Keith Lyon, Developer in Karlskrona, Sweden
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Keith Lyon

Verified Expert  in Engineering

Software Developer

Location
Karlskrona, Sweden
Toptal Member Since
June 7, 2019

Keith is a production DBA and back-end developer with more than a decade of SQL database experience. He is well organized and has solid written, verbal, and public speaking skills. He also teaches a class on demand explaining the virtues of relational and SQL databases to developers who may not fully appreciate the virtues of this very powerful technology and its relevance to modern IT environments.

PostgreSQLSQLSQLiteOracleCArch LinuxPython 3C++pgAdminSparkSpark SQLPySparkRustSublime TextDjangoForth

Availability

Part-time

Preferred Environment

Sublime Text, PostgreSQL, Arch Linux

The most amazing...

...project I've completed was the automated configuration of a PostgreSQL per-table auto-vacuum settings to greatly reduce repetitive scans and thus IO wastage.

Work Experience

Principal Consultant

2020 - PRESENT
Albelissa SRL
  • Performed technical pre-sales meeting with clients to diagnose problems and develop solution proposals for management.
  • Participated in on-site and remote scoping meetings with prospective clients.
  • Wrote reports to be turned into a statement of work (SOW) to be submitted to clients.
  • Determined skill sets needed for database elements of proposed work.
  • Coordinated with UI specialists and salespeople to flesh out solutions.
Technologies: PostgreSQL

Senior DBA

2019 - 2020
Pacific Database Services
  • Spoke about SQL database capabilities and continued advantages.
  • Oversaw PostgreSQL and Oracle production databases.
  • Designed and deployed Redshift to AWS ELT process.
  • Coded PostgreSQL eStore in Nim and SQL. Adapted PL/pgSQL code from Derek Severs to run more efficiently in PostgreSQL.
  • Created database API to support Tableau reports from business analysts.
Technologies: Python 3, Oracle, SQL, PostgreSQL

Senior PostgreSQL DBA

2012 - 2017
Klarna Bank AB, Stockholm, Sweden
  • Installed, upgraded, configured, tuned, and backed up large Postgres databases on CentOS.
  • Tuned databases to overcome performance problems arising from increasing data volume.
  • Backed up and restored databases via Barman, PgBackRest, pg_dump.
  • Advised developers on best approaches for business needs.
Technologies: Amazon Web Services (AWS), SQL, CentOS, PostgreSQL

Senior Programmer

2002 - 2012
Independent Consultant
  • Designed, coded, tested, and deployed insurance agency application using PostgreSQL 9.1, Django 1.4.
  • Deployed, coded, tested, and designed a localized recruiter resume application using PostgreSQL 9.1 and Django 1.3.
  • Designed and coded Python module to perform merging of manufacturer data into database backing website.
  • Performed several data quality engagements involving live Siebel (now Oracle) ERP systems.
  • Migrated Oracle database to MySQL.
  • Migrated Oracle Developer database and application to custom Python CGI web framework.
Technologies: Python, Django, PostgreSQL, Oracle Database

Director

2000 - 2002
Oracle Corporation
  • Handled the manageability portion of Oracle 10g Database marketing.
  • Performed competitive product research in the area of manageability.
  • Developed technical marketing materials for web and conference use.
  • Explained database technical capabilities to customers.
Technologies: Oracle 10g

Senior Manager

1999 - 2000
Oracle Corporation
  • Shared management of 23 junior account managers.
  • Supervised technical response group.
  • Handled difficult database support and tuning requests from the partner community.
Technologies: Oracle Database

Technical Account Manager

1996 - 1998
Oracle Corporation
  • Promoted the adoption of Oracle stack within the partner community.
  • Worked closely with account managers to support sales efforts.
  • Evangelized high-availability features of Oracle database.
  • Designed and performed pre-sales proof-of-concept demonstrations for customers.
  • Performed on-site consulting duties for VAR community: installation, configuration, hardware benchmarks, hardware sizing, database tuning, application code reviews, best practices, diagnostics, and localization.
  • Led multiple database migration and tuning projects.
  • Hired and supervised external consultants.
  • Served as the interface to development and technical support groups.
Technologies: Oracle Database

Staff Consultant

1995 - 1996
Oracle Corporation
  • Served as the liaison to Oracle Japan to teach usage of new database features.
  • Troubleshot multi-byte character set and localization problems.
  • Performed database installation, configuration, migration, performance tuning, and code review projects for VAR community.
Technologies: Oracle Database

Why Use a Relational Database?

This talk will clarify when to use SQL databases, and when a NoSQL solution is a better fit. The focus will be on PostgreSQL, the world's most advanced Open Source database, as well as SQLite, the world’s most widely deployed and used database engine.

SQL Databases in a Microservices Environment

Much of the discussion of transitioning existing code to a microservices architecture focuses on applications. But what about the SQL databases underlying much of the application's functionality? Here we point out some of the issues which arise in making this transition.

Storage

PostgreSQL, SQLite, Oracle 10g, Oracle RDBMS

Languages

SQL, Python, C, C++, Python 3, Forth, Nim, Rust, Bash

Frameworks

Django, Spark

Libraries/APIs

Spark Streaming, PySpark

Tools

Sublime Text, PgBouncer, pgAdmin, Spark SQL, Git

Platforms

Oracle Database, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Oracle, CentOS, Arch Linux, Spark Core

Other

Fossil, Computer Science

1991 - 1993

Bachelor's Degree in Mathematics and Computer Science

California State University – Hayward - Hayward, California

SEPTEMBER 1996 - SEPTEMBER 2001

Oracle 9 Certified Professional

Oracle Corporation

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