What I do

I’m an Oracle database engineer, developer, and trainer who uses compelling narrative to motivate and educate without diluting or oversimplifying technical subjects. My novel history in IT and diverse industry background allow me to identify and implement solutions that balance practical needs against business concerns, bridging the divide between leadership and technical teams.

I’ve worked as a database reliability engineer, administrator, architect, and developer in industries across the spectrum of manufacturing, e-commerce & retail, logistics & transportation, pharmaceuticals & medicine, gaming, entertainment, utilities, military & defense, federal/state/local government, scientific research, nuclear energy, and higher education.

How it started…

Years ago I was working as an Oracle developer. At the company holiday party, pointing people out for my wife so she could put faces to the coworkers I talked about.

“Who’s that?” she asked.

It was one of our DBAs. She asked what a DBA did and I explained it was a horrible, awful job. They worked ridiculous hours and everyone hated them because they were the ones that told people “No.”

“I’ll never be a DBA” I told her.

A few weeks later our DBAs left for lucrative consulting gigs. The manager assigned DBA duties to me and another developer while they looked for replacements. Except they didn’t. They never hired anyone. Rather than doing double-duty—developer and DBA—I took a new job as… a DBA. That was in 1996 and I haven’t looked back. Turns out I love being a DBA and my wife loves to remind me to never say “never.”

The origin of “Oracle Sean”

That same shop had two Seans and two Bobs in IT, one of each working with Oracle and help desk. When someone wanted to identify a specific Sean or Bob in IT, they prefixed our names with the group we worked in: Help Desk Bob or Oracle Bob, Help Desk Sean or Oracle Sean.

It stuck.