Is being a DBA a bad career choice in 2020?

Aetna
datapup

Go to company page Aetna

datapup
Oct 22, 2020 18 Comments

I'm curious the thoughts on this. I had a few years experience as a web developer, then sql developer, before making the move to becoming a sql server database administrator for on-prem servers. I've been at my current company, a large fortune 10, but not faang, for two years. I mostly like my job, since I'm able to write a lot of powershell to automate large scale tasks, and of course a lot of sql as well, which I enjoy. I'm also involved in a lot of devops support and implementation which is also up my alley. I don't mind that some parts are more mindless like verifying backups or adding storage. I prefer the mix of development and operations type work.

However if you search anywhere, people keep saying it's the worst job, a dying field, that azure will swallow most jobs, and that I won't even be able to get a job as a developer or devops engineer when all the dba jobs go away because I'm narrowly focused in relational databases. Apparently developers these days know enough about databases themselves that DBA are less needed.

Is that stuff true? I actually like this career but I don't want to keep getting better and learning the dba craft only to be completely not in demand. If it is, any recommendations for my next career pivot? Like I said, devops and cloud engineering roles also sound appealing, but I do have strong sql skills that would go to waste, unless no one would care anyway.

. #dba #database #sql #powershell #mssql

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TOP 18 Comments
  • Lyft
    1B USD

    Go to company page Lyft

    1B USD
    To answer the question at hand, though, I do think DBA is more likely to be commoditized than dev.
    Oct 22, 2020 0
  • Google
    cloudmate

    Go to company page Google

    cloudmate
    I was a DBA for more than 10yrs and finally switched role...yes, DBA role is dying, move away as soon as possible, Cloud, automation is killing, no need of DBA...if u like sql and databases, move towards data engineer, big data, nosql, streaming data etc
    Oct 22, 2020 9
  • Yea unfortunately what you have been told/seen is true. Data engineers and AWS/azure will take over the job....already has in tech companies. U virtually never see such a role in tech firms now, and that’s where the money is
    Oct 22, 2020 0
  • Amazon
    lowlyL4

    Go to company page Amazon

    lowlyL4
    IMO it’s probably fine if you keep up on your skills and don’t advertise yourself as a DBA even if that’s the work you are doing. When 90% of what you do is automated by cloud services you should still be able to pivot into something related or more general
    Oct 22, 2020 0
  • Amazon
    hvg8x

    Go to company page Amazon

    hvg8x
    What about pivoting to a career in Analytics to leverage SQL skills?
    Oct 22, 2020 1