Database Administrator

☐ SQL Mastery · Required · 12 hrs

DDL/DML/DCL, complex JOINs, window functions, CTEs, stored procedures, triggers, views. Deep SQL is the core DBA skill.

• Your First Query — SELECT & FROM (SQL): https://chaduvuko.com/learn/sql/select-from
• Introduction to Joins (SQL): https://chaduvuko.com/learn/sql/joins-intro
• Grouping Data — GROUP BY (SQL): https://chaduvuko.com/learn/sql/group-by
• Subqueries — Queries Inside Queries (SQL): https://chaduvuko.com/learn/sql/subqueries

☐ Linux Administration · Required · 6 hrs

File system, permissions, processes, systemd, cron, disk management. All databases run on Linux in production.

• Linux and Shell Scripting for Data Engineers (Data Engineering): https://chaduvuko.com/learn/data-engineering/linux-shell

☐ Scripting (Python / Bash) · Required · 4 hrs

Automate backups, health checks, and maintenance tasks. Manual DBAs don't scale.

• Linux and Shell Scripting for Data Engineers (Data Engineering): https://chaduvuko.com/learn/data-engineering/linux-shell
• Building a CLI Tool (Python): https://chaduvuko.com/learn/python/building-a-cli-tool

☐ DB Internals · Required · 8 hrs

Buffer pool, WAL/redo logs, MVCC, storage engine internals, B-tree vs hash indexes, page layouts. Understanding internals makes you a better tuner.

• Databases — What They Are and How They Work Internally (Data Engineering): https://chaduvuko.com/learn/data-engineering/databases-internals
• Storage & File Organization (DBMS): https://chaduvuko.com/learn/dbms/storage-file-organization
• Hashing & B+ Trees (DBMS): https://chaduvuko.com/learn/dbms/hashing-btrees

☐ Indexing & Query Optimisation · Required · 8 hrs

EXPLAIN/EXPLAIN ANALYZE, execution plans, index types (B-tree, GIN, GiST, BRIN), partial indexes, covering indexes. The highest-impact DBA skill.

• Indexes — Making Queries Fast (SQL): https://chaduvuko.com/learn/sql/indexes
• Index Strategies (SQL): https://chaduvuko.com/learn/sql/index-strategies
• Indexes (DBMS): https://chaduvuko.com/learn/dbms/indexes
• Query Processing & Optimization (DBMS): https://chaduvuko.com/learn/dbms/query-processing

☐ Backup & Recovery · Required · 6 hrs

pg_dump, pg_basebackup, WAL archiving, PITR, RTO/RPO planning, recovery testing. Backups you never test are just hopes.

• Crash Recovery (DBMS): https://chaduvuko.com/learn/dbms/crash-recovery

☐ Replication · Required · 7 hrs

Streaming replication, logical replication, synchronous vs asynchronous, lag monitoring, failover. Replication is how databases survive hardware failure.

• Distributed Databases & CAP Theorem (DBMS): https://chaduvuko.com/learn/dbms/distributed-databases

☐ High Availability · Required · 7 hrs

Patroni, PgBouncer connection pooling, read replicas, automatic failover, health checks. HA prevents 3am calls about downtime.

• Disaster Recovery and Multi-Region Kafka (Apache Kafka): https://chaduvuko.com/learn/apache-kafka/disaster-recovery-multi-region
• Crash Recovery (DBMS): https://chaduvuko.com/learn/dbms/crash-recovery

☐ Performance Tuning · Required · 8 hrs

postgresql.conf/my.cnf tuning, memory configuration, vacuum/autovacuum, bloat management, slow query log analysis. The art that separates a DBA from a developer.

• EXPLAIN & EXPLAIN ANALYZE (SQL): https://chaduvuko.com/learn/sql/explain-analyze
• Query Best Practices (SQL): https://chaduvuko.com/learn/sql/query-best-practices
• Query Processing & Optimization (DBMS): https://chaduvuko.com/learn/dbms/query-processing

☐ NoSQL (MongoDB / Redis) · Recommended · 6 hrs

Document model, key-value, when to use NoSQL, consistency models. Modern stacks are polyglot — DBAs manage multiple database types.

• SQL vs NoSQL — The Real Difference (Data Engineering): https://chaduvuko.com/learn/data-engineering/sql-vs-nosql
• NoSQL Databases (DBMS): https://chaduvuko.com/learn/dbms/nosql-databases

☐ Cloud Databases (RDS / Cloud SQL) · Required · 6 hrs

AWS RDS, Azure Database for PostgreSQL, managed failover, parameter groups, cloud-specific backup/monitoring. The industry is moving to cloud databases fast.

☐ DB Security · Required · 4 hrs

Authentication, authorization, row-level security, auditing, encryption at rest/transit, PII masking. Databases hold the most sensitive data.

• Database Security (DBMS): https://chaduvuko.com/learn/dbms/database-security

☐ Automation & IaC · Recommended · 5 hrs

Terraform for database provisioning, Ansible for configuration, automated schema migrations (Flyway/Liquibase). Modern DBAs automate everything.

• Infrastructure as Code for Data Engineers (Data Engineering): https://chaduvuko.com/learn/data-engineering/infrastructure-as-code