A DBA’s life is full of surprises – some more pleasant than others. As a DBA you’re pretty much “on it” 24-7-365: putting out fires, checking alerts, training people, keeping test databases in sync with production, debugging, and praying your developers are writing halfway decent code.
If you’re swinging over to the NoSQL side (the “dark” side?), or considering it, then you’ll want to read this white paper, The DBA’s Guide to NoSQL. It’s essentially a NoSQL bible, sans orders from God -- or Darth Vader.