BI Developer vs Database Administrator

Measured from each occupation's own live postings: related jobs with a real gap between them. Posted pay favors the database administrator by about $14k at the midpoint. Everything on this page is read from the two occupations’ own live postings and refreshed every night.

The short answer

$60k–$107kBI Developer
+$14kDatabase Administrator, at the midpoint
$72k–$122kDatabase Administrator

On pay, database administrators come out ahead by about $14k a year at the midpoint of posted bands: $72k–$122k against $60k–$107k for bi developers. These are advertised figures from postings that state a salary, not estimates.

On skills, they are related jobs with a real gap between them. There is a shared core, and then each side asks for things the other rarely does. The readiness numbers further down say how far a typical profile on each side already reaches into the other, and which direction is the easier move.

BI Developer

Posted pay, middle half$60k–$107k
FieldTechnology
Postings read921
Open right now89 (24 remote)
DemandHigh

Database Administrator

Posted pay, middle half$72k–$122k
FieldTechnology
Postings read925
Open right now65 (37 remote)
DemandHigh

The overlap, measured

Skills that appear in both occupations’ posting demand. This is the shared core; everything else on each side is the difference. Each linked skill has its own page with the roles it unlocks.

Switching, both directions

The direction matters: bi developerdatabase administrator reads 47% ready, the reverse only 22%. Skill overlap is not symmetric.

BI DeveloperDatabase Administrator

47% skill readiness

Transition estimate: 12–24 mo.

What database administrator postings ask for that bi developer profiles usually lack: AWS, NoSQL, Linux, Terraform.

The full route: bi developer to database administrator

Database AdministratorBI Developer

22% skill readiness

Transition estimate: 12–24 mo.

What bi developer postings ask for that database administrator profiles usually lack: Power BI, Data Visualization, Tableau, Spark.

Run this direction on the instrument

Open bi developer roles right now

The freshest bi developer openings on the board, from company career pages and remote boards. Apply at the source.

See all 89 bi developer jobs

Open database administrator roles right now

The freshest database administrator openings on the board. Same rules: live, tagged to the occupation, linking to the original posting.

See all 65 database administrator jobs

See the whole board for both

154 live roles across the two, freshest first, with posted pay and remote flags where the posting states them.

Related comparisons

Which one do your skills favor?

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Quick answers

Which pays more, bi developer or database administrator?

On pay, database administrators come out ahead by about $14k a year at the midpoint of posted bands: $72k–$122k against $60k–$107k for bi developers. These are advertised figures from postings that state a salary, not estimates. By seniority and country: bi developer salary and database administrator salary.

Are bi developer and database administrator the same job?

On skills, they are related jobs with a real gap between them. There is a shared core, and then each side asks for things the other rarely does. The skills both sets of postings want most are SQL, Azure, ETL, Data Modeling, Data Analysis.

Can a bi developer become a database administrator?

Yes, and the numbers say how far along you already are: a typical bi developer profile covers 47% of what database administrator postings ask for. Our estimate for the move is 12–24 mo. The route page lists the exact skills that make up the rest.

Can a database administrator become a bi developer?

Going the other way, a typical database administrator profile covers 22% of what bi developer postings ask for. Our estimate for the move is 12–24 mo. The two directions are not symmetric: bi developer to database administrator is the easier move, 47% against 22%.

How many bi developer and database administrator jobs are open right now?

Right now our board has 89 bi developer openings and 65 database administrator openings, each linking to the original posting. The board refreshes every night, so the counts move with the market. Hiring the most bi developers at the moment: Agoda (5), Neo Consulting (3), Hellofresh (3). For database administrators: Coopers Group AG (3), Hays (Schweiz) AG (2), Peraton (2).

Method: each occupation’s salary band is the posted 25th to 75th percentile from its own corpus, counting only postings that state pay; readiness is coverage of the destination’s posting-skill weight; shared skills are read from the overlap waterfall. Pairs sharing too few skills are not scored in that direction. Job lists and counts are the live board. Refreshed with the nightly scrape.

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