How to land your dream Oracle DBA job
By Don Burleson, Contributor
14 Jan 2010
If you look at the Help Wanted ads, some Oracle DBA jobs look very appealing, with salaries that rival those of engineers and other professionals. Some have starting salaries as high as $85,000, with senior Oracle DBAs commonly earning more than $130,000 and with Oracle superstars earning more than $250,000.
There are two major reasons for higher salaries among Oracle professionals. First, Oracle DBAs manage databases that are worth billions of dollars, and with big responsibilities come big salaries. Second, Oracle’s database is the world’s most robust and flexible in the industry, and it often takes years to learn all of its nuances.
Learn more about how to get an Oracle DBA job
Read about how to get a high-paying Oracle job
Read this three-part series to learn more about becoming an Oracle professional
Oracle Corp. recently published its 2009 Oracle salary survey, which showed the average salary for a DBA is $97,000, with higher salaries among those located in large cities. The salary survey also showed that experience, along with the level of job responsibility, is what makes the biggest difference when it comes to the level of one’s salary.
As a general guideline, a well-qualified Oracle professional, typically someone with a master’s degree, will earn three times his age. For example, a 30-year-old Oracle professional can expect, on average, to make $90,000 per year.
Before we continue, however, a reality check is in order. No company is going to pay you top-dollar as a junior Oracle professional unless you have demonstrated a commitment to professional database management. This commitment is best shown by successfully completing an extensive amount of college coursework. If you don’t possess at least a bachelor’s degree in software engineering, information systems or computer science, you will find it difficul
