Hiring High-Paying Database Administrator Roles | Aniday

1. What is a Database Administrator (DBA)?

A database administrator (DBA) is a specialized computer systems administrator who maintains a successful database environment by directing or performing all activities related to keeping data secure. The ultimate responsibility of a DBA expert is maintaining data integrity. This means the Database Administrator will ensure data is secured from unauthorized access but available to users.

A Data Administrator will typically have knowledge and experience working with many database management products such as Oracle-based software, SAP, and SQL, in addition to having a Computer Science degree and hands-on experience and relevant IT certifications, if any.

2. Main duties and responsibilities of a Database Administrator

Working as a DBA requires individuals to work well in a team environment, communicate effectively with key stakeholders, and operate efficiently with minimal oversight. Many job postings featured online highlight the following key skills, responsibilities, and job requirements when applying for a Database Administrator position:

• Install, upgrade, and patch databases 

• Install and configure related networking components

• Ensure database access, consistency, and integrity

• Address issues related to performance bottlenecks 

• Provide reports on various metrics including availability, usage, and performance

• Perform performance and operational checks

• Work with development staff on architecture, coding standards, and quality assurance policies

• Create models to develop new or modify existing database models

• Respond to and resolve issues regarding performance and database access

• Monitor database system details

• Design and implement systems, policies, and disaster recovery processes

• Monitor, optimize, and allocate physical storage for database systems

• Plan and coordinate data migration

• Develop, implement, and maintain change control and change management procedures

• Perform database transactions and security audits

• Establish database user access control levels

• Implement database and data encryption

• Plan and ensure adherence to established best practices, policies, and relevant laws and regulations

3. How to become a Database Administrator?

Some companies require database administrators to have a bachelor's degree in Computer Science or a related field. Larger companies and organizations with extensive databases may seek candidates with a master's degree in database management in fields like computer science, information systems, or information technology. Importantly, database administrators must know the transactional language - SQL (structured query language) that is most commonly used. Strong DBAs can adapt to any language the company prefers

4. Required TechStacks for a DBA

DBAs need to have both a holistic view of the information they steward, as well as a detailed microscopic lens for errors and lost data. They must also have the ability to translate complex problem-solving and critical thinking into action by making decisions that benefit the database and company.

• SQL

• Oracle

• Extract, transform, and load (ETL)

• Python

• Teradata DBA

• Data warehouse

• Java

• Big data

• Linux

• Microsoft Excel

5. A summary of common requirements for a DBA role:

• Monitor and resolve issues in both Production and Integration environments.

• Services and health of databases to ensure the highest standards of availability, recoverability, integrity, security, tunability, and performance.

• Support developer teams.

• Engage in transformational and architectural projects: There will be extensive improvements to architecture and technical challenges as we move onto the AWS Cloud and we are a fast-growing IT company.

• Understand the SecuTix data model, business logic, and customer data.

• Utilize and learn various database technologies: Oracle, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Amazon RDS

• Strong DBA experience in production environments and supporting development teams.

• Oracle database servers, PL/SQL, tuning, ETL, data warehousing

• Excellent communication skills.

• Accurate, organized, detail-oriented, proactive, caring, curious

• Operate several heavily used Vertica database clusters.

• Proactively monitor server and database health to ensure availability and performance.

• Provide database performance tuning.

• Validate and maintain data security.

• Collaborate on investigating Vertica issues with Vertica support.

• Work closely with the Vertica community

• Execute replication scenarios.