#MeetOurTeam – Brian

What does a typical workday look like to you?

I don't have a typical workday. My days vary greatly, but typically consist of a mix of operations and project work, where important projects with customers can quickly change my priorities. But that is exactly what makes the work exciting and varied. My tasks include customer meetings, planning, customer projects including establishing new cloud environments, migrating customer environments from on-prem to cloud, configuring new cloud services, database administration and keeping up with any news within cloud services.

Read: With Cegal's monitoring solution, the CIO at Storstrøms Forsikring can sleep well at night >

Which technologies do you work with?

I work primarily with Oracle databases and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI). The latter also involves work with server administration, storage, network and security, as we are working with the entire infrastructure of OCI.

What kind of projects do you typically work on?

Many of my tasks deal with Oracle Cloud "lift-and-shift" and operation. Ie. customers who have their Oracle environment on-prem but want to switch to a cloud-based solution.

Read: Cegal helped Tradedoubler on the journey to Oracle Cloud >

You work as a cloud architect - can you say a little more about that?

Basically, I'm not a cloud architect, but a cloud consultant. In practice, I would say that my job consists of architectural tasks, but as a consultant I also get the opportunity to implement the design. It suits me very well, as I think it's exciting to design new environments together with the customer, but also to have my hands in the engine room and work with the technology.

The tasks include talking about needs with the customer, preparing a budget to run services in the cloud, implementing the infrastructure from scratch in OCI, assessing security, migrating the customer's environments and setting up good monitoring so we have good control of the environment. Then the task is to patch/upgrade the services that are not handled automatically. And when the customer experiences how much more flexible the cloud is compared to on-prem, tasks on new services come up.

What drives you at work and in your role, what's fun?

I want to give our customers a good experience that their important IT systems are in safe hands with us. I'm curious about new possibilities with the Oracle database and especially in Oracle Cloud, which is developing at a fast pace. A big plus in the workday is also knowledge sharing with colleagues.

Brian

Have you taken any exciting certifications?

I try to stay up to date on the development of new OCI services, and for me the best way is to read about it or get a certification. My experience is that in this way you get to know the possibilities you may not need right now, but which a customer can benefit from in the future. Therefore, I must always know the possibilities so that I can give customers advice on the best solution. I have received the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Architect Professional certification, which must be renewed annually.

You work primarily with Oracle, how did you end up in that sphere?

I took a part-time job alongside my computer science studies. At school we worked with databases, which I thought was very exciting. I ended up in an IT company that had an application based on the Oracle database.

Read more about our database services >

What is the best thing about working in Cegal?

I have fantastic and skilled colleagues with whom I can talk to about everyday life and professional disciplines. We have a flat organizational structure, where everyone knows everyone, and where you under responsibility have the freedom to put together your own workday.

Brian

Is there anything else we should know about you?

I feel very privileged. I have a degree in computer science with musicology as a minor. I can make a living from computer science and enjoy music in my spare time. I have sung in the same choir for almost 30 years and played the saxophone since I was 10 years old (unfortunately far too little in recent years).