Database administrator roles and responsibilities

¶ … region in which you are searching for positions.

The Los Angeles, California area is the region searched for Database Administrator (DBA) positions for purposes of this assignment. The local economy is dominated by Aerospace and Defense (a&D) companies, automobile importing offices for Hyundai, Kia, Suzuki, Toyota and other Pacific Rim auto manufacturers, entertainment companies including Wal Disney and Universal in addition to energy companies including Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas & Electric. A recent search of the title Database Administrator turned up 34 positions within a 20-mile radius of the city. DBA positions are available at the time of this writing with such diverse companies as Lockheed Martin, Fox Media, Ticketmaster, Walt Disney, and clothing manufacturer Hot Topic. Toyota and Mattel also had positions open as well.

Are there many database administrator positions available in that area/region? Does this number surprise you?

There are thirty four positions within a 20-mile radius and more when the radius option of the Mosnter.com site is selected with a wide range. It is not surprising there are over thirty positions in such a large metropolitan area. What is surprising is the variety and breath of positions available, from a&D companies to entertainment and energy companies, all have positions open. It is also surprising how the span of expertise and wide variation in skills required for each of the positions. Expertise in oracle databases is apparently a very marketable skill, as is knowledge of Microsoft SQL Server. The ability to manage Business Intelligence (BI) is apparently a very marketable skill as well, as is Business Process Management (BPM) expertise with streamlining processes so they can be automated using databases.

In general, what qualifications are companies looking for in a database administrator (education, certifications, years of experience, etc.) in that area/region?

There is a very wide variation in the years of experience, certifications and expertise required for each of the thirty four positions listed on Monster.com as of this writing. In general there are the requirements of having expertise in at least two databases including Oracle and Microsoft SQL, which are the two most popular. There is also the requirement of being skilled in techniques such as database refactoring, database integration techniques and applications, regression testing and data modeling using Microsoft, Oracle and Sybase modeling tools (Ambler, 61). There is also the need for having an understanding of how to manage project management, resource tracking and contract management, all related to managing software vendors (Ambler, 62). In general terms the innate ability to interpret and translate complex processes into more simplified and efficient database models (Hiser, 4). There is also the need for having a more service-oriented attitude to solving complex problems, taking a more customer-centric view of making databases more focused on assisting internal departments to get to their objectives (Baer, et.al). All of these general requirements are transforming the role of DBAs to be more strategic than tactical in their roles, tackling complex business problems over being custodians of it systems.

Compare the job duties listed for the database administrator positions that you found with the database administrator activities identified in the industry. Were their any job duties that surprised you?

The position used for this analysis is the Senior Database Administrator at Disney Consumer Products (DCP) is used as the basis of this analysis. This position requires 7 to 10 years of DBA experience with Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle 9i database, in addition to 5 years of experience with each of these platforms. There is also an expertise in tiered architectures and ETL tools including SQL Server DTS and Informatica. There is also the expectation of knowledge at the operating system level including IBM AIX and Microsoft Windows Server. On top of all these requirements there is also the expectation of understanding the fundamentals of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) including the Embarcadero tool suite. The greater the level of expertise the greater the level of income that can be earned as a DBA (Gardner, 74) and this is certainly shown in the job description of the Senior DBA for Disney Consumer Products.