I’m a SQL Server DBA that enjoys performance tuning and spend most of my time writing and tuning T-SQL code. This is my personal blog site to share my experience, scripts and tools with the community.
My career started in 2003 as an IT Technician for a college. At this time I was on my way to becoming a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) but didn’t have any experience. This was a hands on role fixing computers and printers but it also gave me a chance to get some experience with Active Directory.
In my role at the college I was able to assume some network admin duties and I got into automation with VBScript. This allowed me to streamline the process of creating user accounts during student enrolment. I also learned VB.NET and used this knowledge to create tools like Password Control, Account Management Spreadsheet & BulkADUsers.
As part of my MCSE course I took a module on SQL Server to gain a MCDBA certification. I enjoyed this and switched gears in 2005 to become a DBA. I’ve progressed from working with small ~30GB databases to working with databases up to 160TB in size. In my current role I support very busy databases that are the backend for SaaS (Software as a Service) products. I’ve worked with traditional hosting providers as well as AWS and Azure.
I still find it useful to have programming experience in my current role. I’ve switched from VB.NET to C# to fit in with the development teams. Also, PowerShell has also taken over from VBScript for automation tasks.
I live in the UK with my wife and two awesome kids. I enjoy running in my spare time.