December 20, 2011 at 5:07 pm
What are the general pay ranges for (I know this changes for location) ?
DBA Developer:
Junior
Mid
Veteran
DBA:
Junior
Mid
Veteran
BIDeveloper:
Junior
Mid
Veteran
December 20, 2011 at 6:15 pm
salary.com might give you those answers.
My answer is whatever someone's willing to pay you after the interview, and more importantly on ongoing basis after they get to know you better.
December 21, 2011 at 1:34 am
Ninja's_RGR'us (12/20/2011)
salary.com might give you those answers.My answer is whatever someone's willing to pay you after the interview, and more importantly on ongoing basis after they get to know you better.
Yes. It "depends". You'll probably find people are quite vague 😉
Location and company is a factor. I'd be lucky to find my current salary anywhere else in the UK except London where salaries are around 15% higher than the countries average.
Generally I've found DBA's get paid around 15-20% more than developers in the same company and around the same as Development management.
December 22, 2011 at 7:28 am
My answer is whatever someone's willing to pay you after the interview, and more importantly on ongoing basis after they get to know you better.
I agree. Concentrate on being good at your job first. The pay will come after that.
December 22, 2011 at 9:20 am
MysteryJimbo (12/21/2011)Generally I've found DBA's get paid around 15-20% more than developers in the same company and around the same as Development management.
Does it seem wrong to anyone else that Database Administrator should make more money than a Database Developer? After all, a System's Administrator does not make more money than the developer who worked on the system. I have a personal theory that Database Administrators have to be better than Database Developers, because so much Database code is so awful. If companies spent more money on database development, they wouldn't need to spend so much money on Database Administrators.
Thoughts? Objections? Personal Insults? 🙂
By the way, the Department of Labor publishes salary statistics for the United States broken down by region and occupation. Database Administrator is one of the occupations listed. You can try the National Compensation Survey from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, here http://www.bls.gov/bls/blswage.htm[/i]
I think it is actually good to keep these figures in mind when you go into an interview. I will agree with the others, though. You have to concentrate on doing what you love and doing it well, first. Success is a happy accident.
December 22, 2011 at 9:43 am
David Moutray (12/22/2011)
MysteryJimbo (12/21/2011)Generally I've found DBA's get paid around 15-20% more than developers in the same company and around the same as Development management.
Does it seem wrong to anyone else that Database Administrator should make more money than a Database Developer? After all, a System's Administrator does not make more money than the developer who worked on the system. I have a personal theory that Database Administrators have to be better than Database Developers, because so much Database code is so awful. If companies spent more money on database development, they wouldn't need to spend so much money on Database Administrators.
Thoughts? Objections? Personal Insults? 🙂
By the way, the Department of Labor publishes salary statistics for the United States broken down by region and occupation. Database Administrator is one of the occupations listed. You can try the National Compensation Survey from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, here http://www.bls.gov/bls/blswage.htm[/i]
I think it is actually good to keep these figures in mind when you go into an interview. I will agree with the others, though. You have to concentrate on doing what you love and doing it well, first. Success is a happy accident.
One of the reasons a database admin is higher paid than most other IT jobs, often even than the managers they answer to, is that they are some of the rare people who can, given an eggregious enough mistake, actually shut a company down, even if only for a few hours.
If a dev makes a mistake, it'll usually only cost him or maybe his dept some time, since it'll usually get caught in QA. It's rare for a dev to cause a whole company to lose a day's work, or be shut down completely.
If a DBA loses a day's data, however, some companies can recover from that, with a huge cost associated with it, and some companies would be dead in the water. Imagine if a financial services company or bank lost a day's worth of information. They'd probably never recover.
Most DB Admins aren't paid highly for what they cause, they're paid highly for what they prevent.
- Gus "GSquared", RSVP, OODA, MAP, NMVP, FAQ, SAT, SQL, DNA, RNA, UOI, IOU, AM, PM, AD, BC, BCE, USA, UN, CF, ROFL, LOL, ETC
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December 22, 2011 at 10:41 am
David Moutray (12/22/2011)
MysteryJimbo (12/21/2011)Generally I've found DBA's get paid around 15-20% more than developers in the same company and around the same as Development management.
