Paul is available for hire

Paul Zgondea

Verified Expert in Engineering

Database Developer

Location

Codlea, Brașov County, Romania

Toptal Member Since

November 11, 2020

Paul is a database engineer and DBA with the following stats: 13 years with Microsoft SQL, eight years in Microsoft SQL performance engineering and scale-out architecture planning, four years of hands-on knowledge of AWS IaaS service as a SysOps and DevOps, and a year of experience as an AWS architect. Paul's successfully worked remotely as a DevOps, DBA, and database engineer. He joined Toptal to work on challenging projects, especially those involving SQL, DBA, DevOps, AWS, and CI/CD.

IIS SQL Server DBA SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)Databases SQL Microsoft SQL Server SQL Performance Database Architecture SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS)SQL Server 2012 SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS)SQL Server 2016 Amazon EC2 Storage Amazon S3 (AWS S3)Amazon ElastiCache Route 53 Database Administration

Portfolio

Commonwealth Financial Network - Main

SQL, SQL Server DBA, Performance Tuning, Monitoring, Storage, Snowflake...

NumberCruncher

Amazon Web Services (AWS), SQL Server DBA, IIS SQL Server...

Omnitracs LLC

Amazon Web Services (AWS), SQL Server DBA, Microsoft SQL Server...

Experience

SQL Server DBA - 14 years Databases - 14 years Database Architecture - 10 years Data Architecture - 10 years Windows PowerShell - 4 years Amazon EC2 - 4 years AWS Systems Manager - 3 years Automation - 3 years

Availability

Part-time

Preferred Environment

Amazon Web Services (AWS), IIS, Windows PowerShell, AWS Lambda, Python 3, SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)

The most amazing...

...thing I've developed was a golden image automation system from scratch—providing on the fly autoscaling for hundreds of application and database servers.

Work Experience

SQL Database Administrator

2022 - PRESENT

Commonwealth Financial Network - Main

Worked on architecture and management for Snowflake databases.
Worked on Azure Data Factory pipelines and data flow in migration effort from on-premises to Azure.
Monitored and managed real-time data operations in Azure SQL/Snowflake and on-premise databases.

Technologies: SQL, SQL Server DBA, Performance Tuning, Monitoring, Storage, Snowflake, Azure Data Factory, Azure SQL Databases, SQL Server 2016, Databases, SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS), SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS), SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS), Windows PowerShell, Linux, Data Architecture, Database Architecture, SQL Performance, Database Administration (DBA), Microsoft SQL Server, SQL Management Studio

AWS and SQL Consultant

2018 - PRESENT

NumberCruncher

Created the AWS architecture from scratch based on previous plans and proposals.
Created a self-maintained SQL Server DR (disaster recovery) architecture.
Optimized the performance on both IIS applications and SQL Server databases and SQL code.
Implemented ElastiCache, CloudFront distributions based on the geolocation of customers, load balancing, and DNS routing.

Technologies: Amazon Web Services (AWS), SQL Server DBA, IIS SQL Server, Amazon CloudFront CDN, Memcached, Amazon EC2, AWS CloudFormation, AWS IAM, VPN, Data Architecture, Automation, Windows PowerShell, AWS SDK for Python (Boto3), Amazon Simple Queue Service (SQS), Amazon Athena, Amazon ElastiCache, Amazon Simple Notification Service (Amazon SNS), SQL Management Studio, Monitoring, Redis Cache, Billing, Performance Tuning, Storage, VPN Data Entry, Microsoft SQL Server, Amazon S3 (AWS S3), Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC), Autoscaling, Redshift, Databases, Boto 3, SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS), SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS), Amazon DynamoDB, Amazon Simple Email Service (SES), SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS), IIS, Database Architecture, Python, SQL Performance, Database Administration (DBA), SQL, Events

AWS Engineer

2017 - 2020

Omnitracs LLC

Acted as a SysOps/DevOps on a day-to-day basis with EC2, ELB/ALB, VPC, RDS, Direct Connect, Route 53, Lambda, Systems Manager, SNS, S3, SES, ElastiCache, Athena, Guard Duty, WAF & Shield, Trusted Advisor, and AWS Inspector.
Worked as a performance tuning engineer for application and database servers.
Acted as an architecture and security expert for a large production and test infrastructure in AWS.
Created golden image automation from scratch capable of auto-scaling a fleet of hundreds of app and database servers on the fly; it could be deployable to any AWS region and built the networking and security infrastructure.

Technologies: Amazon Web Services (AWS), SQL Server DBA, Microsoft SQL Server, Amazon S3 (AWS S3), Amazon CloudWatch, Identity & Access Management (IAM), AWS Lambda, Amazon Elastic Container Service (Amazon ECS), Amazon Route 53, Amazon Athena, Amazon EFS, SQL Server 2016, Python 3, Databases, Boto 3, SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS), SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS), Amazon API Gateway, Amazon Aurora, Amazon Simple Email Service (SES), SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS), Windows PowerShell, IIS, Linux, Automation, Data Architecture, Database Architecture, Performance Tuning, Python, SQL Performance, Database Administration (DBA), SQL, Storage, Events, IIS SQL Server, AWS IAM, VPN, SQL Management Studio, AWS SDK for Python (Boto3), VPN Data Entry, Azure SQL Databases

Senior Database Administrator | Systems Engineer

2014 - 2018

RIA Solutions Group

Developed, maintained, performance-tuned, architected, and improved distributed, high-availability databases and data marts amounting to terabytes of data.
Developed highly customizable T-SQL, SSIS, and SSRS reports.
Maintained a highly scalable architecture capable of sending up to 10 million emails per day.

