The field of database management is far from glamorous. Database administration is not glamorous, even in the geeky world of information technology.
In these times of change, the future landscape for tech-related jobs is uncertain. The database management and administration industry is experiencing rapid growth and significant changes due to AI. For those who are willing to take advantage of its lucrative career path, this field offers a lot of potential.
Watershed moments are often accompanied by both significant opportunities and challenges. PerconaOpen-source database software firm optimizes the performance of databases and applications. Dave Stokes is a database veteran and technology evangelist at the company. He’s passionate about helping aspiring database administrators find their way.
Stokes has over 20 years of experience as a DBA. He speaks often on the latest topics in database operations. His expertise and knowledge in IT are essential to mentoring.
Database needs of the Business World
A look at any report about the role of DBAs by 2024 confirms how data solutions and emerging technologies are changing the IT landscape. Data environments today generate more than 2 quintillion bytes per day.
Database platforms are pushed to the limit by demands for high-quality data, and results in real time. DBAs are required to diversify their skills as a result.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is just one of many factors. Managing on-premises operations, handling cloud migration, and security are all challenges. DBAs’ morphing trends are defined by evolution, adaptation, innovation, and change.
Open-source databases have become more popular. Stokes claims that PostgreSQL, MySQL and other open-source databases are used by more organizations.
This standardization of the databases gives DBAs a greater number of employment opportunities, and employers have a larger pool from which they can choose.
Database Administration: An Insider’s Look
Stokes and I spoke extensively about the current state of database management. He said that the traditional DBA has almost disappeared “in the wild”.
Percona Tech Evangelist
Site reliability engineers and cloud providers have taken on a large portion of the conventional work. Databases have become so large that some functions like query optimization have been overlooked.
Stokes told TechNewsWorld that the cloud is now able to compensate for much of what a DBA used to do. The DBA position was replaced, and with it the institutional knowledge of an organization’s data.
He noted that until the impact of data on ongoing operations escalates, it is only a secondary consideration to try and understand how certain data is structured.
However, there are some positive developments in the DBA field. Even if they don’t have the title, some data workers are curious about what a DBA does.
He said that “query tuning, data structure definition, server optimization and administration of the actual instance have value.”
Demystifying DBA Dilemmas: Q&A
Dave Stokes gave more insights into the latest trends, technologies and challenges in database administration. Stokes shared valuable insights on the landscape of database management, from the impact of new technologies to the changing role of DBAs.
TechNewsWord – What is the latest database technology?
Dave Stokes Vector data used for machine learning consumes unprecedented amounts in terms of disk space, processing cycles, and administrative work. The cost of moving a model copy to a different location for training is expensive. It also requires monitoring and takes up more disk space.
JSON is preferred by most data exchangers. Storing data using JSON is not as efficient. The process of extracting JSON values from their original JSON format and storing them in a traditional datatype can be accelerated, but it adds complexity.
Data replication across several data centres is a common practice. The management of data spread over continents and globes is a challenge.
What are the changing trends in business and industry that affect database administration?
Stokes: Data administration has been revolutionized by the ability to pay for more processing power and disk space with a credit-card, simply by checking a box on a website. It is no longer necessary to get approval for a large capital expenditure or plan capacity.
There is no longer any lead time for expansion. A company that had only a dozen databases in the early 2000s can now have thousands.
Want to expand your AI business? Load billions of records in a cloud account, and worry later about quality and quantity. Data lakes are becoming data oceans. The data still has to be monitored, managed and backed up.
How will AI and automation impact DBA changes?
Stokes: AI is needed within the database. AI adoption is not limited to a single organization. It can be implemented across the board.
It would be great to have an optimizer that could spot patterns of data usage and determine the need for caching specific data, or to autotune buffer usage. Smarter query optimizing and user usage patterns can shift server capacity to accommodate data needs.
What impact does the move from DBA on-site to cloud have on business?
Stokes: Many people who have moved their data to cloud computing have seen a significant benefit. Now, scaling is as simple as using a credit-card. The cloud vendor is responsible for backups, server failures and software upgrades.
Many companies no longer need an internal DBA, instead relying on the cloud provider. Many have found cloud computing to be too expensive, and are now returning to their on-premises operation. In such cases, the company needs to hire staff to perform the DBA’s traditional duties.
What role does cloud migration play in DB cost and efficiency?
Stokes: Costs continue to rise. Businesses were reluctant to invest in capital expenditures and upgrading servers used to take months.
Cloud upgrades can be paid for with a credit card and are almost instantly available. Why optimize data, or a server, when it is faster and easier to itemize a bill?
Why will DBAs still be relevant in 2024
Stokes: While the title DBA may not be used, someone is needed to tune, guide, and monitor database instances, even if it does not have a DBA designation. Although these factors may seem like hygiene, they are necessary for the data’s reliability.
How can young professionals succeed in this industry
Stokes: Learn Structured Query Language. It is still the only computer programming language from the 1970s. It has a great deal of business logic and is designed so that the information can be used.
Normalization of the data is essential. Data structures that are poorly defined can be slow and difficult to manage.
Communication is also crucial. Communication is key. The ability to explain why a simple change in a table can cause a petabyte’s worth of data to be unavailable for several hours could save an organisation from disaster.
Where do you envision DBA and its future needs?
Stokes: It is always necessary to have better data backups and restore data faster. There will be much attention paid to time and financial costs associated with recovering data.
The security of the system will be improved. It’s still all too easy for a minor error to occur, whether on premises or in the cloud. This can lead to your data appearing on the front pages of newspapers.
DBAs are going to need better tools for the explosion in instances and the scale they manage.
