subject: Data Architect Jobs - Career Explained [print this page] Data Architect Jobs - Career Explained Data Architect Jobs - Career Explained
Data architect jobs are some of the best career options these days for those who are technically inclined and dedicated to staying on top of the latest technologies. Basically, this career involves maintaining the data assets of a company or organization with a structured architecture designed for the needs of that organization. The means of acquiring data, the database and the integration of data are all handled by the database architect. Before getting into this career, it is a good idea to get a better understanding of the degrees needed as well as the salary, the job prospects and other career information.
A data architect is a person responsible for ensuring that the data assets of an organization are maintained by an architecture supporting the organization in achieving its strategic goals. The architecture should cover databases, data integration and the means to get to the data. Usually the data architect achieves his/her goals via setting enterprise data standards. A Data Architect is also referred to as a Data Modeler. This is in spite of the fact that the role involves much more than just creating data models.
Once you have become skilled as a data architect, you will have many career options to choose from all over the country and perhaps even all over the world. You will be responsible for developing and maintaining a formal description of the data and data structures including data definitions, flow diagrams and models for your employer. Your skills will include business semantics, capability and system selection, data modeling, data strategy development, logical data modeling, metadata management, metadata registry and metadata workflow management, physical data modeling and more.
The degrees needed for data architect jobs vary depending on your career goals and the amount of schooling you're willing to get. Before you receive your degree, you will need to have a solid understanding of data dictionaries, data retention, data warehousing, enterprise application integration, metadata registry, relational databases, semantics, structured query language, XML and other essential skills. The more education and experience you obtain, the higher salary you will earn and the more career opportunities you will have available. The median salary for level 1 database architect jobs is between $48,000 and $73,000, and there are plenty of opportunities for advancement with more training.
