools money can buy?
Do you have a patching/upgrading schedule?
Do new candidates debug SQL during their interview?
Do you perform database stress testing before deploying?
Does each database have monitoring?
Do you have separate environments?
Do you define and meet RTO and RPO timelines?
Do you perform DR testing?