With the development of hardware and infrastructure that is capable of gathering, handling and storing more and more information, we have become data addicts. It is has been said in recent years that data is the new currency, and so companies must find better ways to gather, process, store and trade in it.
Gathering more data begins with nurturing the data you have and keeping it safe with a reliable data backup solution. After that, other ways to gather data are endlessly increasing, as people become more engaged in digital transactions. Details like shopping preferences and trends (individual and groups, segmented in a multitude of different ways), access to healthcare, access to education, opinions, habits, experiences and language can all be skimmed from social media platforms, surveys, online quizzes and games, polls, emails or loyalty programmes.
Databases can be simple, like a spreadsheet or table, and they can increase in complexity depending on the datasets, the resources, and the intended purpose. Whether a database is to be used for research, product specifications, marketing automation, predictive models, managing a student body, or any other purpose, there is a type of IT specialist whose job it is to handle and produce data in ways that are accessible to other role players within a company. That is the database administrator.
This article attempts to explain the role of database administrator found within the IT industry, which has diversified and specialized exponentially in the last two decades. We have some comments and insider information from our tame software engineer, Andy the Apex Coder, and we aim at helping the lay person, who may feel overwhelmed and confused by the burgeoning job titles in IT, to understand this position better.
Knowing The Tools
The database administrator has studied and trained in this position for years, and will have a broad knowledge of the tools used for the job. There are many software products available to the database administrator. Some must be bought and some are open source. The database specialist will be able to select the most effective tool for each project or company.
Most software products for managing databases rely on a Structured Query Language, or SQL, which is a programming language design specifically for use in database management systems. Database administrators will be fluent in at least some of the SQL dialects, which are the different versions of SQL. Some of the database software products have proprietary extensions of the language, which helps to make each tool unique, although all SQL dialects still must be compliant with the ANSI standard.
Andy the Apex Coder has worked as a software engineer and developer, as well as in many other IT roles, over the past thirty years, and he has an almost superstitious admiration for database admins. “Those guys are on a whole other level of complicated. SQL isn’t really my scene. It’s too intense,” he says.
The more SQL dialects a database admin can work with, the more valuable she or he is. This is a specialized skillset, and so it will command a higher salary. The average annual salary for a database admin comes in around $94k per annum, which is higher, on average, than other IT roles.
With the great salary comes an increase in pressure, though, as database admins are not only expected to manipulate data. They are also expected to secure it through backups and collaboration with the security admin to ensure all databases cannot be corrupted or accessed without permission.
Ranking
The demand for skilled and experienced database admins is also on the increase. It is set to outstrip demand for most other IT skillsets between 2019 to 2029. This is due to the current global scramble for control over the most data, counterbalanced with the pushback from citizens and organizations who desire and demand privacy. Database admins with well-developed soft skills like creative problem-solving, communication and analytical thinking are the personnel who can get the most out of the data owned by a company or organization.
Sometimes, a company will employ a “big data” company, which specializes in handling data, to manage its own data (or supply better data) and improve the productivity of its use.
Database admins have next level godlike powers, with access to, sometimes, millions of pieces of information about individuals. Databases can be used in social engineering projects, such as those conducted by Cambridge Analytica in the first twenty years of the 21st century. Depending on the moral and ethical alignment of the database admin, as well as his or her capacity for imagining new and ways to manipulate data, a database admin can be a powerful force for good or evil.
Andy likens databases to The Force, and database administrators to the Jedi or Sith. And the way data is being collected and used these days, he might be onto something there.
“All you can do is make sure your database admins can let go of their negativity and use their power for good.”
