What does a Database Engineer do?

Database engineers are the managers of the flow of information at a company. They design and maintain databases that provide informative and relevant data to employees throughout an organization. They work as either applications or system software developers and are generally employed by computer systems companies to design and monitor complex databases. They insure a database is fully operational and provides valid and relevant data. They must implement and maintain computer databases.

Database engineers ensure the database is kept available, secure, and stable. They constantly test its data to ensure it is not corrupted and perform regular updates to keep up with ever-changing computer technologies. They integrate new products and software into a working and current system and see that the data produced is accurate and train employees about how to make the best use of its content. Database engineers need a bachelor's degree in computer science, information technology, or related fields.

What responsibilities are common for Database Engineer jobs?
  • Recommend and implement solutions for performance monitoring and tuning.
  • Review work of less senior team members, provide guidance from technical perspective.
  • Analyze problems, anticipate future problem areas, and implement solutions.
  • Perform environment setup and configuration, proactive monitoring and maintenance.
  • Lead development of database structures that fit into the overall architecture of the system under development.
  • Work with architects and lead developers to come up with optimal database design.
  • Engage in capacity planning exercises to ensure adequate system resources.
  • Support the development of long and short term requirements for database administration and design.
  • Collaborate with the technical teams and the EHR vendor to ensure proactive support.
  • Participate in your change control process for all planned application and technical activities.
  • Work with report writers to provide data needed for reports.
  • Take on full roadmap items, work with other functional teams, and be able to deliver high quality results on time.
  • Investigate and find the root cause for software problems reported by clients.
  • Direct organization of requirements and data into a usable database schema by directing development of ad hoc queries, scripts, macros, updates to existing queries.
  • May perform database administration and maintenance, including database installation and configuration, backups, upgrades, patching.
  • Document schema design in E-R diagrams using MS Visio and maintain data dictionaries for all tables.
  • Review SQL code written by application developers to ensure compliance to coding standards and best practices as well as maximum performance.
  • Create deployment and rollback scripts for all database objects manually or auto generated.
  • Analyze access patterns and propose the best combination of indexes, constraints, foreign keys, and queries.
What are the typical qualifications for Database Engineer jobs?
  • Bachelor's or Graduate's Degree in business, computer science, engineering or information systems, or equivalent experience.
  • Experience with Microsoft SQL Server.
  • Experience with SQL, PL/SQL, DB2, UNIX, JAVA, ETL, and Linux software and systems.
  • Fluency in relational databases and backup and recovery.
  • A problem solver.
  • Comfortable with procedures such as shell scripting and scripting.
Education--
Work/Life Balance
3.9 ★
Salary Range--
Career Opportunity
3.9 ★
Avg. Experience2-4 years

Database Engineer Salaries near Canada

Average Base Pay

$110,705 /yr
Not including cash compensation
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Glassdoor Estimated Salary

Database Engineer Career Path

Learn how to become a Database Engineer, what skills and education you need to succeed, and what level of pay to expect at each step on your career path.

Database Engineer

Years of Experience Distribution

0 - 1
6%
2 - 4
43%
5 - 7
29%
8+
22%
Not including years spent in education and/or training

Database Engineer Insights

Read what Database Engineer professionals have to say about their job experiences and view top companies for this career.
PCS Global TechPCS Global Tech
Database Engineer
Apr 26, 2022

“I love CCS Global Tech' training program that is intensive and worth it to invest my time for start of my career in BI!”

PCS Global TechPCS Global Tech
Database Engineer
Mar 16, 2022

“It's amazing training program with the best trainers that I had the pleasure of working.”

GrouponGroupon
Database Engineer
Sept 16, 2022

“The database team was amazing and fun to work with.”

Visa Inc.Visa Inc.
Senior Database Engineer
May 10, 2022

“Good work and life balance”

PCS Global TechPCS Global Tech
Database Engineer
Jan 4, 2022

“The training program is the best and it prepares you to perform well.”

Gramin Jan Kalyan ParishadGramin Jan Kalyan Parishad
Database Engineer
Sept 3, 2022

“NGOs give many opportunities for personal and professional growth which cannot be found everywhere.”

Techmihirnaik
Database Engineer
Aug 23, 2022

“good to internship”

IBMIBM
Database Engineer
May 24, 2021

“job security is good in IBM”

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Database Engineer Interviews

Frequently asked questions about the role and responsibilities of a Database Engineer

The most similar professions to Database Engineer are:
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  • Oracle Database Administrator
  • Database Administrator
  • Database Architect

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Database Engineer jobs