Have you been mulling over the prospects of becoming a database administrator? Are you sure you don’t love your weekends and sound sleep at night? Are you sure that you will convert every bit of your home to your working space? If the answer to all these questions is a “Yes” then congratulations! You may truly have what it takes to become an OracleDBA.
Becoming a DBA is not just a job. It is a life-long commitment. You may need to work on weekends, Thanksgiving Fridays and Christmas for the rest of your life if you choose to become a DBA. So evidently, having the necessary college education isn’t enough to make you stand out in the industry. You need something extra to be employed by the large corporations and consulting groups.
First,let’s try and figure out what is expected of you as a DBA. As a database administrator, you will be expected to manage all the functions involved with storage, security and database managementin general. The basic task of a DBA is to work with database management software systems like Oracle to determine effective storage and organization solutions for company data. So, a DBA essentially develops, tests and troubleshoots massive data systems in the network.
Where should you begin?
We recommend starting at a SQL programming language class. We know it sounds really mundane, but knowing SQL can give you that extra edge over other aspiring DBAs. You can even enroll in online certification courses in IT or programming. Finding a legitimate online course may be a little difficult at first, but do start at Coursera that offers hundreds of certified programs from hundreds of colleges from around the globe.
To become a DBA, you need to love programming. It is the core of every DBA job. Your prospective employers will check if you have a graduation degree in computer science or information system management. Having a master’s degree in business administration is always preferred for all DBA aspirants.
Aside from formal education, all DBAs are expected to have professional experience (the more, the better). The database administrator certifications are definitely an icing on the cake, but nothing can make up for professional experience that you collect on the field. Your salary depends directly on the years of experience you have gathered in the industry.
Having knowledge of Java and other programming language is always an added bonus if you are seriously considering a career change. It is seen very frequently that having degrees is not enough to become a DBA. You need added certifications that are either obtained during your job or after the completion of your formal college education. These certificates, themselves are not enough for securing a DBA job, but having them with your college degrees surely secures better pay and higher job security.
Say no to the new trend of online OracleDBA crash courses
Have you noticed the online crash courses on OracleDBA? Well, steer clear of them! Becoming a DBA is a long and tedious process that cannot be bypassed by joining some really fancy and costly crash course. Nothing makes up for the hands-on experience that you gather from interning at DBA consultancies and data agencies.
How much can you earn as an Oracledatabase administrator in the US?
Database administrators earn more than data communication analysts or telecommunication specialists. The average salary of a DBA is around $65,000. The top tier is about 10 percent of the DBA consultants who earn over $115,000 per year.
Evolution of the average OracleDBA consultant
Oracle database administrators need to evolve with the changing technology. Currently, the most sought after technology in the IT market is Big Data. Most DBAs think that they are already handling big data, but just the sheer size of the data doesn’t make it big data. It is most effectively described as a large volume of structured or unstructured data that is possibly coming at you at lightning speed. The USP of a DBA who has knowledge of big data is the ability to help the business owners decide what data is important and needs archiving. An OracleDBA consultant can make a chosen set of data available to the business managers and associates by using a required set of applications and tools on the big data.
What is ApacheHadoop?
Apache Hadoop is a framework used for multi-node data processing. It is largely favored as a platform for data management and processing since it is highly scalable. A working knowledge of Apache Hadoop alongside Oraclecan be the cherry on your career cake.
There are multiple ways of connecting Hadoop to Oracle databases. Understanding the process of connecting and mining data using an integration of Apache Hadoop are valuable big data DBA skills that are sought after in every aspiring DBA these days.
Brownie points for visualization tools
Any prospective DBA with a working knowledge of reporting and visualization tools is given instant preference during job interviews. All kinds of businesses must support the conversion of big data into a visual story with the aid of reporting tools that can mine and create a visual representation of structured data for visual consumption. The OracleDBAs must be able to create new programs and even specialized reporting databases.
The best way to leverage your existing DBA skills is to accept the big data trends and move forward to learning the new frameworks like Apache Hadoop and R scripting. And if you are preparing to become a DBA consultant in the near future, do not forget to tune your skills to big data mining and management for added preferences during job selection.
Author bio:
Lucy Jones is a DBA expert who has been guiding DBA consultants and database managers to effective solutions for database problems. With more than 8 years of experience in the database development and administration front, she is the director of an Oracle based data management firm. In her spare time, she coaches aspiring DBAs.