Hire MySQL developers remotely from our vetted global talent

If you work with databases, MySQL is a name you will almost certainly be familiar with. It’s one of the world’s most popular database systems as of 2023, second only to Oracle. Interestingly, the Oracle Corporation also owns MySQL, so one could say the top two spots are within the family. With over 176,0000 users and developers worldwide, MySQL takes up 45% of the global database market. But its popularity aside, what exactly is this technology, and what does it do?

MySQL is a specific type of database system called a relational database; that means it has a structure designed to recognize relationships between stored bits of data or information. The SQL in the name means “structured query language” — essentially a script suited for developing relational databases. MySQL has tables composed of rows and columns and organizes, manages, and queries data elements according to a strict logical structure.

The technology comes from way back in 1995 and became Oracle Corporation property in 2010. Oracle ownership notwithstanding, however, MySQL remains open-source. Any businesses that hire MySQL developers can freely use and modify the source code as needed to suit their needs. That’s why the software has become so widely used. It’s now a significant part of the machine for many of the most popular software stacks you can use to build things like data-driven B2B services and even customer-facing web apps.

MySQL topped the 2020 and 2021 rankings for the most popular relational databases, only giving way to Oracle's native database in 2022. Still, its popularity and usefulness remain mostly the same across all sectors, from pharma, tech, and media to telecom, finance, and education. The veritable list of corporations that hire MySQL developers to build and manage their databases includes social media companies like Meta, manufacturing companies like Caterpillar, and even Aerospace and Defense giants like Boeing and Northrop Grumman.

If these globally relevant Fortune 500 companies opt for this relational database system, especially given their high-level data management needs, it must offer quite a lot. So, what does MySQL have to offer Meta, Northrop, and your startup?

• Open-Source: The open-source nature of MySQL is perhaps one of its biggest attractions for startups. Essentially, anyone can download the MySQL software online for free and use it. If need be, they can also alter its source code to suit their specific business needs. However, the GNU General Public License’s “copyleft” specifications define the limitations of using MySQL under any conditions, so there are still a few conditions attached.
• Ease of Use: Another selling point of MySQL is how easy it is to use, especially given the size of databases it can handle. You can easily download and install the software from sources like the Bazaar repository, branches of which contain the entire software history. In less than an hour after, you can start to make whatever modifications you need. When a new version of the software hits the internet, you can also upgrade your version easily, and all of these you can do for free.
• High Performance: From the size of the companies that rely on MySQL database systems, you can tell that the technology is built to handle massive amounts of information. It is not uncommon for some database systems to experience performance issues as the information they must handle size increases. However, ask any companies that hire MySQL engineers — or ask the engineers themselves — and you will find that performance is not an issue here. This database technology enjoys the backing of an entire cluster of servers, affording you glitchless assistance and great speed. That makes it the best solution for intensive business intelligence and big data operations.
• Highly Secure: Speaking of business intelligence and big data operations, when running one of those, security is of the essence. You don’t want your mountains of valuable and potentially sensitive data to be easy pickings for competitors or random hackers, after all. That’s another area where MySQL offers a solid recourse. The data storage system and integrated structure of SQL database technologies already mean they don’t require much engineering to secure. Adding to these already-existing security benefits, MySQL offers access privilege systems, password encryption, host-based verification, and user account management systems.
  
  MySQL is also ACID-compliant, offering atomicity, consistency, isolation, and durability. Atomicity means MySQL reflects changes from a transaction only after completion; consistency means it logs all database changes and enables system recovery to a previous state; isolation means the system can handle multiprocessing without conflict; and durability simply means the system reliably saves your data. These attributes are a major reason to hire a dedicated MySQL developer if you operate a business that requires data integrity.
• Broad Compatibility: MySQL is written in C and C++, relying on a native lexical analyzer and an SQL parser written in Yacc. Basically, MySQL is based on a few different programming technologies. In the spirit of broad-range technology, it is very compatible with various database models, programming languages, and systems. To get a feel for how widely compatible it is, consider that it works well with the most popular system platforms, like Linux, MacOS, and Microsoft Windows, as well as less popular ones like ArcaOS, BSDi, IBM i, IRIX, Oracle Solaris, SCO UnixWare, Symbian, SunOS, NetWare, OpenBSD, and HP-UX. Where data modeling is concerned, it can support both logical and conceptual models due to its extensive data design and modeling capacities. You can also use it for SQL and NoSQL, as well as cloud databases.
  
