“Ik kan wel zeggen dat ik nog nooit in zo’n korte tijd zoveel heb geleerd als bij OptimaData en het mooie is ook nog dat leren juist wordt gestimuleerd!”
Craig Healey
DBA Consultant en Database Reliability Engineer
Craig speaking:
I have now been working at OptimaData as a DBA since mid-2017. In my previous working life as a DevOps and Developer, I have always had to deal with databases, but never specifically engaged in deep technical content that involved maintenance and management of the database itself. When I got into conversation with OptimaData and they offered me the opportunity to develop into a (multi-platform) Database Reliability Engineer, I didn’t say that twice.
Never learned so much before
In September I enthusiastically started working and immediately got a job that I had to sink my teeth into. After years of working for 1 fixed end customer in 1 environment with jobs that formed a whole, it took some getting used to being part of a company, with a boss who occasionally says: “It has to be ready in an hour”;-). Switching quickly between different client environments, discussing what you are doing, what your next steps are and coordinating with your colleagues.
But that’s what makes working at OptimaData so much fun! There’s an unprecedented amount of knowledge and expertise in house that you can draw on, the assignments are diverse and my colleagues enjoy sharing their knowledge, and don’t look up from time to time (not too often of course) if you ask a silly question! I immediately felt welcome! This is obviously inspiring! I can say that I’ve never learned so much in such a short time as I have at OptimaData, and the great thing is that learning is actually encouraged!
Acting together
There is a no-nonsense culture, where people work hard and expect something from you, but on the other hand there is also time to spar, exchange ideas with each other, visit meetups and conferences at home and abroad and at the office from time to time to play a nice game of darts, enjoy a nice catered lunch, laugh, drink a beer (or soda), and eat a pizza during the quarterly meeting or a company outing.
Employer for DBAs
Since 2017, I have been working for OptimaData, a company with (when I joined) less than 8 employees. Before that, I only worked for companies with 100+ employees, and things were very different there. What I’m talking about? Appreciation and personal commitment.
When I worked at larger companies, there was appreciation or recognition too, but somehow it feels different now. Often the appreciation came from 1 person who happened to notice that you had worked hard, completed a difficult job or just put a lot of hours into something.
But in a company, where the success of the company depends on (now) “only” 15 people, this is not the same. All successes achieved, no matter how small, are celebrated grandly. All setbacks are felt by everyone.
The togetherness is enormous and this translates into extra fun, extra motivation, extra challenges, extra knowledge, in short many extras that I apparently did not have when I worked at larger companies.
Mentality of appreciating
I never missed this personal involvement and appreciation because I thought I was always appreciated enough. Now that I have experienced that it can be done differently, I would say it to every large company: ‘Value your employees as if you were a company with less than 20 employees.
‘ It’s not about material appreciation, but the mindset of appreciation. Appreciation and recognition should be a company habit that is always there and not an occasional occurrence on special occasions or achievements.
When employees are seen and experience a level of personal commitment to the company, they will work much harder for you and take more initiative to make the company a success. They will be proud of the company they work for, they will stay employed much longer and they will help the company grow.
Would you also like to know what it means to work with us?
Our core values
Expertise in open source
Expertise in advice, setting up, migrating, automated deployment and managing open-source, hybrid and cloud database platforms.
Full-service
All services connected to your database management under one roof: Architecture design, POC, database administration and maintenance, 24/7 standby and support. Remote DBA and onsite database consultancy
Multi-platform
All knowledge for the most common database platforms such as PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, MongoDB, SQL Server, Azure SQL, Sybase and Oracle. One-stop shop.
Professioneel en deskundig
Our consultants are very experienced and knowledgeable about multiple (open source) database platforms.
