What it pays
Government survey numbers — not estimates, not ads.
Half of all Database Administrators in the U.S. earn more than $104,620 a year — the middle 80% land between $60,230 and $163,320. About 69,990 people in the U.S. do this work. Figures are for the U.S. occupation group “Database Administrators”. (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics survey, published 2025.) In India, Professionals earn about ₹38,298 a month on average — around ₹4.6 lakh a year (government PLFS survey via ILOSTAT, occupation-family figure).
$104,620typical pay / year
69,990people in this work
$163,320+top 10% earn
₹4.6 lakha year in India (family avg)
Think you get this job?Six quick questions on how it really works — with a hint and the reason behind every answer.
Test yourself →The work, task by task
These are the real jobs-to-be-done, not a wish list. Each task shows where we found it, and the prompt underneath is written for that exact task.
Protecting2
Secure database access
+Audit all production accounts and revoke unused logins, enforce role-based policies for developers and…
Secure database access
+Audit all production accounts and revoke unused logins, enforce role-based policies for developers and analysts, rotate the service credentials used by ETL jobs, and run an access report for compliance by Friday afternoon.
The tools that do the workAnsibleESCOjob descriptionsO*NETWikipedia
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Manage computer databases
+Reconcile table growth and index usage across the primary cluster, compress cold partitions, apply the…
Manage computer databases
+Reconcile table growth and index usage across the primary cluster, compress cold partitions, apply the planned patch to the maintenance node, and update the database inventory and capacity forecasts for next quarter.
The tools that do the workApache HadoopESCOO*NETWikipedia
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Keeping the record2
Test computer databases
+Run the full integration test suite against the nightly build including failover, replication lag, and…
Test computer databases
+Run the full integration test suite against the nightly build including failover, replication lag, and transaction integrity checks, capture performance metrics, fix any regression, and approve the build only when all tests pass.
The tools that do the workApache KafkaESCOjob descriptions
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Install database software
+Install the new database engine on the two production servers, configure storage paths and memory settings…
Install database software
+Install the new database engine on the two production servers, configure storage paths and memory settings for the customer_orders cluster, run the post-installation schema validation, and report completion to Maya by Friday afternoon.
The tools that do the workAmazon Elastic Compute Cloud EC2job descriptionsWikipedia
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Fixing2
Perform database tuning and indexing
+Analyze the slow queries on the sales reporting instance, add or rebuild indexes on the top three offending…
Perform database tuning and indexing
+Analyze the slow queries on the sales reporting instance, add or rebuild indexes on the top three offending tables, adjust memory and parallelism settings, run the regression test workload, and log the changes in the DBA ticket for Paul.
The tools that do the workApache Cassandrajob descriptionsO*NET
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Backup database data
+Create a full backup of the inventory database to the archival storage location, verify checksums, rotate the…
Backup database data
+Create a full backup of the inventory database to the archival storage location, verify checksums, rotate the daily backup set keeping seven versions, and email the backup report and restoration test results to Operations.
The tools that do the workApache Hadoopjob descriptionsWikipedia
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The daily work14
Plan capacity for databases
+Estimate storage, IOPS and CPU headroom for the three production clusters for the next 12 months based on…
Plan capacity for databases
+Estimate storage, IOPS and CPU headroom for the three production clusters for the next 12 months based on last 18 months' growth, include monthly projected thresholds that trigger shard addition or instance resize, and produce an action timeline for procurement and migration.
The tools that do the workApache CassandraWikipedia
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Recover data after failures
+Restore the latest validated full backup and apply incremental logs to rebuild the sales and ledger tables to…
Recover data after failures
+Restore the latest validated full backup and apply incremental logs to rebuild the sales and ledger tables to the point-of-failure, verify row counts and checksum against the pre-failure snapshot, then document the steps and hours for postmortem.
The tools that do the workApache HadoopWikipedia
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Design database structures
+Design normalized and partitioned schema for the customer orders system to support 200 million rows, include…
Design database structures
+Design normalized and partitioned schema for the customer orders system to support 200 million rows, include indexing strategy, retention policy, and a migration plan that keeps nightly ETL windows under two hours.
The tools that do the workApache CassandraO*NETWikipedia
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Troubleshoot database issues
+Investigate the weekend slowdowns on the reporting cluster: gather recent query plans, top wait events, node…
Troubleshoot database issues
+Investigate the weekend slowdowns on the reporting cluster: gather recent query plans, top wait events, node resource stats, and the error logs, then propose immediate mitigation and a durable fix for next sprint.
