How to Learn Database Management: Courses and Resources to Launch Your Career in Data

Database management is blended into the daily tasks of all companies. Businesses need to store information about their employees, customers, and activities. However, as a company grows, easy accessibility and organization of data becomes even more important. Database management courses can help you learn all this and more. 

Learning database management can also land you a high-paying job. According to Indeed, the average salary of a database manager is around $98,000. Below, we’ll review the basics of database management, and show you how you can go about learning it. 

What Is Database Management?

Data management involves using the right strategies to organize a database management system (DBMS). These DBMS should be structured logically and should be accessible to all relevant employees of a company.

 

Most databases make use of a variety of software tools. Database managers should be able to easily navigate the database software. They are also in charge of maintaining the database.

What Jobs Use Database Management Skills?

If you have database management skills, you will be able to choose from many different job opportunities. Depending on your chosen career path and your previous work experience, you could come across any of the jobs below.

• Data mining manager. A data mining manager’s role involves implementing strategies to provide clients with analytic solutions based on the datasets they have provided. To do this, the data miner will filter and clean datasets to find the most meaningful information. This important data will then be used to help clients make smart business decisions.
  
  
• Database manager. The role of a database manager, often called a database administrator, is to protect a company’s stored data. They implement policies and strategies to improve security. Database managers also monitor a company’s data retrieval and data storage systems to check for any anomalies in the datasets. 
  
  
• Software developer. Software engineers and front-end developers with database management skills can create new data management tools. Having both of these skills will allow you to specialize in this field. 
  
  
• Web developer. If you’re into backend web development, you could choose to become a web database developer. For this, you’ll need to have coding and logic skills, as well as data science knowledge.
  
  

Steps to Learn Database Management

If you’d like to learn about database management, you will first need to gain a few basic skills. Many database administrators have a bachelor’s degree in IT. However, this isn’t the only way to learn database management. Below are some other steps you can follow outside of the traditional higher education path. 

1. Attend a Data Science Bootcamp

The role of a database manager is to make sure data is safe, organized, and easily accessible. Therefore, you’ll need to understand the fundamental principles of data science before you can get started. 

Signing up for a bootcamp will help you develop statistical and technical skills, giving you the necessary time and space to learn Python and the data-specific language SQL. Taking just one data science or data analytics bootcamp can give you a great foundation that you can build the rest of your career on.

 

2. Develop Your Technical Skills

As a database administrator, you will likely work with programming languages like Python, R, and SQL. These are essential for performing statistical tasks and filtering information.

If you’d like to learn about database management, you’ll also need to develop more advanced technical skills. For example, you should learn to use database management systems like NoSQL, PostgreSQL, and MySQL.

3. Learn About Data Security

This step is indispensable. As a database administrator, you must oversee a dataset to make sure none of the data entered is malicious. You must also give others permission to use the system. 

Although you don’t have to become a cybersecurity engineer to succeed in database security, you will have to understand the basics of security servers.

4. Develop Mathematical Skills

Having mathematical skills is crucial to learning database management. In this case, the most important subject is statistics. You should have a working knowledge of at least the basics of distributions, forecasting, and running statistical tests. 

Some bootcamps like the data science course provided by Galvanize (see below) even require that you have mathematical skills before signing up. However, there are also some other beginner-friendly courses that do not require previous math knowledge.

5. Practice as Much as Possible

Don’t underestimate the value of practice. Even if you have zero experience with data science, data warehousing, or database design, you can still master these concepts if you stay focused. 

While taking a data science course, you will likely be given the opportunity to complete tasks that will help you develop your skills. If you continue to practice new database management strategies on your own, you’ll stand to go far in this career.

The Best Database Management Courses

While on your path to learning database administration, you’ll be learning many skills that are essential to success in the field. Although there are a limited number of courses specific to database management out there, you can still build your career by attending tech bootcamps. 

Below, we’ve compiled some of the most relevant courses for learning about database management. 

Data Science Immersive Bootcamp

• Provider: Galvanize
• Cost: $17,980
• Prerequisites: N/A
• Time: 13 weeks
  
  

This immersive bootcamp by Galvanize will give you the fundamental knowledge you need to learn about database management. In it, you’ll study data scraping, data analysis, statistics, predictions, and other basics. Although the course costs a lot of money, you can apply for an income share agreement and pay the provider back once you’ve found a full-time position.

Introduction to Python

• Provider: Coding Dojo
• Cost: $7,995
• Prerequisites: N/A
• Time: 16 weeks
  
  

Coding Dojo’s Python bootcamp is focused on encouraging students to practice. In it, you’ll learn all the essential elements of the coding language, and will then be provided with practice assignments so you can master Python. This course has several financing options, including income share agreements and student loans. 

SQL Immersive Course

• Provider: General Assembly
• Cost: N/A
• Prerequisites: Strong internet connection, high-quality computer
• Time: N/A
  
  

General Assembly’s SQL bootcamp will help you understand how the language works and how it can be used for data management. You’ll learn how to use important data search functions, and how to find matching patterns and items in a dataset. 

Introduction to R

• Provider: DataCamp
• Cost: Free
• Prerequisites: N/A
• Time: 4 hours
  
  

With DataCamp’s introduction to R, you’ll learn how to manipulate data structures inside a database, including vectors, data frames, and matrices. This is a great class to take if you’re just starting to learn about R, since it’s free and brief. If you want a more in-depth look at this coding language, you should consider taking a bootcamp in R. 

Data Security

• Provider: Udemy
• Cost: $9.95
• Prerequisites: None
• Time: 3.3 hours
  
  

It is very important that you study data security if you want to work as a database administrator. This bootcamp will teach you how to protect data from corruption and malicious activities. You’ll also learn how to maintain a database and control its accessibility. This course will show you how to keep both software and hardware safe from cybercrime. 

Microsoft SQL Database Bootcamp

• Provider: Udemy
• Cost: $9.95
• Prerequisites: Microsoft SQL Server 2008
• Time: 7 hours
  
  

This bootcamp is a good starting point for learning about SQL. It covers relational database concepts, security, database backups, and database restoration. The course uses Microsoft SQL Server 2008, so you should download this software before beginning the course.

Data Manipulation with R

• Provider: DataCamp
• Cost: Free
• Prerequisites: N/A
• Time: 20 hours
  
  

With this course, you’ll learn how to clean, filter, and organize raw data using packages like data.table. This bootcamp is centered around hands-on experience. The main data manipulation project involves using election data from the United Nations. Data manipulation is extremely important in database management, so don’t miss out on this course.

Statistics Fundamentals with R

• Provider: DataCamp
• Cost: Free
• Prerequisites: N/A
• Time: 20 hours
  
  

Statistics skills can come in handy in many careers. It’s a problem-solving skill that helps you accurately analyze important data. You can even predict situations according to patterns and trends in the information you’re reviewing. This course will show you the basics of statistics and how it applies to R. 

Why Learn Database Management?

Database management is a crucial element of business analytics and business intelligence. By correctly managing databases, companies are better able to track their finances, employee data, and customer information. And this is just one of the many reasons to learn database management. 

At a time when companies have so much access to valuable information and data, the skill has become particularly coveted. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the demand for database administrators is expected to grow 10 percent by 2029. Now is the perfect time to start building your data management skill set.