Álvaro
Data Scientist
“In a climate this uncertain, Shakers gives you a layer of reassurance and confidence. What I like most, without a doubt, is the flexibility and getting to work on top-tier projects.”
Join ShakersShakers for expert talent
Work as a MongoDB DBA expert
Projects where the NoSQL engine is yours: which collection gets sharded, which index goes in and with which plan the cluster grows.
The trade reads in two places: the career-guidance card and the job ad asking for weekly on-call shifts without saying so. Neither tells you how to run a real company's critical database project by project. Here is that.
- Higher-paying projects
- More continuity between projects
- Greater recognition for your experience
+3,000
Tech projects published on Shakers
+90
Tech, Product and Data specialisms are part of Shakers
6 months
Average length of a project with Shakers
4.7/5
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Amelia
AI Agent Developer
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Backend Developer & Data Engineer
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Software Developer
“Life as a contractor has a lot going on and it is not always easy. We like to focus on what we are good at, but you also have to manage clients, invoicing and go looking for work. For me, Shakers has been key because it does that prospecting for me, it gives the client confidence from the very first moment, and it lets us be part of a community with real enthusiasm.”
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Alejandro
AI Developer
“Shakers was key to getting my company off the ground: it gave me the flexibility to keep contracting while I built my next chapter. Without Shakers, I would have had to raise funding or push the project back.”
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Toño
Product Designer
“With Shakers I have landed recurring projects that give me peace of mind and room to grow professionally. It is not just about reaching quality clients: it is feeling that you have a network behind you, one that connects you with real opportunities and helps you move forward as a freelancer.”
Join ShakersWhat a DBA decides on every single project
A MongoDB DBA administers NoSQL databases in production: replica sets and sharding, indexing and aggregations, backup scheduling and horizontal scale for when the product grows.
They are the NoSQL specialist under the database administration umbrella. The demand is embedded in skills: MongoDB appears in 704 live UK tech vacancies and NoSQL in more, inside backend and platform roles.
You decide what gets backed up and how often, which index gets touched and in which window, which permission is granted and which withdrawn. You also decide what the database refuses: a deployment without a rollback plan doesn't go in. The engine belongs to the client; the policy that keeps it alive is yours.
MongoDBNoSQLreplica setsshardingindexingaggregationsbackuphorizontal scaleAtlasmigrationsmonitoringdocuments
Verified backupTuningHigh availabilityPermissionsMonitoringRecovery
Free to join, no hidden fees
How Shakers works for talent
Create your profile
Tell us who you are, what you can do, the projects you want to work on and what your availability and rate are.
Get your certification
We certify your experience and your use of AI so companies understand and trust what you bring.
Match with projects
We connect you with well-paid projects that fit your expertise and your preferences.
Data and Analytics projects that live up to your expectations
Work on real projects, with teams that need your expertise, without wasting time looking for opportunities.
Projects that fit you
Work with companies that need your stack and experience to take their projects to production.
Opportunities that come to you
Our AI matching connects your profile with the projects that fit your preferences.
You build. Shakers handles the rest
Set your own terms based on your seniority. We manage contracts, payments and paperwork.
What a DBA delivers on a Shakers project
The brief arrives with the engine
Shakers is hiring infrastructure: the project arrives with the instances and their criticality, not a list of technologies.
A plan you can audit
You deliver the backup plan with tested restores, active monitoring and the why of every maintenance window.
What happens when the base fails
You set the on-call protocol, what happens when an instance stops answering and who answers for the data while it recovers.
Databases held, not described
Having run engines in production and being able to tell an outage story: what failed, what you did and what changed so it never repeated.
Engine, specialist or umbrella
Recognising when the brief belongs to your engine and when it asks for a specialist: PostgreSQL and MongoDB have their own page, and saying so.
How far your brief goes
You run the engine; you don't rewrite the application or the infrastructure. If the project asks for development, you say so at kickoff.
Frequently asked questions
Any other questions? Write to us and we will reply.
What is the difference between a MongoDB DBA and a generalist DBA?
The generalist runs relational engines with reasonable depth; the MongoDB DBA lives NoSQL: replica sets, sharding and the document model. For MongoDB, the specialist.
Is it hard to work as a database administrator?
The tool is learned; responsibility is not. The critical database allows no trial and error: what the certification measures is backup, performance and security judgement on real deliveries.
MongoDB or PostgreSQL for?
We don't rewrite your data model for fashion: if data fits tables, PostgreSQL is the engine; if it changes shape and scale is horizontal, MongoDB. The data decides.
How much does a freelance database administrator earn?
You invoice per project, and scope sets the band: number of instances, criticality and whether there are on-call shifts. You agree the budget before accepting.
Can MongoDB administration be done remotely?
Almost all of it: the cluster runs in the cloud or an accessible data centre and on-call happens remotely. Only some physical maintenance asks for presence.
How do I join Shakers as a database administrator?
Create your profile, pass the certification process and join the collective: only 4 percent make it. Then you choose which administration projects to work on.
What gets delivered in the first weeks
The cluster's real state: verified replica sets, analysis of the heaviest collections, backup policy with tested restores and the indexing plan current traffic demands.
The argument is scale, not fashion
MongoDB appears in 704 live UK tech vacancies, according to Shakers' market analysis (n=39,811, September 2026): real but secondary demand, concentrated in products that grow fast.
When data doesn't fit tables
Catalogues, events, documents and profiles that change shape: the document model exists for that. The specialist's question isn't "SQL or NoSQL" but "what does your product need and who holds the engine".
Umbrella and specialists
This role is the NoSQL specialist of database administration: relational engines have their general page and PostgreSQL its own. The boundary is agreed at kickoff.
Roles that cross a database project
Four roles from the collective cross your path on a database project, from the engine specialist to the one automating the cloud.
Database Administrator
The umbrella of the trade: when your brief touches SQL Server, Oracle or MySQL alongside NoSQL, that's the general page.
PostgreSQL DBA
The open-engine specialist: when data does fit tables and scale is vertical, the role administering PostgreSQL.
Backend Developer
Their applications write to your cluster: document schemas and queries your administration sustains and watches.
AWS DevOps Engineer
The infrastructure the cluster runs on: automation, snapshots and the cloud cost carrying all that data.
The boundaries between these roles are agreed on each project: the title does not set them.
Take the next step with Shakers
Want projects where the database is yours?
Pass Shakers' certification and choose which administration projects to join.
