Database Career Paths

As a blogger I usually get in touch with the followers to discuss on various databases
related issues. If I need to give rating to the questions that I answered, Top 1 will be
How to become a successful Database Admin / Developer? I tried my best in
answering them. Now I thought of making it as a blog post which can be helpful for
others as well.

If you are interested in database systems and want to make your career in database
path, first you should get clarity on DATABASE ROLES

There are three basic paths available to make your career in database systems. Below
are the 3 paths.

Database Designing & Development:

Database Designers and Developers design and develop a database to hold and process
data to support a front-end application which enable end users to do transactions
online.

Database Administration:
Database Administrators maintain the designed / developed systems to prevent the
interruptions during the transactions.

Data Warehousing:
Data Warehouse teams analyze the captured data and process it to find out the area
where the business can be extended or improved.

First lets have a look on what are the various roles available in each path.

Database Environment Roles

Database Designing & Development:
Database Architect
Data Modeler
Database Designer
Database Developer / Engineer
Database Administration:
Application / Development DBA
Core DBA
Data Warehousing:
ETL Developer
Database Analyst
Report Developer
Data Scientist
+ Roles under Database Design and Development may also applies to this
category
Now you have some idea what are the roles available. Now well look into each role
and its responsibilities. If you get a chance to choose, select the right path that suits
your interest. Hope the below points help you out in choosing the right path.

Database Designing and Development

Nature:
They do architect, design and develop database systems that support On-Line
Transaction (OLTP) Processing and On-Line Analytical Processing (OLAP). Most of the
environments follow one of these frameworks SDLC or AGILE.

Database Architect (Business + Structure + Data + Operations):

Plan and execute the entire project and should have knowledge on all phases
(Business + Technology). He / She should be able to answer all the questions related
to database system.

Ex: Analyzing client operations and customer requirements, mapping business

requirements to technology, designing secure and optimized database systems.
Data Modeler (Business + Data + Structure):
Work on mass / raw data and give a structure to that. To simply say that he / she will
act as a bridge between business and IT. Means they understand the data and convert
business requirements into conceptual, logical and physical models that suit the
requirement.

Ex: Separating data and operations, Identifying Entities and Relations etc
Database Designer (Data + Structure):
From the requirement analysis he / she should be able to design database by
following best practices.

Ex: Designing Databases, Tables, Datatypes, Capacity Planning etc

Database Developer/ Engineer (Operations):
Based on the design developer / engineer develop database code to fulfill the actual
business requirement.

Ex: Creating Procedures, Functions, Views etc

These People.
Closely work with client / business team
More chances to work at onsite
More programming experience
Can be expertise on a particular domain which is an added advantage
Work is planned and mostly long term challenges
Can see experts in SQL programming and business functionality
Plays key role in building database systems
Database Administration

Nature:
They do maintain database systems to make sure databases / database servers are up
and online by 24*7. Mostly DBA works in ITIL environments.

Application DBA:
Usually they work on Development, Test and Stag environments to support the
database systems. Apart from database systems they should have knowledge on
application configurations and business up to some extent.

Ex: Troubleshooting App-DB connectivity issues, Deploying Scripts, Debugging Scripts

etc.
Core DBA:
Core DBAs are who responsible for PRODUCTION database servers / databases.

Ex: Running Health Checks, High Availability, Troubleshooting issues, handles Service
Requests, Problem Requests etc.
These People..
Closely work with end customers / users
Can be expertise in Technology Infrastructure field
Mostly work from offshore
Have to face unplanned outages
Mostly have to face the daily challenges
Most of DBAs work in shifts
Usually do not have much knowledge on business functionality
Would see more experts in server and database internals
Plays key role in database maintenance
Data Warehousing

Nature:
Deigning and creating a centralized repository and process the past trends to predict
the future trends.

ETL Developer:
Design and develop an ETL (Extract Transfer Load) process to integrate data between
various systems.

Ex: Developing SSIS packages to integrate data from legacy systems to SQL Server
2014.
Database Analyst:
Analyze the business requirements and confirms the project requirements. He / She
analyze monitor data feeds and tune database systems when required.
Ex: Monitor test strategies to check they are matching with the requirements
Report Developer:
Design, create business reports that helps management to take the right decisions.

Ex: Creating sales reports using SSRS

Data Scientist:
The Data Scientist is responsible for designing and implementing processes and
layouts for complex, large-scale data sets used for modeling, data mining, and
research purposes.

These People:
Closely work with business team and architects
More chances to work at onsite
More analysis experience and having knowledge on business functionality
Can be expertise on a particular domain which is an added advantage
Work is planned and mostly long term challenges
Plays key role in decision making systems
Mostly work with OLAP systems.
Can see experts in data and business analysis
Work with huge datasets
Resource Utilization
Remember these roles and responsibilities vary based on organization policies,
management and environment. If below are the various phases in designing and
developing a database.

Requirement Gathering and Analysis

Conceptual Design
Logical Design
Physical Design
SQL Coding
Testing
Optimizing
Version Maintenance
Build
Deploy
Maintenance
Lets see how resources allocated in different environments:

Enterprise Environment
Database Architect
Data Modeler
 Database Designer
Database Developer
Build Engineer
Database tester
DBA
Mid-level Environment
Database Architect
Database Developer
DBA
Start-Up
Database Engineer
DBA
This is just an example how resource are utilized in various environments. It always
depends on the business and budget.

Famous Database Systems

Oracle
Microsoft SQL Server
IBM DB2
My SQL
SAP Sybase ASE
Postgre SQL
Teradata
Informix
Ingres
MariaDB Enterprise