Database Administrator → Network Engineer

Measured from 1,014 live database administrator postings and the destination’s own corpus. Corroborated by observed US worker transitions. Updated with the nightly scrape.

49%Skill readiness
$75k–$145kPosted salary band
262Live openings today

12–24 mo transition · High job demand · 5% fully remote · observed flow 51/100

Full network engineer pay data: median, seniority curve, by country and US state →
Career graph · Database AdministratorTop match 50%
Systems AdministratorNetwork EngineerData EngineerProduct AnalystBI DeveloperData AnalystDevOps EngineerQA Engineer

The judgment call

A database administrator reaches network engineer at 49 percent skill readiness, measured from 1,014 live database administrator postings against what network engineer postings ask for. At that number it is a real move with a real gap. Observed US worker transitions corroborate that people actually make it.

What carries over: Cybersecurity, Azure, Terraform, Python. The gap is the rest of the destination demand, chiefly Networking, Lean / Six Sigma, Project Management, Supply Chain, the skills a typical database administrator profile does not yet show.

Posted pay for network engineer runs $75k–$145k, demand is rated high, and the estimated time to close the gap is 12–24 mo. This read is drafted from the numbers; the graph above is the full skill map behind them.

Evidence checklist

What network engineer postings ask for, against what a typical database administrator already demonstrates. Drawn from the skill-overlap data, curated by hand.

You already have
  • ✓CybersecurityCoveredIn the typical database administrator profile
  • ✓AzureCoveredIn the typical database administrator profile
  • ✓TerraformCoveredIn the typical database administrator profile
  • ✓PythonCoveredIn the typical database administrator profile
The gap
  • ○NetworkingGapAsked for by network engineer postings, not yet shown
  • ○Lean / Six SigmaGapAsked for by network engineer postings, not yet shown
  • ○Project ManagementGapAsked for by network engineer postings, not yet shown

Open network engineer roles you could move into

Live openings, freshest first. Apply at the source.

See all 262 network engineer jobs →

Related routes

262 open network engineer roles on the board nowPay where it is posted. Your database administrator profile already covers 49% of what they ask.BrowseRun your own numbers on the instrumentEdit the skills, watch the map recompute, export the six-page report for this route. Free, no account.Open

Quick answers

Can a database administrator become a network engineer?

Posted-skill readiness is 49 percent in our corpus, and observed US transition data shows people making the move. The skills that carry are Cybersecurity, Azure, Terraform; the gap is Networking, Lean / Six Sigma, Project Management.

What skills does a database administrator need to become a network engineer?

The measured gap, read from live network engineer postings, is Networking, Lean / Six Sigma, Project Management, Supply Chain. Already covered by a typical database administrator profile: Cybersecurity, Azure, Terraform, Python. The graph on this page shows the full overlap, skill by skill.

How long does the database administrator to network engineer move take?

Our estimate from the skill gap is 12–24 mo, shorter for anyone who already holds part of the destination skill set.

What does a network engineer earn?

Posted pay is $75k–$145k, with demand rated high. The salary page for network engineer carries the full distribution.

Method: skill readiness is coverage of the destination’s posting-skill weight by a typical database administrator profile; salary bands are posted 25th–75th percentiles; observed flow is worker-transition data derived from the CPS (Current Population Survey; see the method section on the instrument). July 2026 corpus. In a typical year 2.8% of database administrator workers move to a different occupation (BLS Employment Projections, 2024–34).

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