  To leverage MySQL is to afford yourself and your company a staggering degree of versatility with systems and database models.
• Round-the-clock Availability: It’s an excellent availability boost to hire MySQL developers and leverage this database technology. As an online business or operator of a web platform, 24/7 availability is critical to aim for, and MySQL’s server cluster and data replication configurations make it very achievable. With this technology, you enjoy uninterrupted uptime, and should there be a failure, it will be MySQL’s ACID compliance to the rescue. As required by the durability provision, the technology uses a range of backup and recovery mechanisms to prevent data loss.
• Cost and Time Efficiency: If you want to avoid bleeding money in database management and ownership costs, it makes sense to migrate and hire a MySQL developer. Doing so will ultimately save you funds (and time) you might have otherwise spent on troubleshooting and downtime or performance issue fixing. Moreover, a database system like MySQL makes database management and use relatively fast. The reasons for this are its high-speed transactional system and the built-in memory cache. Due to the latter, subsequent attempts to read the same data will not require you to wait for a slow-loading CPU.
• Highly Scalable: The size of a database must grow with the business, which is why it’s crucial to use a database management system that is highly scalable. MySQL easily offers such scalability, enabling your business to adapt effectively as data volumes and user load increase — and without too significant a drop in performance, too. There are many different methods of scaling a MySQL database, the typical ones being sharding, replication, clustering, or any combination of the three. So, if you hire a dedicated MySQL developer, you don’t have to worry about migrating to a different database if your small startup eventually becomes as big as Meta.
• Great Community Support: MySQL AB is the software company that created MySQL, and though it ultimately ended up under the Oracle Corporation, it still operates globally, ready to offer support to users. The organization is highly flexible, progressive, and attentive to the needs of its users. Additionally, there is a sizable global community, with local MySQL user groups in almost every major city worldwide. Given the free and open-source nature of the database management system, it’s not hard to find a skilled MySQL developer who can help with any issue.

MySQL developers for hire are in very high demand in many industries, as the technology’s many advantages and widespread use should already indicate. So, if you’re going to hire a MySQL developer to efficiently and effectively leverage the tool, you need to know precisely how. After all, salaries for these professionals in 2023 are anywhere from $107,000 to $137,500, depending on your region and the level of skill the developer brings to bear. With all that budgetary weight to carry, you at least need to know what jobs you need a MySQL developer for.

• MySQL Databases Development: A MySQL developer’s primary business in a company is to build and maintain databases with the technology. This job also covers other aspects of the development, such as writing SQL queries and optimizing data performance. To do these, they must leverage some of the sub-technologies we discussed, including the data storage systems and server clusters. Additionally, they will be in charge of tasks like troubleshooting, security measure implementation, and database schema design.
• Data Analysis: MySQL’s database management system lends itself quite easily to data analysis operations, so that’s one more job some companies hire MySQL developers for. The MySQL programmer can take part in or personally handle the analysis of sizable datasets in the database in order to obtain meaningful and valuable insights. It’s also their job to compile these findings into comprehensive presentations and deliver them to relevant company executives and stakeholders.
• Data Engineering: Companies also hire MySQL developers to develop and maintain data pipelines for extracting insights from various sources. They must also engineer the data, transforming and loading it into the MySQL database system. Additionally, in data engineering capacity, MySQL developers must design the data models, implement quality checks on them, and optimize query performance.
• Database Administrator: The job of database admin also falls to MySQL developers. In this capacity, they handle the business of managing and maintaining company databases. This involves performance monitoring, backup management, and data security implementation. Moreover, they also structure and sort the data in the database, implementing solutions to ensure that the end users receive the data they need quickly, accurately, and reliably. They also have the responsibility of troubleshooting and handling data recovery after crashes or any other accidents that threaten the database.
• Business Intelligence Development: As we have discussed previously, the high-performance capacity of MySQL’s database management system makes it great for business intelligence uses. Thus, business intelligence development is another reason many companies hire dedicated MySQL developers. Using the database system, MySQL developers create business intelligence solutions, such as reports, dashboards, and data visualization tools. This also encompasses sourcing and integrating data from various channels and optimizing the query performance.

Knowing the roles of a MySQL developer, it is important also to know what skills to look for when looking for a developer to fill said roles. So, here are some of the hard and soft skills a potential MySQL developer for hire must be able to demonstrate.

• Proficiency with SQL: Structured query languages are required to interface with relational databases like MySQL. As such, the prime skill you must confirm before you hire a MySQL developer is proficiency with SQL.
• Knowledge of Database Management Systems: Your prospective hire must also show knowledge of and experience handling database management systems, as these constitute the core of their job. They must be familiar with not just MySQL’s database system but also others like Microsoft SQL Server and PostgreSQL.
• Skill with Database Design: A MySQL developer’s job sometimes involves designing database features. As such, they must be proficient in designing database systems and developing processes and programs to import, organize, manage, and analyze data.
• Experience with Business Intelligence Software Integrations: A skilled MySQL developer for hire has to demonstrate a significant level of experience in integrating databases with business intelligence software. It will often be their job to connect MySQL databases with business intelligence packages like Tableau and Power BI.
• Proficiency in Programming Languages: In addition to SQL, it is a massive advantage for your MySQL developer to have proficiency in at least a handful of programming languages. These should ideally include C and C++, the languages in which the database management system is written.
• Organization and Analysis Skills: A solid MySQL developer must have an orderly mind and the attendant capacity to organize and analyze data in detail. This is vital because, as we have seen, not only data organization but also analysis is part of their job.