Database Administrator

A database administrator (DBA) is a person who manages, maintains, and secures data in one or more data systems so that a user can perform analysis for business operations. DBAs take care of data storage, organization, presentation, utilization, and analysis from a technical perspective.

The DBA job is transitioning from being database-centric to data-centric, as Data Management becomes more autonomous. Augmented Data Management, machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence(AI) make accomplishing general database upkeep easier, reducing the amount of manual labor. This, in turn, frees up the DBA to do more strategic tasks such as ensuring compliance with regulations and improving data flow performance.

Many see the DBA’s responsibilities shifting from managing a few database instances and systems to managing more of them. As the number of data sources increases, DBAs will be focused on enterprise data rather than specializing in a few database technologies.

The rate at which the DBA’s role transforms will vary depending on a company’s ability to embrace and implement new data technologies. Some DBAs will continue to work with a few older relational database technologies since many businesses continue to use them. However, the DBA’s role will continue to evolve across most organizations. This means DBAs will be involved in more high-level data analytics and DevOps tasks.