Does it seem wrong to anyone else that Database Administrator should make more money than a Database Developer? After all, a System's Administrator does not make more money than the developer who worked on the system. I have a personal theory that Database Administrators have to be better than Database Developers, because so much Database code is so awful. If companies spent more money on database development, they wouldn't need to spend so much money on Database Administrators.
Thoughts? Objections? Personal Insults? 🙂
By the way, the Department of Labor publishes salary statistics for the United States broken down by region and occupation. Database Administrator is one of the occupations listed. You can try the National Compensation Survey from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, here http://www.bls.gov/bls/blswage.htm[/i]
I think it is actually good to keep these figures in mind when you go into an interview. I will agree with the others, though. You have to concentrate on doing what you love and doing it well, first. Success is a happy accident.
DBA's are typically on call 24/7, so I think this has a lot to do with it. Also, DBA's have "most" of the knowledge of an SQL Developer (not in all cases, but compared to most middle level dev's) as they started there many times. In order to be a good DBA, you have to have development knowledge. Then you add in all of the configuration knowledge, disaster recovery strategies, performance tuning, and risk management. Your "typical" developer does not have as much knowledge on these issues. Again, I say typical because I know there are some extremely knowledgeable developers on here that far surpass my knowledge. However, in my real-world experience these are few and far between.
In my case I also have 2 post-graduate degrees, one of which pertains managing a business and understanding these types of things. Like a techy MBA 🙂
Jared
CE - Microsoft
December 22, 2011 at 11:56 am
SQLKnowItAll (12/22/2011)
In my case I also have 2 post-graduate degrees, one of which pertains managing a business and understanding these types of things. Like a techy MBA 🙂
I on the other hand, have none.
December 22, 2011 at 12:04 pm
And I dropped out of both kindergarden and college! But I've got a well-paid DBA job anyway.
- Gus "GSquared", RSVP, OODA, MAP, NMVP, FAQ, SAT, SQL, DNA, RNA, UOI, IOU, AM, PM, AD, BC, BCE, USA, UN, CF, ROFL, LOL, ETC
Property of The Thread
"Nobody knows the age of the human race, but everyone agrees it's old enough to know better." - Anon
December 22, 2011 at 12:27 pm
GSquared (12/22/2011)
And I dropped out of both kindergarden and college! But I've got a well-paid DBA job anyway.
Heh. I'm glad I'm not the only one! 😉 Once you get your first job, no one really cares what you did in school.
Although, I must admit, a post-grad degree does look nice on the resume.
December 22, 2011 at 12:47 pm
David Moutray (12/22/2011)
GSquared (12/22/2011)
And I dropped out of both kindergarden and college! But I've got a well-paid DBA job anyway.Heh. I'm glad I'm not the only one! 😉 Once you get your first job, no one really cares what you did in school.
Although, I must admit, a post-grad degree does look nice on the resume.
In 20 years, I've had one potential employer tell me they couldn't hire me because they had a policy requiring a degree for any technical or management position. Nobody else has even cared.
- Gus "GSquared", RSVP, OODA, MAP, NMVP, FAQ, SAT, SQL, DNA, RNA, UOI, IOU, AM, PM, AD, BC, BCE, USA, UN, CF, ROFL, LOL, ETC
Property of The Thread
"Nobody knows the age of the human race, but everyone agrees it's old enough to know better." - Anon
December 22, 2011 at 4:28 pm
GSquared (12/22/2011)
And I dropped out of both kindergarden and college! But I've got a well-paid DBA job anyway.
How the heck can you drop out of kindergarden???
December 22, 2011 at 5:01 pm
GSquared (12/22/2011)
David Moutray (12/22/2011)
GSquared (12/22/2011)
And I dropped out of both kindergarden and college! But I've got a well-paid DBA job anyway.Heh. I'm glad I'm not the only one! 😉 Once you get your first job, no one really cares what you did in school.
