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There are a number of wrenches discombobulating the gears of the job market for database administrators with SQL skills. First, SQL is not fundamentally a standardized language. Even experienced SQL pros coming into a new database environment that uses it can feel like they’re flying blind. While it’s true that the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) has gone through the motions of standardizing the SQL language, most database administrators could tell you that each database management system (DBMS) has many quirks and jerry-riggings. Add to that the growing importance of SQL in the world of Web applications (with accompanying problems of security and scalability) and the general increase in demand for SQL skills, and you have all the ingredients for an H.R. manager’s collapse, and an SQL pro’s glee.
Our sister site, dice.com, an Internet-based job board for IT professionals, contains 472 openings for database administrators requiring experience in SQL. The greatest concentration of available positions is in Los Angeles, where 90 DBA/SQL jobs are going begging. The highest annual salary can be found in New York, at $87,000 a year on average. Contract rates max out in San Francisco, at $86 per hour.
Data came from available jobs listed during Jan. 2000 at dice.com. Results are based on averages or totals from the following information on dice.com: salary, job type, job skills, and location.
