Database administration refers to the function of managing and maintaining database(s) for any organization. Database administration involves ensuring that a database works as expected. Some organizations use commercials database products such as Oracle DB (database) and Microsoft SQL (structured query language) Server. In these cases, database administration focuses on their specific database products. These organizations may require product-specific certification for people that work on the database administration team. The tasks and roles associated with database administration may include database security, reporting, monitoring and troubleshooting, and database backup and recovery.

As a database administrator, you'll make sure that all of the information stored on an organization's database is secure and readily accessible for authorized users. This means that you will work to ensure that the data captured by the company is reliable, free of errors, and readily available to the people who need to access it. Therefore, your work will focus on managing and maintaining software databases. Tasks and responsibilities for a database administrator include monitoring databases to ensure that they function consistently at a high level of system performance, managing backup solutions to prevent data loss in the event of system failure, database development, testing, and writing software scripts.

Careers in database administration include different types of database administrators as well as other database administration jobs. Two different types of database administrators include system database administrators and application database administrators. System database administrators focus on any physical and technical aspects of database management, while application database administrators have specialized skills for a particular database application (e.g., Oracle or Windows) or set of applications. Other database administration jobs include computer and information systems manager, information security analyst, software developer, database developer, computer system analyst, web developer, data scientist, IT consultant, IT project manager, application consultant, and network administrator.