About Me

I’m a SQL Server DBA with 25 years of hands-on experience keeping production systems fast, stable, and out of trouble.

Over my career I’ve worked across some varied environments, including publishing, financial services, and large-scale government infrastructure including the NHS Mail project. This varitey has provided me with a lot of knowledge and experience, how to adapt quickly, understand what different businesses actually need from their data, and work effectively with people at every level of an organisation.

My day job is Database Solutions Engineer at a finance company, where I work closely with development teams on performance tuning, query optimisation, and getting involved in design decisions early, because a good conversation at the start of a project is worth a lot more than a crisis call six months later.

Over the years I have expanded my skillset beyond core DBA work by working in the wider data platform with technologies such as Azure SQL, Cosmos DB, Databricks, Data Factory, and Python, while still actively pursuing my interest in Linux, virtualisation, and home-labbing.

I learn better by trying trying things out for myself, which is where running a home lab is invaluable.

About My Blog

SeriouslySQL is where I write about what I use, what works for me and what I’ve learnt along the way.

You’ll find in-depth SQL Server posts, practical how-to guides from my own lab, SQL Shorts, which are quick scripts with just enough explanation to make them useful, and the occasional opinion piece when something in the industry needs saying.

Everything in this blog is written by me, based on my experience. No recycled documentation or copy and paste from other sources. If I write about it, I’ve done it, broken it or fixed it.

The Tech Stack

My blog runs on Astro, deployed via GitHub to Cloudflare Pages which makes it easy to maintain, with no plugins or vulnerabilites to worry about, and all the posts are written in Markdown using VS Code.

In my lab I run Ubuntu Server 22.04 VMs on VMware, with Technitium handling DNS. SQL Server on Linux is next on the list.

Certifications

• Microsoft Certified: Azure Database Administrator Associate (DP-300)
• Microsoft Azure Fundamentals (AZ-900)
• PCAP – Certified Associate in Python Programming
• PCEP – Certified Entry-Level Python Programmer

Get in Touch

If you’ve got a question, spotted a mistake, or just want to talk databases — you can find me on LinkedIn and X, or drop me an email. Links are in the footer.