Benefits of Pursuing a Career as a Database Administrator
The job of a database administrator is to manage and organize online and offline data, install software updates, and manage any issues that occur in the data network. The idea of a database for any company is that it provides a consistent, easy to access source for all data relevant to that business' day to day operations. As more and more companies move online, that data is becoming more and more important, and it falls to the hands of a database administrator to ensure that everything is running smoothly. The career was recentlyvoted number 7out of the top 100 best jobs in America, so there's bound to be some pretty amazing benefits of pursuing a career as a database administrator. Some of these benefits include:
Job Security
Job security is one of the most important benefits of becoming a database administrator (DBA), at least for most people. With the current state of the economy, finding a career that you can count on to be around for the next few decades is absolutely crucial. The great part is that every medium to large company is going to be in need of someone to manage their stores of information. It's believed that the profession as a whole is going to be growing a lot faster than the average job through 2018, and most of that growth is based on the rapid expansion of internet based retail companies.
As of 2008 there weremore than 120,000 DBAsin the United States, and that number has been rising every consecutive year without fail. Businesses in every industry need a qualified database administrator.
High Salary
The average salary for a DBA is around $73,000 annually. Compared to most other jobs, some of which only bring in $25,000, that's a very decent salary. If you work at a computer company you can expect to earn more than $80,000 per year, because they tend to have much larger databases.
Of course, there are some downsides to being a DBA, just like with any career path. First of all, you have to be prepared to keep abreast of all the new changes in technology. Compared to 30 years ago, technology is advancing at an incredible rate, and that means constantly learning new techniques, new programs, new pieces of software, and new strategies for maintaining a healthy database. With all new technology, of course, you're also going to get glitches and bugs that will make your job a lot harder. You have to be prepared to work long hours on some days to keep everything running smoothly.
Luckily, you're going to be safe from the outsourcing craze too, at least for awhile. A lot of the work involved in being a database administrator is hands-on, and outsourcing firms statistically have anincredibly high turnover rate, something which most companies are trying to stay away from for the more important jobs.