The tools that do the workApache Hivejob descriptionsWikipedia
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Monitor database performance
+Set up a daily performance dashboard that tracks query latency percentiles, node CPU and I/O, cache hit…
Monitor database performance
+Set up a daily performance dashboard that tracks query latency percentiles, node CPU and I/O, cache hit ratios and growth of table sizes, with alerts for sustained latency above the 95th percentile.
The tools that do the workApache Kafkajob descriptionsWikipedia
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Develop standards and guidelines for the use and acquisition of software and to protect vulnerable information.
+Draft standards for acquiring and deploying database software, covering approved configurations, encryption…
Develop standards and guidelines for the use and acquisition of software and to protect vulnerable information.
+Draft standards for acquiring and deploying database software, covering approved configurations, encryption at rest and in transit, access control, backup frequency, and a third-party risk checklist for procurement to sign off.
The tools that do the workAnsibleO*NET
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Train users and answer questions.
+Create a one-hour hands-on session and an FAQ for analysts on how to run ad hoc queries, interpret explain…
Train users and answer questions.
+Create a one-hour hands-on session and an FAQ for analysts on how to run ad hoc queries, interpret explain plans, and avoid full-table scans, then publish the slides and sample queries to the team wiki.
The tools that do the workApache HiveO*NET
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Provide technical support to junior staff or clients.
+Prepare a support ticket bundle for the junior team with step-by-step debugging checklists for connection…
Provide technical support to junior staff or clients.
+Prepare a support ticket bundle for the junior team with step-by-step debugging checklists for connection failures, replication lag, and failed restores, plus escalation criteria and the on-call rota.
The tools that do the workApache AirflowO*NET
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Review workflow charts developed by programmer analyst to understand tasks computer will perform, such as updating records.
+Read the programmer analyst's workflow diagrams for the customer-orders pipeline, verify each automated task…
Review workflow charts developed by programmer analyst to understand tasks computer will perform, such as updating records.
+Read the programmer analyst's workflow diagrams for the customer-orders pipeline, verify each automated task and conditional branch that updates records, annotate unclear steps, and list three questions for the analyst before I sign off on the design.
The tools that do the workApache AirflowO*NET
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Revise company definition of data as defined in data dictionary.
+Revise the company definition of data in the enterprise data dictionary: reconcile Sales and Finance…
Revise company definition of data as defined in data dictionary.
+Revise the company definition of data in the enterprise data dictionary: reconcile Sales and Finance disagreements on customer_id and invoice_date, propose revised definitions with examples, and send the proposed changes to Maria in Data Governance for approval by Friday.
The tools that do the workApache KafkaO*NET
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Use high-speed transaction recovery techniques
+Prepare and run the transaction recovery plan using the last nightly backup plus the incremental logs to…
Use high-speed transaction recovery techniques
+Prepare and run the transaction recovery plan using the last nightly backup plus the incremental logs to restore the payments ledger to a consistent state within 15 minutes, then document the recovery steps and runbook for on-call.
The tools that do the workApache Kafkajob descriptions
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Minimize database downtime
+Schedule and test the live failover procedure for the primary database cluster to reduce service…
Minimize database downtime
+Schedule and test the live failover procedure for the primary database cluster to reduce service interruption, run the failover during the maintenance window with traffic cutover validation, and report downtime metrics to Ops.
The tools that do the workAmazon Elastic Compute Cloud EC2job descriptions
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Install upgrades and patches
+Stage the vendor patch set on the replica nodes, run schema and compatibility checks, roll the patch to…
Install upgrades and patches
+Stage the vendor patch set on the replica nodes, run schema and compatibility checks, roll the patch to primaries during the approved window, and confirm application connectivity and backup integrity before closing the change ticket.
The tools that do the workAnsiblejob descriptions
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Support incident and problem management
+Triage the database incident: capture current error logs and slow query samples, correlate with recent…
Support incident and problem management
+Triage the database incident: capture current error logs and slow query samples, correlate with recent deployments, create a prioritized action plan, notify the incident manager and update the problem record with root-cause hypotheses.
The tools that do the workApache Hivejob descriptions
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Says who?
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The logs, files & records this job keeps
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Related careers
Same family of work — each with its own tasks and prompts.
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Built on public evidence: O*NET®, ESCO, Wikipedia, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, ILOSTAT. All sources & licenses
Built on public evidence: O*NET®, ESCO, Wikipedia, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, ILOSTAT. All sources & licenses