How to Become a DBA

Database administrators, also known as DBAs, play a critical role for many organizations in maintaining one of their most important assets: their data. The roles of DBAs are among the most challenging in IT — and experienced and skilled professionals are both highly sought after and well-paid. This article will describe a path you can take to become a successful database administrator.

What Exactly Does a DBA Do?

The roles of a DBA can vary from one organization to another. Still, as a DBA, you can expect to have some subset of the following responsibilities: installing and maintaining database server applications and tools, installing and maintaining the databases themselves, monitoring and fine-tuning databases to improve performance and access, facilitating backups and restoration of data, providing database-related user support, developing and maintaining database applications, and creating reports.

First Steps Toward Becoming a DBA

Because data is such a critical asset, most organizations require their DBAs to be highly skilled and experienced. How do you get this experience if you're just starting?

The answer lies in getting an entry-level IT support job and working up to DBA. However, getting an entry-level IT job is not easy, as employers expect people in these roles to have proven skills.

You can get these skills by training in IT support and then passing industry-standard certification exams, which will demonstrate to employers that you have learned the skills taught in the courses. CBT Nuggets offers courses that will help you pass exams, such as CompTIA A+ and Microsoft 365 Certified: Modern Desktop Administrator Associate.

Once certified, the next step is applying for IT support jobs. If possible, look for ones that include database responsibility, such as performing backups and restores. Also, during the interviews, mention your interest in databases and gauge what types of opportunities may exist in these organizations for learning and using them.

Advancing from Support to Database Administration

Once you have gotten your foot in an organization's IT department, you have taken a giant leap toward becoming a DBA, regardless of how menial or unimportant your first job may seem. This is because with this job should come lots of opportunities for learning and using databases, such as:

Learning on the Job

Even if your first IT job has little or no database responsibilities, you can gain practical knowledge and experience in them on the job. Here are some ways that you can do this:

Developing Relationships with Supervisors

Your immediate supervisor can be a great ally in advancing your career if you have a good working relationship with them. The way to develop this relationship is by making their job easier. Complete your tasks well and on time (if not early), volunteer for special projects whenever they arise, and always project a positive can-do attitude. Let this person know that you are someone that they can count on.

Once you have developed a good relationship with your supervisor, let them know about your interest in databases and that you are eager to gain practical experience. To this end, inform your supervisor that you are willing to take on database-related tasks in addition to your everyday responsibilities and will do this on your own time.

Not only can you gain a lot of skills and experience by doing this, but your supervisor could also recommend you later for the DBA job that you really want.

Seeking Out a Mentor

Another way to gain database skills and experience is through a mentor. Find a DBA working in your organization and let them know about your interest in databases. Also, let them know that you are willing to help them out.

This can create a win-win situation: the DBA gets to offload some of the less critical tasks they may have, and you get valuable skills and experience. Like your supervisor, this person may also recommend you for a DBA job in the future.

Learning on Your Own

Whenever you have some downtime, you should learn as much as you can about database technology. Many organizations have test environments where you can create and manipulate databases. Even if they do not have such an environment, you may be able to install a local database server on your computer so that you can practice with databases. If possible, try to develop a database similar to one used in the organization and mimic its functionality.

As you learn about databases, do not be afraid to fail. You will know about these failures. Also, do not be scared to ask for help when you run into problems, either through people at work or through online forums.

One of the most essential skills that you should acquire as you learn about databases is Standard Query Language (SQL). Despite what its name implies, SQL is used for much more than just querying databases. DBAs use it daily throughout the entire database lifecycle, from creation to reporting, maintenance, and fine-tuning. They often also use the language embedded within other computer languages to create complex applications that access and manipulate databases.

As most relational databases use SQL as their primary means of data access and manipulation (and many organizations heavily use this type of database for their applications), SQL is a foundational skill for DBAs. So, it would be best if you became an expert in it through any means possible.

It would help if you also learned as much as possible about the most popular relational database server products, such as Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle Database, and MySQL. If you are interested in web and cloud database applications, you may also want to learn about distributed NoSQL database products such as MongoDB and CouchDB.

Getting Training and Certifications

While there is no substitute for getting experience, training can supplement what you learn and knowledge on the job. So, if your organization offers any database training, either internally or externally, you should take advantage of this to the fullest extent possible.

It would help if you also considered getting certifications in database technology. These will demonstrate to employers that you have tangible skills in addition to the experience and training you have gained on the job. A certification can also help you stand out from others seeking the same job.

There are many good database certifications, such as MCSA: Microsoft SQL 2016 Database Administration and Oracle Database 12c R2 Administration Certified Associate. Keep in mind that the Microsoft SQL certificate will soon be retired, and it is not known what, if anything, will replace it.

After Getting Your First DBA Job

It would be best to keep learning and gaining experience, which will help you move into more senior positions where you will receive increased responsibilities and pay. You can do this through the same means that got you the DBA job: learning on the job and outside of it through training.

Many DBAs also develop specializations as their career develops. These specializations often lead to more challenging roles and higher salaries. You can specialize in several ways. One way is to become an expert in one or more leading database products such as Oracle. Attaining the complete set of certificates that a particular database vendor offers can benefit this type of specialization.

You can also specialize as either a systems DBA or an applications DBA. While a systems DBA focuses on installing and maintaining databases and the technology that runs them, application DBAs focus on the custom software applications that operate upon the databases.

The former specialization may interest you if you enjoy problem-solving, while the latter specialization may be interesting if you discover that you enjoy computer programming. Don't be afraid to explore your options; you will have more as you gain experience.