What does a typical workday look like to you?
Typically, I have the Oracle SQL Developer tool open and look for slow SQL queries in my clients' databases, then rewrite them to be faster or find alternative methods.
Which technologies do you work with?
Mainly Oracle SQL, and Oracle PL/SQL, and then I work with a bit of everything needed in the project in question.
The SQL language is necessary to work with data in the database, and the more you can utilize all facets of SQL, the better and faster the application can run. And thus you save on CPU (Central Processing Unit), which in turn means money on the bottom line in these Cloud times.
What drives you at work and in your role, what's fun?
I am driven by my professional pride. I thrive when I create value for the customer. Or when a customer has a good experience with something I've created, for example making the customer's applications faster. I am also proud when a colleague or developers elsewhere in the world do something smart that they have learned/received tips from me. They may have received tips through my work, via the internet or from my book.
Cool - you've written your own book - can you tell us a bit more about it?
The name of the book is Practical Oracle SQL and is a book for those who already know basic SQL, but who would like to learn how to make more efficient SQL statements by utilizing the all the features modern SQL supports (rather than sticking to the SQL-92 standard.) I started as a speaker at conferences in 2012 by giving lectures on analytical functions based on practical examples from my everyday life, and it turned out that the participants learned much better because it was practically oriented. After several years as a speaker, Apress encouraged me to write a book that similarly teaches about more advanced SQL via practical examples - I have used a fictitious beer trading company as an example in the book.
During the Oracle Community Tour this autumn you gave several lectures, can you say a little more about this?
Yes, I am so lucky that I was offered by OUGN (Oracle User Group Norway) to entertain a whole afternoon with three lectures: "Analytical functions in real life" with a review of some practical examples (for developers in the same target group as the book), "External Tables" about the possibilities of using data from external files directly into SQL statements (both for developers and DBAs), as well as "Shape-Changing SQL" about different ways of "building SQL" as a tool to expanding the possibilities of SQL (for the most hardcore SQL developers .) As you can see, a good mix of topics, but I hope the audience had an exciting afternoon and that they learned a few new things.
What is the best thing about working in Cegal?
Nice colleagues to share experiences with and great clients with interesting tasks that give me a lot of variety in my work.
Which app do you use the most?
It will probably have to be Twitter (which is a hair's breadth ahead of Gmail.) On Twitter I have my largest network of friends and colleagues in the Oracle world.
What is your favorite quote?
I don't just have a specific one - there could be many different ones. But the closest is probably the favorite answer most IT people can give: "It depends!!" - Maybe not a specific quote, but I always think of Tom Kyte when I use it.
Tom Kyte (the original Tom at asktom.oracle.com) has always been a great role model of mine, and he often replied "It depends!" to indicate in the answers that there is almost never a 100% general answer that covers all cases - there will almost always be different correct answers in different circumstances.
