Nine years as database team lead at Nologin Consulting, a SUN Microsystems implementer. Led database support and managed services across a large portfolio of Oracle RAC, Exadata, PostgreSQL, and MySQL installations. Consulting for database design, migrations, and performance analysis as needed. PCI DSS compliance support for clients in regulated sectors.

The Context #

SUN Microsystems technology implementation and management at enterprise scale. A large portfolio of Oracle installations across industries with very different requirements. Performance crises in production. 24/7 availability expectations. Clients needed not just fixes but processes – ITIL, change management, disaster recovery – that would prevent the next crisis.

What I Did #

Enterprise Oracle. Managed RAC clusters for financial applications. Implemented disaster recovery for manufacturing systems. Optimized PL/SQL that turned reports running in hours into reports running in minutes.

SUN technology implementation. Large-scale installations and configurations of Oracle databases on SUN hardware. Solaris deployments, Exadata implementations, and PostgreSQL/MySQL environments for enterprise clients. This was hands-on infrastructure work – hardware, OS, and database as a single stack.

Multi-platform management. PostgreSQL for open-source organizations, MySQL for web applications. Integrated diverse platforms through standardized monitoring. Not every client needed Oracle, and knowing when to recommend something else was part of the job.

Compliance and audits. PCI DSS compliance support for clients in regulated sectors. Collected and defended technical evidence before auditors. Implemented database security controls, encryption standards, and access logging required by industry regulations.

Process implementation. ITIL-compliant change management. Standardized monitoring across clients. Database security policies for regulatory compliance. Guided early AWS adopters through their first cloud migrations.

Oracle (all versions), SUN hardware, Solaris, Exadata, PostgreSQL, MySQL, Unix systems, ITIL frameworks.

Lessons Learned #

1. Every environment is unique but the diagnostic method is the same. Nine years of consulting across industries taught a consistent troubleshooting approach that works regardless of the specific Oracle version, hardware, or business domain.
2. Compliance is technical discipline, not bureaucracy. PCI DSS forced rigor in access controls, encryption, and audit trails. That discipline carried forward into SOC2 and GDPR work years later.
3. Training clients beats fixing their problems. The best consulting engagement is the one where the client stops needing you. Runbooks and knowledge transfer outlast any optimization.