Professional SQL Server Experience

Over 22 years as an independent SQL Server Consultant.

Professional Distinctions

I have more than 27 years of experience architecting, developing, tuning, automating, and managing SQL Server solutions.

I've also picked up a few professional distinctions through the years as well:

Contributing Editor for SQL Server Magazine
Contributing Editor for DevPro (ASP.NET) Magazine
ASP Insider

Articles and Writing

Over the years, I've written more than 100 articles for SQL Server Magazine, ASP.NET/DevPro Magazine, and Windows IT Pro.

I've also blogged (a lot) on a handful of different sites as well.

Starting in 2025, I'll be writing content here - on TotalSQL.com - starting with some tips/tricks, and then moving into full-blown articles.

Some of my Clients

Here are just some of the companies I've worked with in over 27 years as an independent SQL Server Consultant.

Testimonials

You've been a great and incredibly important addition to the team - I'm really glad we found you!!

You have been an outstanding asset to us in getting SQL Server Replication working.

Mike, I got a tremendous boost out of the relatively short time you spent working with me. I was impressed with your ability to sense when I knew what you were talking about, and when I was in way over my head, and adjust on the fly so that I never felt either lost or spoken down to. After only a few hours I feel like I'm twice the SQL developer I was only a day before. I'd encourage anyone in my position to look you up; it really was a great experience.

I learned a lot of directly useful information. I greatly appreciate your insight and communication skills. Your time in Mesa was a high value for us. If we can effectively implement your recommendations, I see the solutions saving us many hours of frustration and stress.

I find your presentation and style very clear and good to follow. Thanks for all your input! It is really helping us to up-skill and to build a good picture of how things work and what our options are.

Mike, your feedback is always well understood and extremely helpful.

I'd like to do another audit in 6 months or so. This has been really helpful.

You can use us as a referral for any future clients, we will be happy to let others know that your services were effective, informative, and professional.

These [search metric] numbers look fantastic, I've been very happy with the search performance today while I was using it. Thanks for all your work on this.

Training and Instruction

As someone who is passionate about SQL Server, I LOVE to share what I've learned and know. As such, I've written content for and presented at a number of online and in-person seminars and events over the years.

Starting in Q2 of 2025 expect to see some offerings and options here (on TotalSQL.com) as well.

Resume

The following snippets from my resume help highlight some of the experience I gained prior to becomming a consultant in 2004.

Coldwater Creek

Evangelized and implemented granular SQL Server security for users, applications, and websites.
Designed and implemented Transactional SQL Server Replication Topology in an environment where Microsoft consultants said it couldn’t be done. Achieved 99.99%+ uptime, and saved numerous production hours.
Specified, designed, created, configured, and managed several clustered (and non-clustered) SQL Servers. Ensured correct and optimal utilization of hardware, file systems, and physical storage on all systems.
Fixed lingering SQL Server implementation problem that hindered peak sales by correctly utilizing processor affinity, and AWE memory usage. Continuously monitored, tuned and improved scalability, reliability, and performance. Monitoring and tuning on one peak sales day saved over $.7 million in sales.
Production DBA for 250GB+ of databases on 10+ servers. Oversaw performance, recoverability, scalability, and security; responsible for production changes. Mentored developers in SQL Server and ADO.NET best practices.

Altiris (acquired by Symantec)

Architected and directed development of an enterprise level content management system (with multiple servers spanning the globe) built on SQL Server, XML, and ASP.NET.
Specified, designed, implemented, and maintained co-located web farm for Altiris.com and affiliated sites. Farm served over 22 million hits/month (300,000 individual user sessions) from 3.2GB of web sites with 5.6 GB of supporting SQL Server Databases.
Engineered and implemented secure credit card portals that did over $6.2 million in transactions.

Independent Contractor

Reconstructed failed Oracle 8i and VB/XML Enterprise-Level project for Bonneville Communications. Implemented triggers, stored procedures, indexes, and keys to repair slow data tier. Debugged and repaired XML middle tier, and revamped faulty and non-user friendly VB and VBA Front End.

Frogbody Interactive

Built numerous / complex SQL Server Stored Procedures as well as Schemas.
Managed database operations and ADO interaction of databases and ASP applications.

MyComputer.com

Collaborated in dramatically increasing OLTP transactions on systems handling several billion transactions weekly (in a cluster of 20+ dedicated MySQL Servers) through the implementation of advanced database techniques such as join optimization, table structure and fragmentation analysis, bulk inserts, indexing and lock optimization, creation of custom timers to detect bottlenecks, and the optimization of existing PHP and C++ Code.
Organized, led, and implemented a solution to convert existing and incoming MySQL data to an Oracle test environment and provided comprehensive test results showing the pros and cons of a MySQL versus Oracle solution for MyComputer.com.

US Synthetic

Created multi-department Access/VBA databases providing labor analysis and inventory usage rates.
Used ADO , ODBC, and other data retrieval methods for interacting with legacy systems.

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