How to become a database designer or administrator

Official title: Database designers and administrators

Also called: Data administrator, Database administrator, Database analyst, Database architect

Database designers and administrators design, develop, control, maintain and support the optimal performance and security of databases.

Main tasks

• Designing and developing database architecture, data structures, tables, dictionaries and naming conventions for information systems projects
• Designing, constructing, modifying, integrating, implementing and testing database management systems
• Conducting research and providing advice on the selection, application and implementation of database management tools
• Developing and implementing data administration policy, documentation, standards and models
• Developing policies and procedures for database access and usage and for the backup and recovery of data
• Performing the operational establishment and preventive maintenance of backups, recovery procedures, and enforcing security and integrity controls

Ways in

• University: Computing & IT degrees, Offered by 24 universities in Hong Kong
• Qualifications Framework: Vocational Qualifications Pathway: Information & Communications Technology. The Qualifications Framework publishes a Vocational Qualifications Pathway for the Information & Communications Technology industry (資訊及通訊科技業), showing QF-recognised qualifications by level: https://www.hkqf.gov.hk/ict/en/vqp. Link between the industry and this job by Peernovo.

Pay · Outlook · AI and this job

• Median pay: HK$48,000 a month
• About 1,542,900 people in 2025, and about 1,639,100 projected by 2028. (+6.2%)
• Generative AI could change many tasks in this job, which usually reshapes the work more than it replaces it, by the ILO's global estimate.

Related jobs

• Systems administrators
• Computer network professionals
• Database and network professionals not elsewhere classified

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Questions people ask

How do I become a database designer or administrator?

Ways in include: Computing & IT degrees; Vocational Qualifications Pathway: Information & Communications Technology.

Do you need a degree to become a database designer or administrator?

Usually. 91% of people in this job hold a bachelor's degree or higher.

Will AI change the work of a database designer or administrator?

Generative AI could change many tasks in this job, which usually reshapes the work more than it replaces it, by the ILO's global estimate.

Sources

• Census and Statistics Department (2021 Population Census): 2021 Population Census, Interactive Data Dissemination Service: working population by occupation (38 groups) and sex, age, education, income; median income and field of education (9 groups) (2021 Population Census), retrieved 4 October 2026
• Census and Statistics Department (General Household Survey): Median monthly employment earnings by occupation (9 groups), excluding foreign domestic helpers (Table 210-06317A); employed persons by occupation, age and sex (210-06307A) and by industry (210-06308A) (2025 annual (series to 2026-07)), retrieved 4 October 2026
• Labour and Welfare Bureau; tables published by C&SD: Mid-term Update of Manpower Projection to 2028: supplementary statistical tables (5 occupation groups, 17 selected industries) (2025 to 2028 (published 2026-09)), retrieved 4 October 2026
• International Labour Organization, Generative AI and Jobs: A Refined Global Index of Occupational Exposure (ILO Working Paper 140, Gmyrek et al.) (ILO Working Paper 140, May 2025, Annex Table A1), CC BY 4.0, retrieved 4 October 2026

Updated 4 October 2026