/database-performance

Database and query performance, measured

I started my career building database performance tooling, and I have been tuning databases since. My approach: profile first, change one thing, measure again.

What I've done

  • Cut partner API response times 60% by removing expensive joins, partitioning indexes and pruning payloads.
  • Fixed endpoint timeouts using SQL analysis, database performance tools and OpenTelemetry tracing.
  • Reduced production cache memory 44% (peak utilization 94% → 56%) and built a shared client library with cluster-aware pooling and sane TTLs.
  • Moved cache serialization from Java to Protobuf 3 with zero downtime, saving over $1M a year.
  • Co-founded a SQL performance review committee; built storage growth prediction that was 70% more accurate.

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