About

Senior Linux SA/Engineer, Programmer, SQL writer and DBA

knowledge without arrogance

Technology should make our lives easier, not more difficult or more confusing. I don't believe in problems, only solutions. I don't believe "NO" is an answer to a problem. Even if an issue or problem is outside my skills or beyond the limits of my tools. I can and have always learned more and more often than not, compensate for the limits of my tools by finding ways to stretch their limits.

Any project, whether large or small is like the riddle: How do you eat an elephant? Which is one bite at a time. In Agile projects I have seen this demonstrated best with well-made card tasks, broken down to their smallest achievable points. Even before Agile was a standard, I always found it more efficient to break up my work in smaller segments. Which I would always test, as I work on them, so debugging is significantly easier when the inevitable issue or bug appears.

I have worked on disruptive technologies in the past and I have accomplished things other people have not been able to achieve at several jobs. Is this because I am better, or smarter than everyone else? Not at all. I believe I am just more dedicated, determined, curious, and focused than the average IT professional. I also have an insatiable thirst for knowledge and am always trying new things, whether it is technologies, programming languages, hobbies, or even food. I grow with every new experience. I would love to work with people who are all smarter and more talented than I am because that has always been the best way for me to learn more. Sharing skills and knowledge within a team is one of the strongest qualities I am seeking.

Experience

Linux/Unix

Beginning my *nix adventures in 1996 with RedHat 4.0 and Slackware 3.x, I instantly became hooked. Later I tried FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD, SUSE, Mandrake, LFS, LibreNet, Storm and every Linux distribution I could find with Debian variations being my favorite. I have worked on AIX, HP-UX, SUSE, RHEL, zLinux in the enterprise, from monitoring and installing applications to working on user accounts groups and the occasional space, resource, fs mount, network, firewall or server process issue on top of the daily log file analysis and daily grind work. I have customized RHEL, Ubuntu and Debian VMs for local development with VMWare and VirtualBox. Performed many customized physical hardware installs of Debian and Ubuntu Server in small businesses and home offices based on adherence to clearly defined business needs. I attend as many Linux and technology conferences as my schedule permits. Currently I am learning about and experimenting with the AWS suite of products through a couple online classes and other resources.

Programming and Scripting

Utilizing a wide breadth of skills, I have worked in a myriad of environments using a nearly endless list of tools, languages and technologies. My sql skills are definitely my strongest. However, I have used just about every major language including: Java, JavaScript, Ruby, cucumber, Groovy, php, perl, python, jython and my fair share of HTML/CSS. Sometimes it is not what you want to use but what is available and I believe in solutions. While rusty on some languages I haven't used recently, I have easily jumped back into a language as the need arises at any job I have had or any project which I have worked on.

SQL and Databases

I write sql queries, from simple to complex with crazy joins, but always well written and formatted. I can jump into writing stored procedures, triggers, views and managed query tables. I excel at teaching others sql and sql optimization and debugging. I have worked on several databases including large enterprise instances of Oracle, DB2,MySQL, Teradata, Postgresql, and kdb. I have expertly migrated data with custom written scripts, Enterprise Java code, and IBM's DataStage tool, cleansing data with IBM's QualityStage, SAP BOBI DQ as well as my own custom code and scripts. My favorite setup being sqlite3 database created, populated and updated with sql and bash shell scripts for large data analysis/validation with a strong pension and focus on validating third party data sources with useful and quickly repeatable reports. Lastly and most regrettably, MS Access and MS SQL Server which I personally think is a mistake in almost every case they are used, IMHO.

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