How to Become a Database Administrator or Architect in 2024
Database administrators (DBAs) and architects typically require a bachelor’s degree in computer and information technology or a related field.
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Educate
Database administrators and architects typically require a bachelor’s degree in computer and information technology or a related field such as engineering; some DBAs study business.
Employers may prefer to hire applicants with a master’s degree in data or database management, usually in computer science, information systems, or information technology.
Database administrators and architects need to know database languages, such as Structured Query Language or SQL. DBAs need to be familiar with whatever programming vocabulary their company uses.
Licensing, Certification, and Registration
Certification is usually provided directly by the software vendor or a vendor-neutral certification provider. Employers may require their database administrators and architects to be certified in their products.
Progress
Database administrators and architects may advance to computer and information systems administrators. Experienced database administrators may be promoted to database architects.
Important qualities
Skills of analysis. DBAs monitor the performance of database systems to determine when action is required. They must evaluate information from various sources to decide on an approach.
Communication skills. Most database administrators and architects work in teams and need to communicate information effectively to developers, managers, and other staff.
Attention to detail. Working with databases requires understanding complex systems where a small mistake can lead to significant problems.
Ability to solve problems. When a problem occurs with a database, administrators and architects must troubleshoot and correct the problem.
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Job prospect
Employment of database administrators and architects is projected to grow 8 percent from 2020 to 2030, about the same as the average for all occupations.
Over the past decade, an average of about 13,900 database administrator and architect vacancies have been projected each year.
Many of these vacancies are expected to be due to the need to replace workers who move to a different occupation or exit the workforce (e.g., retire).
Employment
Job growth will be driven by increased demand for data from companies in nearly all sectors of the economy. Database administrators and architects will be required to organize data and inform stakeholders in a user-friendly format.
The growing popularity of database-as-a-service, which allows third-party online database management, is expected to increase the employment of these workers in cloud computing companies in the data processing, hosting, and related services industries.
The employment of database administrators and architects in the computer systems design and related services industries is also expected to grow.
SMEs’ continued adoption of cloud services without their dedicated information technology (IT) departments is expected to increase the employment of database administrators and architects in the industry.
Pay
In May 2020, the median annual salary for database administrators and architects was $98,860. The median wage is when half of the workers in an occupation are paid more than that amount, and the other half are paid less. The bottom 10% earned less than $54,070, and the top 10% earned more than $155,660.
The median annual salaries for database administrators and architects in the top industries where they worked in May 2020 were as follows:
- Data processing, hosting, and related services $108,520
- Computer system design and related services 106,260
- Insurance companies and associated activities 105,570
- Corporate and business management 103,550
- Educational services; state, local and private 78,890
Most database administrators and architects work full-time.
