High School

While you are in high school, take as many math, science, and computer classes as you can. These courses will provide you with the basis to develop your logical thinking skills and understanding of computers. Take electronics or other technical courses that will teach you about schematic drawing, working with electricity, and, again, develop logical thinking. You will also benefit from taking accounting courses and English classes, as you will need strong written and verbal communication skills.

Postsecondary Training

A bachelor's degree in computer science, management information systems, or another computer-related discipline is recommended as the minimum requirement for those wishing to work as database specialists. Some exceptions have been made for people without a degree but who have extensive experience in database administration. Taking this route to become a database specialist, however, is becoming increasingly rare. Most employers will expect you to have at least a four-year degree. Courses in a bachelor's degree program usually include data processing, systems analysis methods, more detailed software and hardware concepts, management principles, and information systems planning. To advance in the field, you will probably need to complete further education. Many businesses today, especially larger companies, prefer database managers to have a master's degree in computer science, management information systems, or business administration. Some companies offer to help with or pay for their employees' advanced education, so you may want to consider this possibility when looking for an entry-level job.

Other Education or Training

Keeping up with industry developments is key to success as a database specialist. Professional associations often provide continuing education (CE) opportunities. For example, the Association for Computing Machinery offer CE classes and webinars on big data, data management, data mining, data science, data warehousing, database design, and programming languages. DAMA International, IEEE Computer Society, and other associations also provide information technology–related classes and webinars. Contact these organizations for more information. 

Certification or Licensing

The Institute for Certification of Computing Professionals offers the certified data professional designation to those who meet educational and experience requirements and pass an examination. In addition, specialists who want to keep their skills current may take training programs offered by database developers, such as Oracle. These training programs may also lead to certifications. According to Robert Half Technology's 2020 Salary Guide, the following Oracle database certification credentials are in demand: Database Application Development, MySQL, and Oracle Database.  

Database specialists usually begin acquiring the skills necessary for their jobs by working as software developers, designing databases, and as analysts who know how to present the information in these databases so it is useful to their organizations. These analysts may be employed by financial firms, market research firms, manufacturing companies, and other types of organizations as well as federal, state, and local government agencies.

People who pursue this profession should be problem solvers who are good at logical thinking and very detail oriented. They should also be effective team players who can work with systems developers and other computer specialists, as well as clear communicators who can present their analytical data to other members of an organization in a way that it can be easily understood and utilized.

Specialists also need strong communication skills. This work requires contact with employees from a wide variety of jobs. Specialists must be able to ask clear, concise, and technical questions of people who are not necessarily familiar with how a database works.

As is true for all computer professionals, specialists should be motivated to keep up with technological advances and able to learn new things quickly. Those who are interested in working almost exclusively in one industry (for example, banking) should be willing to gain as much knowledge as possible about that specific field in addition to their computer training. With an understanding of both fields of knowledge, individuals are more easily able to apply computer technology to the specific needs of the company.