Database Administrator
What the work is
Plans, designs, configures, maintains and supports an organisation's database management system in accordance with user requirements, ensuring optimal database integrity, security, backup, reliability and performance.
Would you enjoy the work?
These are the main tasks in the official description. Mark how each one sounds to you.
- Designs and implements database structures to optimise system performance and data storage efficiency
- Monitors and optimises database performance using various techniques such as indexing and fine-tuning queries
- Implements and maintains security protocols to protect databases from unauthorised access or breaches
- Performs regular data backups and recovery tasks to ensure data integrity and availability
- Coordinates database updates and migrations, including database software installation, configuration and patch management
- Develops disaster recovery plans to protect data from any potential loss or corruption
Try it
A simulation and a case study from this kind of work, set in the small IT team of a fictional regional council that runs its own servers and databases. They are fictional.
The kind of days you could have
Good days
- A system upgrade goes through overnight and nobody notices because everything just works
- You find the cause of a slow database and watch it speed up
- A colleague says they finally trust the system enough to stop keeping their own backup spreadsheet
Hard days
- A server fails at 6am and people are already queueing at the counter
- Being rung at the weekend because you are the only one who knows how it fits together
- Someone senior wants access to everything, and you are the one who has to say no
Written by Career Calling as a general guide. Real roles vary by employer and place.
Work a mission
Step into a simulated workplace in this field, with a brief from your manager.
Description and tasks: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Occupation Standard Classification for Australia, 2024, Version 1.0 (opens another site), occupation 271231, used under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. The skill guide above is our plain English summary.