People have different views on what life is all about. A colleague of mine, who happens to be a professor of economics, is fond of saying, "Everything in life is economics." Being an information technology professional, whenever he says this I usually respond, "No it isn't. Everything in life is a database."

A database simply is "a collection of information stored in an organized form."ⁱ You are exposed to databases everyday whether you realize it or not. Did you call telephone information today to look up a number? Did you take a bus or a train to work? Did you look up your friend's address in your address book to mail her a letter? Telephone directories, train and bus schedules and address books are all examples of databases.

However, there are two critical parts to the definition of a database. First, databases are collections of information, not discrete pieces. A single person's business card in your pocket is not a database. A stack of business cards may be a database. This is where the second part of the definition kicks in. The information must be in an "organized form." Therefore, sorting the business cards alphabetically by the individuals' last names would then make the stack a database because the information is now organized.

Are all databases organized the same way? Think about the above examples. Would you want the bus schedule sorted the same way as your address book (i.e., alphabetically)? Although it would be possible to organize a bus schedule by the last name of the bus driver, this would not be putting the information into its most useable form. Therefore, bus schedules are generally sorted by route number and the times when the buses will pass by a certain location, since this is the primary way most people would prefer to consult a bus schedule. But, for payroll purposes at the bus company, the payroll clerk might want the bus schedule sorted by driver. So databases need to be organized or indexed in different ways for different users.

The most common type of databases in use today is the relational database. In relational databases, data is organized into tables that are "related" or logically linked to each other in some way. The majority of modern relational databases use a standard language to manage the data. SQL (pronounced "sequel" or by spelling out the letters one by one – "S-Q-L") is short for structured query language. SQL is a comprehensive database language that contains statements for data definition, query, viewing and updates.ⁱⁱ Creating a standard language was important to the commercial success of database software. With a standard language, it becomes much easier to transfer data from one system to another if your current software no longer meets your needs.

Databases play a huge part in traditional brick and mortar businesses as well as the new digital economy. For instance, perhaps you subscribe to Time Magazine. The relevant information about you that Time Warner needs to deliver your magazine (name, address, have you paid for your subscription) is stored in a database. When you go onto Amazon.com to buy a book, your shipping information (name, address, etc.) is stored in a database. What form do these databases take? Thirty years ago, your shipping information may have been stored on paper records in filing cabinets. Today, these databases would be located on a computer using a database program that is responsible for storing, sorting and retrieving the information. In the digital economy, we operate on "Internet Time." Internet time refers to the blinding pace at which modern business must be conducted due to the immediacy of transactions on the Internet. Without computerized databases, a modern business would not be able to compete effectively in the new digital economy.

So virtually all modern businesses have databases. But where do these databases come from? Who designs and builds them? Who updates and maintains them? This is where database developers and administrators come into play.