What does an MySQL Developer do?

Every software application should have a strong backend. Databases are places where all the data is collected, organised and stored. When a person visits a website and searches for something, or makes an online transaction, the action is noted and recorded with the help of these databases. This is done in a structured and organised manner to make the data access simple and reliable.

Every organisation wishes to have strong databases because the amount of data traffic is monstrous. And then there is this threat of hacking. The databases must be strong enough to filter unwanted access and make the data and private information safe. All these aspects make database administration a very serious and challenging job indeed. Every organisation strives to have skilled database administrators, and the demand for databases that can store quantitative and qualitative data is very high and competitive. 

Almost every application out there requires a Database Management System or DBMS to manage all the database files. This provides an accurate and systematic approach for collecting and storing data in a secure manner. There are so many kinds of DBMS, but MySQL is the most popular one of all. Let’s examine MySQL further, and how a MySQL developer can ease things up for you. 

What is MySQL?

Developed by a Swedish company in the mid 1990, MySQL AB as it was then known is a Relational Database Management System (RDBMS). MySQL AB was made open source in 2000. Sun Microsystems, later purchased in 2010. How MySQL got its name is interesting. – ‘My’ is the name of the co-founder Monty Widenius’s daughter and SQL comes from the acronym for Structured Query Language. MySQL is the second most popular RDBMS and is used in a wide range of applications and websites. 

Importance and benefits of MySQL

MySQL is in huge demand because it is one of the most popular open source databases in the world. It is capable of providing comprehensive support for every kind of application development. 

1. Quick and reliable

Hiring an MySQL developer means you can develop a quick application, because MySQL was intended for speed, sometimes, this comes at the cost of some features. But the good news is that it is easy to learn and use. It is not at all hard to find experienced MySQL developers because the platform has been around for more than 3 decades, and you will definitely find that specially talented developer for your team. 

2. Its Open Source and compatible 

Since MySQL is open source, any developer can download the basic software, and work on it by modifying the source code to suit their requirement. That’s not all, there are advanced versions with tiered pricing plans, offering additional capacity, tools and services. MySQL offers a simple and data modelling system that makes it a practical option for many companies, and they don’t have to worry about being locked in, because of its capabilities for data modelling and database design. 

3. Uninterrupted uptime

Most businesses need to be available online 24/7, especially if it is an e-commerce store or an educational website. The high availability and uninterrupted uptime is a core feature of MySQL. Also, there are different kinds of disaster recovery strategies that the developer can put to use in the event of an unintentional delete or system crash. The platform has a range of cluster servers to ensure it remains uninterrupted. 

4. Security

MySQL comes with encryption through its SSL protocol, authentication plugins and similar security layers to protect data integrity. Additionally, MySQL Enterprise package offers firewall protection to check cyberattack occurrences. 

5. Scalability

As the business grows, the data volume and user load also increases, so it is important to scale up the database store on a timely basis. MySQL can be scaled as per demand, and in multiple ways, mostly through replication, sharing or clustering. MySQL can handle large databases and never compromise on speed. 

Daily activities of MySQL developer

The tasks and responsibilities of the database administrator would definitely vary from company to company, but there definitely are some routine tasks. Most administrators start off by reading the reports specifying data growth, data trends, rates, housekeeping of database logs, summary of errors that happened in the past day, backup, restore testing, etc.

Then the administrator goes through a variety of activities and resolves the issues that happened over the night, responding to performance issues, identifying and fixing issues that show up in the reports. The tasks also include Troubleshooting and upstaging as per requirements. The developer has to perform capacity planning for database growth, train and monitor new application developers and juniors on the best practices in the field. 

The developer has to develop diagrams for data structure entity relationships.

The developer also has to maintain excellent relationships with other database developers and collaborate with them to assess system performance, and make changes as and when required. 

Above all, the developer has to provide support, ensure QA, and look for continuous opportunities for the betterment of SQL operations and implementations. 

As observed above, the duties and responsibilities are plenty.  

The biggest fear of the database administrator and often, MySQL developers too

Data loss. The biggest fear and nightmare of every database administrator is losing data and not recovering it back. Hacked systems, software bugs, hardware malfunctioning – all these can happen at any time. 

Another fear of the database administrator is the realisation that the DD/DML that they were testing was actually not the one that was to be tested. The one they were testing was something that was running in production. This happens when the administrator doesn’t pay attention to the system or database they were supposed to run. 

The database administrator almost loses his mind when the long running process that they just terminated was consuming the system’s resources and churning out tons of archive logs, making it harder than ever. 

The skills required for the developer

While hiring the MySQL developer, here are some must-have skills:

  • Knowledge and proficiency in Java
  • Possess strong documentation and technical writing skills
  • Can feel their way around source control like SVN (centralized version control system) and GIT (distributed version control system)
  • Proficient in integrated development environments like IntelliJ or Eclipse
  • Experience in Agile methodology and comfortable with small teams
  • Pay close attention to detail and quality
  • Good at multitasking and change priorities as the situation demands
  • Exceptional at analytical thinking, critical thinking, strategic planning etc.
  • Fast-paced thinking, and the ability to switch from one critical project to another and be good at time management
  • The developer should be knowledgeable in Percona toolkit (a collection of advanced command-line tools to automate and assist DBA)
  • Experience in Extract, Transform and Load phases (ETL) of data intake process, a data integral process is definitely an advantage 

Interesting Links:

More information about MySQL

Want to become a MySQL developer?

Pictures: Canva


The author: Sascha Thattil works at Software-Developer-India.com which is a part of the YUHIRO Group. YUHIRO is a German-Indian enterprise which provides programmers to IT companies, agencies and IT departments.

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