I am honored and grateful to have been selected as the July 2016 IOUG Spotlight Member of the Month.

Update: The IOUG does not provide a link for past Spotlight Members, so here are the questions and answers from July 2016.

  1. What’s your current job and title?

Sr. Systems Engineer, Database Administration at CSL Behring.

 

  1. What is your favorite moment of your career so far?

Right now. I feel very fortunate that I am now in a position where I am able to investigate, learn and grow as a technologist and then share that information with others.

 

  1. What was your childhood dream job?

I wanted to be an astronaut. I was going to graduate with a degree in Aeronautical Engineering, go into the Air Force and become a pilot, then on to NASA. That all changed my first semester when I took a computer science class.

 

  1. How long have you been a member of IOUG? What’s your best experience thus far?

I have been a member since 1998. My best IOUG experience so far has been working on the Conference Committee. I really enjoyed helping to put together such an amazing conference that teaches and allows people to share ideas and experiences.

 

  1. What advice do you wish someone had given you when you first started your career as a technologist?

Find a way to share your knowledge, it is the best teacher. I have learned that a great way to expand your knowledge in an area is to prepare yourself to teach it to someone. It forces you to dig deeper and learn more so that you are prepared to answer their questions.

 

  1. What features or products are on your wish list and why?

The ability to easily rename a user. Like a lot of others, we have applications that have the SDLC environment in the schema owner name (e.g. prdapp). Having the ability to rename the schema after an RMAN clone would simplify the post clone steps.

 

  1. What is the biggest technical and/or business challenge you have faced, and how did you overcome it?

Migrating a 19TB, 10.2 RAC database on HP-UX to 12.1 RAC on Linux with zero downtime. On the technical side, figuring out how to do this was very challenging because it required several technologies that I had never used before. I also had to overcome some application challenges that caused us to use a not so straight forward approach. It was also a business challenge, because we had to convince the business that this would work.

I was able to overcome this by learning the technologies, asking questions of experts and by building out a proof of concept environment that showed how it would be done. The migration required several technologies: Data Guard, Transportable Tablespace, Data Pump and Golden Gate, but it also required a strong team to put this all together.

 

  1. What’s your favorite film? Any memorable moments [from the film]? Any favorite quotes [from the film]?

My favorite film is Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back.

A memorable moment? When Yoda lifts the fighter from the swamp after Luke can’t:

Luke: I don’t, I don’t believe it.

Yoda: That is why you fail.

 

  1. What piques your passion in technology?

The challenge and the possibilities. As much as people outside of tech like to believe, it is not always easy for us. I like the challenge of figuring out how to get things to work and all of the nuances that go along with it. I also like the possibilities that technology brings. We regularly see new ways that people are using technology to educate and empower themselves and others. I am glad to be a part of that.