IOUG has released their 2008 salary survey, and Oracle DBA salaries
are up for 2008 despite the economic downturn.
In 2009, the market has become more competitive, and the typical
DBA has a masters degree from a good university and loads of
real-world experience managing mission-critical multi-billion
dollar databases.
The
Computerworld interactive salary survey tool takes basic
demographics (job title, industry and area, and displays DBA
salary details). Here is one for a DBA in North Carolina
working in Banking, showing an average DBA salary of $106k/year:
National base of respondents with this
job title: 147
Industry: Finance / Accounting
Region: Middle Atlantic
Respondents who match this profile:
4
TOTAL COMPENSATION
PERCENT CHANGE FROM 2007
Database administrator
(National Average)
$89,436
4.12%
Database administrator
(Fitting this profile)
$106,750
3.23%
The days of the semi-literate Oracle babysitter are gone, and
the DBA profession appears to be regaining status as a choice
for young executives. Based
on my knowledge of DBA salaries as a hiring agent for major
American corporations, I use this rough rule-of-thumb for
estimating DBA salaries in 2009:
2009 average Oracle DBA Salary = (age times 2.5)
On average, an Oracle DBA salary
in the USA will
be approximately age x 2.5. If you are 24 years, old fresh out of graduate
school, expect a starting DBA salary
to be about $60,000-$80,000, depending on the cost of living in your area.
As your experience increases, so does your DBA salary,
such that you could expect about $100,000 per year when you are about 40 years old
(age x 2.5).
Of course, there are many DBA's who earn far more then $100,000 per
year, the Oracle DBA superstars who often command hundreds of dollars
per hour. Conversely, in foreign countries where functional
literacy and computer science skill is not required, a DBA could earn as
little as $10,000 per year.
Average Oracle DBA salaries exceed $100,000
While the typical DBA earns well over $100,000 today (about right
for a high responsibility management position) there is variance in DBA
salaries:
- Large companies pay more - 34% of DBAs reported
base incomes exceeding $100,000 among organizations with more than
10,000 employees.
- Experience counts - 40% of DBAs with more than
a decade of experience reported salaries exceeding $100,000.
- Complexity matters - 44% of DBAs managing large
and complex database environments reported earning more than
$100,000.
- West is best - 44% of DBAs working in the western region (including the
Mountain and Pacific states) had annual salaries of more than
$100,000.
For more, see my related notes on Oracle DBA salaries:
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