Data Managers help in performing a wide range of functions starting from accumulation of statistical data by maintaining proper integrity of records. They are responsible in meeting the data needs of a research team or an organization. Data managers can successfully be placed in sectors like finance, education as well as medical. To meet the business demands, data administrators or managers may have to work for more than 40 hours a week.
Now, let us discuss about the career requirements for becoming a data manager:
Educational Qualification: The minimum qualification required is to obtain a successful Bachelor’s degree. You may take your specialization in Computer Science or Information Technology or in some related fields. Certification is not mandatory, but some employers may seek certification in particular software programs which are used in their organization. You may also consider carrying out a Master of Administration degree as many employers may look out for individuals with a post graduate degree in IT or Computer Science.
Key Skills: Individuals should have excellent logical, analytical, and problem solving skills. Data managers may require operating mainframe computers and therefore individuals should be familiar with their functions. You should have a proper knowledge of operating system, data management and metadata management software programs if you want to become a data manager.
Average Salary: Average annual salary of a data administrator or data manager can be around $80,000.
Now, let us go through the steps by which you can become a data manager successfully:
Step 1: Obtain Bachelor’s Degree: You should successfully graduate from a Certified Bachelor’s degree program. You can take up degrees like Bachelor of Science in Information Systems with a focus on database management. The 4-year graduate programs may include subjects like, data mining, database design, data structure, security applications, applied systems analysis, distributed architecture, etc. Some of the programs are also available online, if you consider taking a part time program through online courses.
If your program does not allow you to concentrate on database management, you may consider completing a minor in database analysis. You can also consider taking a certification program as many employers seek for certifications in fields like database administration and development.
Step 2: Start Your Work as Database Developer or Data Analyst: Relevant work experiences are required for becoming a successful data manager. So you can start your work as an analyst or a developer in the database management field. Data analysts can accumulate huge data by maintaining databases and building data structures. Database developers may require designing the databases by various database operations.
Step 3: Work as Data Manager: After gaining experience as an analyst or developer, you can start working as a data manager in a large organization. Sometimes known as database administrator, data managers are purely responsible in meeting the database needs of the organization in the correct manner.
Step 4: Earn a Post Graduate Degree: As some employers prefer individuals with an MBA degree, you should consider taking up that degree. Some programs may be directly related to Information Systems or Information Technology but some of them may relate to database systems, business modeling and statistical quality control. This advanced degree will definitely help you in staying at an edge in this huge competition within the database industry.
As more and more data requires to be managed in large organization, database management is gradually gaining its popularity. If you are really interested in data management industry, you can easily follow the above-mentioned steps to become a successful data manager. You should do a good research before taking up your graduate and post graduate programs on database management and ensure they are all certified courses.