Microsoft Sql Server DBA Salary - Full time vs Contract

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Microsoft Sql Server DBA Salary - Full time vs Contract

noob2023

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Points: 113
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February 21, 2023 at 8:25 pm

#4152472

I have 10 years of experience as regular full time employee as MSSQL DBA - unfortunately, with a small company with some 20+ on premise servers running about 100+ databases with no HA or clustering experience. The earlier roles before the DBA role, I was in tech support and web development.
Comparing my salary to salary.com, it looks like I'm on DBA II (2 - 4 years experience) Median to 75% range or DBA III (4 -6 years experience) 10% - 25% range and no where / on < 10% of the DBA IV (7+ years experience)
As I'm approaching mid 40s, I'm wondering what salary should I be targeting / looking for, both as full time employee or as contractor. I'm in Dallas, TX.
Thank you

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Jeff Moden SSC Guru Points: 1003863 More actions · Answer 1

If this isn't a prelude to spam (like I think it may be), then don't target salary... target what you like to do because you're going to have to do it every day.

If this is a prelude to spam, then don't target salary... instead, target celery to go with the spam. 😀

--Jeff Moden

RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for Row-By-Agonizing-Row.
First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
________Stop thinking about what you want to do to a ROW... think, instead, of what you want to do to a COLUMN.

Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.

Helpful Links:
How to post code problems
How to Post Performance Problems
Create a Tally Function (fnTally)

Ant-Green SSC Guru Points: 113445 More actions · Answer 2

https://www.brentozar.com/archive/2023/01/announcing-the-2023-data-professional-salary-survey-results/

Grant Fritchey SSC Guru Points: 398690 More actions · Answer 3

Also, salaries are very regional. A DBA in Tulsa probably isn't paid what a DBA in NYC is paid (honestly, they should be, but they aren't). This isn't specific to DBAs either. It's a general thing. Funny enough, demand plays a factor. My son, an engineer, not a DBA, went from Massachusetts, where there is still manufacturing, but not that much, to Oklahoma, where there is a ton of manufacturing, and his base salary went up, substantially, for the same job. Same with IT jobs. Regionality will make a difference.

"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
- Theodore Roosevelt

Author of:
SQL Server Execution Plans
SQL Server Query Performance Tuning

noob2023 SSC Enthusiast Points: 113 More actions · Answer 4

@JeffModen: I wasn't trying to spam - I just search for salary comparison and that site came up showing me the levels. That's why I referenced it.

@Ant-Green: Thank you. I will check it out. Looks helpful.

@Grant Fritchey: I understand the difference in base salary may be attributed to different factors - demand / supply, cost of living, etc.

Thank you all for responding.

Jeff Moden SSC Guru Points: 1003863 More actions · Answer 5

noob2023 wrote:

@JeffModen: I wasn't trying to spam - I just search for salary comparison and that site came up showing me the levels. That's why I referenced it.

Thanks for the feedback and totally understood.

That being said, my advice stands... make sure that you're going to like the job. Between that and the Brent Ozar link that Ant-Green provided, you should do just fine.

The other thing to remember in your search is that many DBA related job descriptions are a huge, "kitchen sink" wishlist. Just because you don't meet all of the requirements, doesn't mean that you shouldn't apply. You also might want to find a couple of GOOD recruiters in the area that you'd like to live. They have "inside" info on a lot of jobs that aren't on the internet and the really good ones are as interested you and the company being a good match instead of just another body they can throw out there.

--Jeff Moden

RBAR is pronounced "ree-bar" and is a "Modenism" for Row-By-Agonizing-Row.
First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
________Stop thinking about what you want to do to a ROW... think, instead, of what you want to do to a COLUMN.

Change is inevitable... Change for the better is not.

Helpful Links:
How to post code problems
How to Post Performance Problems
Create a Tally Function (fnTally)