Every expert starts somewhere.

An Unexpected Opportunity

I began at MD Management as a Mac Systems Administrator, providing local IT support for the Cambridge office of Practice Solutions Software. About a year later, I learned that my position was being eliminated.

Rather than lose me, the team at Practice Solutions Software found another opportunity for me within the organization. Although I had never worked with Oracle, they believed I could learn quickly and offered me a junior Database Analyst role.

That opportunity changed the course of my career.

Learning Oracle from the Ground Up

Starting with no Oracle experience, I learned how the database interacted with the application, how to diagnose issues, and how to recognize the quirks that only appear in real production environments.

I built database servers for healthcare clinics, installed and configured Oracle on Windows, created schemas and tablespaces, configured Transparent Data Encryption, and prepared systems for deployment.

My responsibilities expanded to include RMAN and Data Pump backup scripts, database restores, new-clinic migrations, and work on the first-generation hosted ASP platform.

Learning to Solve Problems Under Pressure

Severe weather, power failures, hardware problems, and failed backups sometimes left clinic databases corrupted or unavailable. Restoring service required careful troubleshooting, adaptability, and a strong understanding of both Oracle and the Windows systems supporting it.

Those early recoveries taught me to remain calm, work methodically, and focus on restoring reliable service with as little data loss as possible.

I learned early that database administration was not simply about maintaining Oracle. It was about keeping healthcare professionals working and protecting the information they relied on every day.

Learning at Scale

Joining BlackBerry meant starting over once again. Although I already had Oracle experience, I had never worked with Linux or large-scale enterprise infrastructure. Suddenly I was immersed in Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Oracle Grid Infrastructure, ASM, Data Guard Broker, Fast-Start Failover, observers, cascaded standbys, and globally distributed production services.

The learning curve was steep. It took nearly six months before I felt comfortable joining the on-call rotation. There was a saying on the team that one year at BlackBerry was equal to five years somewhere else. Looking back, they were right. Every day felt like drinking from a fire hose.

As my confidence grew, so did my responsibilities. I built production databases supporting BlackBerry Messenger, participated in opening a new data centre, migrated regional services from the United States into Canada with zero downtime, and learned how BBM worked from user registration through the backend infrastructure serving customers around the world.

Beyond Oracle, I learned to think about entire systems rather than individual databases. I balanced BBM registration loads, supported large-scale migrations, contributed to LOB storage initiatives, and eventually worked across Oracle, SQL Server, MySQL, EnterpriseDB PostgreSQL, and Cassandra environments.

I also introduced the team’s first Confluence knowledge base, documenting build procedures, methods of procedure, common fixes, and operational standards to improve consistency across the DBA team.

In less than four years, I grew from a junior DBA into one of the team’s most trusted database administrators. More than anything, BlackBerry taught me how to learn quickly, remain calm under pressure, and solve problems in demanding production environments.

Leading Through Change

Returning to Practice Solutions as an experienced DBA felt different. I was no longer the person learning the environment—I had become someone others relied on to improve it.

Working as part of a close-knit two-person DBA team, we focused on reducing operational pain points instead of simply responding to them. One example was redesigning the application update process so database restores could be performed directly by the installer when required. What had previously resulted in frequent overnight call-outs became a largely automated process, allowing the DBA team to focus on genuine production issues.

We modernized the second-generation ASP platform by upgrading Oracle, implementing RMAN recovery catalog infrastructure, creating standardized backup and recovery procedures, and developing monitoring that alerted us whenever disaster recovery environments began falling behind production.

As the organization grew, I led increasingly complex migration projects, including large clinic transitions into the TELUS data centres. The largest involved migrating more than five terabytes of data while coordinating multiple technical teams, detailed project plans, Oracle upgrades, Windows upgrades, and carefully managed cutover activities.

My role expanded beyond database administration. I became a regular participant in major incident bridges, helped establish operational communication with the TELUS Command Centre, worked with other infrastructure teams to standardize project expectations, and focused on creating repeatable processes that made future work more reliable.

Looking back, this stage of my career taught me that great database administrators don't simply maintain databases. They improve the way entire organizations operate.

Becoming a Leader

As the database team continued to grow, so did my role. Leadership became less about solving every technical problem myself and more about helping the entire team succeed.

I coordinated major database projects, created detailed migration plans, mentored junior DBAs, trained Technical Support, Development, QA, and Data Analyst teams, and worked closely with Project Managers and senior leadership to ensure successful project delivery.

I became a regular participant on major incident bridges, helping coordinate technical teams during production outages while also improving communication between engineering teams and the TELUS Command Centre. Rather than simply resolving incidents, I worked to improve the processes surrounding them, helping establish expectations for project work, operational handoffs, and incident reporting.

One of the lessons that shaped my leadership style was that documentation and knowledge sharing are just as valuable as technical expertise. Whether developing automation, creating recovery procedures, or mentoring teammates, my goal was always to leave the team stronger than I found it.

By this point in my career, success was no longer measured by how many databases I supported. It was measured by the stability of the systems, the confidence of the team, and the trust others placed in my judgement during high-pressure situations.

Trusted to Lead

Leadership didn't happen overnight. It grew naturally as the projects became larger, the environments became more complex, and more people began looking to me for guidance.

As the database team expanded, I found myself coordinating large migration projects, mentoring junior DBAs, training Technical Support, Development, QA, and Data Analyst teams, and working closely with project managers and senior leadership to deliver successful outcomes.

I became a regular participant during major production incidents, helping coordinate technical teams while improving communication between engineering groups and the TELUS Command Centre. I wasn't focused solely on solving the immediate problem—I wanted every incident to improve the way we worked together the next time.

Documentation, automation, and knowledge sharing became just as important to me as technical expertise. Whether building repeatable recovery procedures, automating routine tasks, or mentoring teammates, my goal was always to leave the team stronger than I found it.

Eventually I was promoted to Information Systems Team Lead, leading a team of eight database administrators supporting electronic medical record systems across Canada. My role shifted from simply maintaining databases to developing people, removing obstacles, and helping the team perform at its best during both everyday operations and high-pressure production incidents.

The Next Challenge

Looking back, every stage of my career began with stepping into something unfamiliar. From learning Oracle for the first time, to enterprise infrastructure, to technical leadership, every challenge pushed me to grow in ways I never expected.

Today I'm excited for the next opportunity to solve complex problems, build reliable platforms, mentor technical teams, and continue learning. Technology will always evolve, but the principles that have guided my career remain the same: curiosity, resilience, collaboration, and a commitment to building systems that people can depend on.

After more than seventeen years in database engineering, I still believe the most rewarding part of this profession is that there is always something new to learn.