Technologies: SQL Server DBA, Microsoft SQL Server, Amazon CloudWatch, Identity & Access Management (IAM), AWS Lambda, SQL Server 2016, Databases, SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS), Amazon Simple Email Service (SES), SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS), Windows PowerShell, IIS, Linux, Data Architecture, Database Architecture, Performance Tuning, SQL Performance, Database Administration (DBA), SQL, IIS SQL Server, AWS IAM, VPN, SQL Management Studio, AWS SDK for Python (Boto3), VPN Data Entry

Team Lead | SQL Expert

2009 - 2014

OSF Global Services

Managed and maintained various SQL Servers (2012, 2008R2, 2008, 2005) for backup and recovery plans, alerts, scripting, performance monitoring, and disaster recovery through log shipping, mirroring, replication, and clustering.
Developed ETL mechanisms through SSIS and for various processes ranging from data import and validation, data obfuscation, custom environment synchronizations, consolidation, and automated historical clean-ups.
Architected and implemented data warehouses through Kimball methodology.
Migrated Oracle and MySQL to a Microsoft SQL Server.

Technologies: SQL Server 2012, SQL Server DBA, Microsoft SQL Server, SQL Server 2016, Databases, SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS), IIS, Data Architecture, Database Architecture, Performance Tuning, SQL Performance, Database Administration (DBA), SQL, SQL Management Studio

Senior SQL Database Administrator

2006 - 2008

ING Bank

Architected, set up, configured, and managed production SQL systems for both retail banking and insurance using SQL clustering, mirroring, and more.
Developed SQL for a private pension fund application that managed pension funds for over 2 million Romanians.
Oversaw and prepared projects for security, penetration, and performance audits.

Technologies: SQL Server 2012, SQL Server DBA, Microsoft SQL Server, Databases, SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS), IIS, Data Architecture, Database Architecture, Performance Tuning, SQL Performance, Database Administration (DBA), SQL, SQL Management Studio

Experience

Golden Image Deployment Automation Solution

http://www.omnitracs.com

PROJECT: Create a way to easily deploy a whole infrastructure inside AWS's new regions.

I created golden image automation from scratch, capable of auto-scaling a fleet of hundreds of application and database servers on the fly. It could be deployed in any AWS region, and I also implemented the networking and security infrastructure.

Created Infrastructure in AWS

https://app.ordertime.com/

Architected and implemented infrastructure in AWS and scaled it to be performant and cost-efficient. Event-driven auto-scaling for application servers based on Event Bridge. Load balancing for database servers based on metrics. Created complex monitoring system in AWS Cloudwatch integrated with AWS Lambda and AWS EventBridge and Route53 Routing.

Data Architect and DBA

Performed migration of data and architecture from on-premises to Azure Cloud and Snowflake. Also, I worked on architecture and management for SQL on-premises databases, Azure Data Factory pipelines, Snowflake warehouses, and SQL MI/SQL Azure.

Education

2001 - 2005

Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science

Transilvania University - Brașov, Romania

Certifications

JUNE 2020 - JUNE 2023

AWS Certified Solutions Architect

Amazon Web Services

AUGUST 2016 - PRESENT

Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert: Data Management and Analytics

Microsoft

AUGUST 2016 - PRESENT

Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert: Data Platform

Microsoft

Skills

Tools

Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC), Amazon CloudWatch, AWS Systems Manager, AWS CloudFormation, Amazon Simple Email Service (SES), Amazon Simple Queue Service (SQS), Amazon Elastic Container Service (Amazon ECS), Amazon CloudFront CDN, Amazon Athena, Amazon ElastiCache, Amazon Simple Notification Service (Amazon SNS), Boto 3, AWS IAM, VPN, SQL Management Studio

Platforms

Amazon EC2, Amazon Web Services (AWS), AWS Lambda, Linux

Languages

SQL, Python 3, Python, Snowflake

Frameworks

Windows PowerShell

Storage

SQL Server DBA, SQL Server 2016, SQL Server 2012, SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS), Databases, SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS), SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS), Database Architecture, SQL Performance, Database Administration (DBA), Microsoft SQL Server, Amazon S3 (AWS S3), Amazon Aurora, Amazon EFS, Redshift, Amazon DynamoDB, Redis Cache, Memcached, IIS SQL Server, Azure SQL Databases

Paradigms

Automation

Other

IIS, Data Architecture, Performance Tuning, Monitoring, Amazon Route 53, Storage, Identity & Access Management (IAM), Autoscaling, Amazon API Gateway, Billing, Events, AWS SDK for Python (Boto3), VPN Data Entry, Azure Data Factory

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