Best Online Database Administration Degrees for 2024

Online Bachelor’s Degree in Database Administration

The most popular degree level for students looking to pursue careers in an IT-related field is a bachelor’s degree. For database administrators, this would be either a bachelor’s in database management degree or a degree in database management, which is typically offered at a four-year university or college. Given the highly quantitative nature of this field, employers will expect prospective hires to have had extensive training in and mastered multiple integral computer languages, something that is difficult to achieve with only an associate degree. Bachelor’s programs will help students learn hard skills like SQL, UNIX, Linux, Oracle, and HTML. Gaining admission to a bachelor’s program will typically be more difficult than applying to an associate’s program. Students will often need to submit their high school GPA, have a high school degree or equivalent upon enrolling in a bachelor’s program, complete college applications, as well as complete standardized tests like the SAT, ACT, and AP exams. College applications will also typically require students to submit a written personal statement answering a set of predetermined questions, as well as require anywhere between 1-3 letters of recommendation from a student’s teachers or mentors. However, once they’re done with school, graduates with a bachelor’s degree in database administration will typically have the widest options for employment in the field, enjoying careers like database administrator, data services engineer, lead data scientist, and data analyst.

Online Master’s Degree in Database Administration

Obtaining a master’s degree in database management can be advantageous for students who are looking to improve their long-term prospects for career advancement. Although an employee can work their way up in database management and achieve a higher job title, this field is highly quantitative, and obtaining a master’s degree will allow students to take more pointed coursework in difficult technical subject areas like computer programming. Given that master’s programs will typically require students to have completed their bachelor’s degree first, students interested in pursuing this route should be relatively sure that they wish to pursue a long-term career in the IT field before committing to the program.

Find Your Online Database Administration Program

Applying to a master’s program at a university that offers graduate programs can be quite a selective process. First, students will be expected to apply, usually with a written personal statement about how their interests and prior experiences match with the program’s offerings. Additionally, students will generally be expected to take a graduate school standardized test like the GRE. Students will also need to submit 1-2 letters of recommendation from their college professors, which also means that, on top of being academically successful, students thinking of attending graduate school must also communicate often with their professors throughout their college years. It pays to earn a master’s degree in database management, though, as students can expect to be hired into more lucrative positions like computer and information technology manager, network administration specialist, and computer and information research scientist.

Online Database Administration MBA Coursework (Classes and Courses)

A Master of Business Administration is typically a degree that early-career professionals with around 2-5 years of work experience will seek to undertake to advance their career prospects. This is true whether you work in database management, data analytics, project management, web development, computer information systems management, management information systems, software engineering, network administration, or other information technology roles. In particular, the MBA curriculum is mainly focused on allowing individuals to gain a well-rounded exposure to core business and management principles ranging from operations management, human resources management, finance, accounting, and marketing skills to database management. However, it is important to note that the MBA program is targeted towards training management professionals and future business executives, rather than IT specialists. As such, most employees with a database management background who then choose to return to school for their MBA are most likely seeking a career change from an IT specialist role into a management one. While database management and IT network management courses may be offered as electives by some schools, it’s most often a graduation requirement, so students seeking more of these types of courses should do some research into the MBA programs that may be specifically tailored towards training IT management professionals. To gain admission to an MBA program, prospective students must first fill out an application and write their personal statement. They also need to take a graduate-level standardized test, either the GRE or GMAT, to gain admission to an MBA program. Many programs will also require letters of recommendation from either professors, mentors, work colleagues, or previous managers. Graduates with an MBA degree can expect to attain job titles like product manager, database administrator manager, or director of IT.

Online PhD in Database Administration

Pursuing a doctoral degree in database management is rarely a requirement for applying to industry jobs in database administration. Students who decide to pursue a PhD in database administration are more likely to seek out careers in academia as teachers and scholars in the field, rather than work for companies to manage their IT systems, though students can decide to work for a company after graduation as well. Gaining acceptance into a doctoral program is an extremely competitive process because students are expected to pursue a long-term independent research project under the guidance of a faculty member whose interests align with theirs. In particular, students must have a relatively clear idea of what area of research they wish to pursue before even applying for their PhD program and potentially have done work or research during college toward that end goal. Students without a clear pathway forward or research proposal may not end up being chosen by the faculty member they wish to work with, as each faculty has limited spots and time for guiding PhD students. In addition to stamping out a research field, students will also need to take the GRE and fill out an application to the school of their choice, which must also include letters of recommendation from professors who can attest to the student’s scholarly abilities. Graduates from PhD programs in database administration will typically continue to pursue careers in either research, teaching, or a mix of both. Many move on to become professors and spend time as postdoctoral researchers.