I’ve been a MySQL Database Administrator, or DBA, for over 15 years. I want to answer the question about what a database administrator is, and highlight the need for good Data Guardians.

Watch the video below, or continue reading:

What is a Database Administrator?

Data is everywhere. It is all around us. Even now, in this very room.
You can see data when you look out your window or when you turn on your television.
You use data when you go to work.. when you go to church…
when you pay your taxes.

Adapted from the Matrix

Data is everywhere. Data is being collected by the apps and businesses that you use.

So whether you are using Google or Youtube or walking around parks playing Harry Potter, you are providing your data about who you are.

Your banks have your financial data. Your doctor and healthcare providers have your health information. Fortnite and the gaming industry have your life achievements.

And of course Apple, Facebook and the NSA have all of your data.

These businesses are collecting your data to improve their products and services.

The data that they are collecting has to go somewhere. Simply put, data is put in specialized software called a database.

And of course, the people who manage the database are the Database Administrators.

What does a Database Administrator do?

I would say there are three main areas that a database administrator must spend their attention on.

The first one is data availability.

Imagine that you go to the bank and you deposit $100. Then the next day you go to look, and that $100 is missing.

Would you be as upset as I would be?

And so, the database that stores that transaction for the bank has to make sure the data is always available.

The data lives on a server. And if that server dies, is that data gone? How do you recover it?

So a database administrator spends a lot of time understanding the type of data that they’re collecting and making sure that it is recoverable and available.

The second thing that a database administrator does is make sure that access to the data is fast and very performant.

Imagine going to Facebook and loading up your friend feed, and it taking 10-20 seconds. That would be a very poor experience.

For Facebook to keep you on their website, they have to provide a great user experience. And part of how they do that is making sure the website loads your data very fast.

The third thing that a database administrator works on is protecting and securing your data.

There has been a lot of discussion over the last several years about various high profile industries losing data.

Credit card information has been hacked.

Various companies have lost data due to ransom, because they haven’t protected the database correctly.

The issue is due to poor data security practices by the companies.

So it is a very important role of the database administrator to make sure the your data is secure.

Being a Data Guardian

A critical factor for business success is to maintain their velocity to adjust to market demands. The more friction points that are added, the slower the business moves.

Today more and more businesses are using data to define their business strategy.

Database administrators understand that their role is very critical to the success of the business.

And that has lead to many traditional database administrators having a mindset of over-protectiveness.

They have become Gatekeepers; roadblocks to the data access.

A database administrator as a Gatekeeper is definitely a friction point.

I believe that the new Database Administrator is like a Guardian. A Data Guardian helps people understand how to use the database effectively without becoming a roadblock.

They work with the developers. They work with the operations team to successfully access the data.

And that in turn allows the application teams and the business as a whole to move very fast.

Conclusion

A Database Administrator makes sure that the data is available, fast to access and secure.

This is critical to the success of the business. However it’s important not to become another friction point in your company to slow down their velocity.

If you are an aspiring database administrator or are one already, it’s important to move away from this Gatekeeper mentality and become a good Data Guardian.

If you’re interested in this concept, keep following us here at Distributed DBA to learn more.