Although, I must admit, a post-grad degree does look nice on the resume.
In 20 years, I've had one potential employer tell me they couldn't hire me because they had a policy requiring a degree for any technical or management position. Nobody else has even cared.
I just want to be clear (and you may already assume this) that I don't think that a degree is a requirement nor an indication of someones' ability to become a good DBA. It is just a selling point for me that helps me negotiate since I cannot use years of experience. I have only been a DBA for 3 years and my previous company it was more of a title than a description. 🙂
Jared
CE - Microsoft
December 23, 2011 at 5:43 am
In my case I also have 2 post-graduate degrees, one of which pertains managing a business and understanding these types of things. Like a techy MBA 🙂
...
It is just a selling point for me that helps me negotiate since I cannot use years of experience.
@Jared: Now we have one more thing in common (after SQL Server) i.e. MBA
And it's NOT just a selling point for me, it’s more than that. It helps me a lot when I start reading my customer's (or Business Analyst's) mind. Not sure for OLTP designs but BI application requires business understanding. By the time my competitors (companies) finish up their study on business, I usually finish up business proposal & grab the customer. 😎
In 20 years, I've had one potential employer tell me they couldn't hire me because they had a policy requiring a degree for any technical or management position
@Gus: I can understand this requirement for Management Positions but making it a MUST for technical positions is a BAD decision anyways. As long as candidate is skilful, degree doesn’t matter.
I think you should make him realise his mistake by sending your SSC profile. When he will see you helping others on SQL platform he will not repeat his mistake and someone else (like you) will get benefits. 🙂
December 23, 2011 at 6:16 am
Dev (12/23/2011)
In my case I also have 2 post-graduate degrees, one of which pertains managing a business and understanding these types of things. Like a techy MBA 🙂
...
It is just a selling point for me that helps me negotiate since I cannot use years of experience.
@Jared: Now we have one more thing in common (after SQL Server) i.e. MBA
And it's NOT just a selling point for me, it’s more than that. It helps me a lot when I start reading my customer's (or Business Analyst's) mind. Not sure for OLTP designs but BI application requires business understanding. By the time my competitors (companies) finish up their study on business, I usually finish up business proposal & grab the customer. 😎
In 20 years, I've had one potential employer tell me they couldn't hire me because they had a policy requiring a degree for any technical or management position
@Gus: I can understand this requirement for Management Positions but making it a MUST for technical positions is a BAD decision anyways. As long as candidate is skilful, degree doesn’t matter.
I think you should make him realise his mistake by sending your SSC profile. When he will see you helping others on SQL platform he will not repeat his mistake and someone else (like you) will get benefits. 🙂
I wish I had an MBA, but it was a Master's of Information Systems. 2 or 3 business classes I believe, then mostly database, programming, network, systems admin... That kind of stuff. However at the Masters level it was all tied to understanding the interaction of these roles within a business. Nevertheless, like you said, it helped me to understand the business case a bit more and so instead of simply giving reports that were asked for or recommending the best risk management/disaster recovery solutions I was able to suggest reports or modifications to existing and make better recommendations that fit the company's tolerance for risk and budget. Much of this can definitely be learned though years of experience and not just in the "classroom," but I did not have the experience and I fell it has helped me get into the field easier than otherwise. After all, I was 26 when I really decided databases and programming were where I wanted to go. 29 when I really chose the DBA route. Certainly my background and degree in Behavioral Neuroscience did not add confidence to my IT resume, so I NEEDED that MIS to find a good paying job.
In Chicago and the surrounding areas 5yrs experience is a "requirement." Maybe that is on every company's description even outside of Chicago. The important thing for me was my ability to answer questions thoughtfully, even those that I did not know. Then proving I knew where to find the answer if I did not have it. I think in employers' minds they carry a stereotype that DBA means more experience than Developer. That's for those who have not seen the wealth of knowledge from people like Gail (and any one else that I don't know is a "developer" vs a DBA).
Jared
CE - Microsoft
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