Career start

After an automation specialisation at the higher professional laboratory education, I soon ended up with “big blue” IBM. Although IBM doesn’t do much with laboratories, my process and instrumentation knowledge appeared to be very useful.

After a short introduction training, I was placed with a team that created usage and performance reports on the IBM Global Network. Data gathered by smart network components was gathered in a large mainframe database. The first start, as it turned out, of two career paths: 

From Database Developer to Database Optimisation Specialist

Coming from this base, I always walked both paths within both IBM and various other organisations. During my career I further accumulated my Relational Database knowledge. First by learning other, non-mainframe, variants of the DB2 engine, later by working with other relational databases like Oracle, SQL Server and PostgresSQL. I always worked with large-volume databases, especially in Business Intelligence environments, but also in transactional environments, or a mix of both.

I always focused on the real use of a database: Store data in the database efficiently and later retrieve it as efficient as possible. For Business Intelligence, this may require pretty complex queries to retrieve the data useful enough for further processing. Therefore I gained a lot of experience in writing efficient SQL as well as proper setup of the database. With proper setup, I think about the datamodel, table structure, indexes as well as efficient disk storage, efficient Operating System configuration and the choice between using dynamic SQL or static SQL.  

These days I call myself Database Optimisation Specialist rather than Database Administrator (DBA), because a DBA focusses on the structural generic maintenance of a database like backup/restore, user creation, periodic maintenance, etc. 

Although I used to use the phrase Database Developer because I also help in developing the database, data structures, Stored Procedures, etc, I notice that this phrase is confusing in the world of Open Source Databases. In that world, this phrase is often used for those that actually develop on the Open Source Engine. Since these days most development is done through coding frameworks, my focus automatically shifted to the optimisation side, which totally fits my main interest.

Business Intelligence

A large part of the projects I worked on during the start of my career, involved setting up a Business Intelligence environment. Mainly in the ETL (Extraction, Transformation, Load) area, where I worked a lot with specialistic solutions like PowerCenter and Pentaho. I also gained experience in the report side though. This resulted in a wide set of knowledge with respect to transforming data into information, which is the base of Business Intelligence.

For me, the most important part is the process to get to a result, rather than the specific tool used for it.

Wide knowledge and experience

By working on  reports on the IBM Global Network, I soon learnt how the various pieces fit together. A database can’t be efficient when it’s held back by an Operating System, harddisk, network or external applications. These reports were very strong in showing how various components can work against each other.

The main lesson learnt was to always look further than the database alone and always check the direct surroundings as well. Getting the right information often requires expertise of others in the team like network experts or OS experts. However, if not all knowledge required is available, I can fall back on my professional network or ultimately I’ll learn it myself.

The main goal is to end up with a database that behaves in the way the customer expects it to. If possible of course, I can’t do magic yet. At least, I don’t think so but my latest customer didn’t entirely agree on this one….. 😄

Career overview

Move across the menu-item “Knowledge & Experience”, then across Career overview and select one of the employers / customers.