"Tell me about a time when you solved a problem using a database query, and then documented your solution.

Problems Solved

We solve problems in daily life every day, sometimes every hour, or even fraction thereof. Specifically, with reference to a time where I solved a problem in the workplace by using a database query, I offer the following episode. Further to your question, I documented my solution as follows.

Situation Problem Action Result Scope
Candidate is jobless. Submitting tailored job applications is time consuming and error prone. Implement CV as Flask web app. Print CV to PDF after quick customization. This important face-to-face. Specific
Primark buyer has retail stock missing of a significant value. Stock to me matched in Ceva system matching criteria from IPMS excluding order number. Modify existing IPMS database lookup to display characteristic data for missing stock (size, color, count). Publish findings and updated query to own team. Missing stock accounted for. General
IPMS suffered frequent system outage during production hours. Status of in-flight jobs had to be deterimined manually after system restart. Designed and developed Python desktop app to take screenshots of application admin interace, OCR the screenshots and provide text output of log data. Time to application restart reduced by upwards of 80%; errror due to manual entry eliminated. Application success documented in successive monthly reports. General
IPMS suffered frequent system outage during production hours. Status of in-flight jobs had to be deterimined for next steps. IPMS back-end interface did not allow export or mouse pointer copy-paste. Designed and developed Python desktop app to take screenshots of application admin interace, OCR the screenshots and provide text output of log data. Time to announce restoration of system service reduced by upwards of 80%; errror due to manual entry eliminated. Application success documented in successive monthly reports. General
Consistent translation Human expert transliteration is error prone. Created Python script to perform transliteration algorithmically. Provided superior quality output to customer. Completed work for other agents who could not deliver. Provided superior quality output to customer. Not documented externally. General
Publishing secure website from Heroku For security validation in all major browsers, DNS targets, ANAME, ALIAS and CNAME forwarding rules must be correct. