When you need to unlock peak performance, I find what others couldn’t.
Senior Oracle, database, and application engineering — design, build, migrate, tune. 25+ years, deepest in Oracle, with PostgreSQL and AWS/Azure reach. Delivered directly, without staffing-firm overhead.
12 hrs → 3 hrs
Re-architected a serial migration pipeline into parallel streaming — processing windows cut 75% across 5 production datasets.
8 hrs → under 10 sec
Took an Oracle batch process from 8 hours per client to under 10 seconds.
Batch → hourly
Stood up a PostgreSQL (Aurora) data warehouse on AWS with incremental ETL, powering hourly dashboard refreshes.
The senior engineer you call when there’s no room to get it wrong
The hardest database problems don’t announce themselves in advance — they surface at peak load, mid-migration, or the week before a release. That’s when Salamander Systems gets the call.
Salamander is the independent practice of John Wichorek, a senior database and application engineer with 25+ years across healthcare, financial services, market research, and manufacturing. Founded in 1998, it delivers senior engineering directly: the person who scopes the work is the person who does it. No staffing-firm overhead, no bait-and-switch.
And where it can, Salamander solves with the tools you already own — not the ones you’d have to buy.
What I do
- Migrate to the cloud without the slowdown — Oracle and database moves to AWS/Azure, validated after cutover.
- Stand up reporting and dashboards that stay current — ETL and data warehouse design, build, and modernization (Oracle, PostgreSQL, cloud).
- Fix slow queries and long-running jobs — SQL/PL/SQL tuning, AWR/ASH root-cause.
- Build new systems that hold up in production — greenfield system design and back-end development.
- Retire aging and end-of-life systems cleanly — database and application upgrades and EOL transitions.
- Track down why production broke — diagnosis across the database, data, and application layers.
Best-fit engagements
I’m most useful when:
- Oracle-heavy systems are under performance pressure
- A cloud migration is in flight or near a deadline (Oracle → PostgreSQL/Aurora, on AWS/Azure)
- Batch or ETL processes can’t keep up with the business need
- A system behaves differently under load than it did in test
- A team has been stuck on a problem for weeks and could use a second set of eyes
If that sounds familiar, let’s talk.
Have a system that has to work? Let’s talk.
Independent · Remote (EST) · Corp-to-Corp · Currently accepting new engagements.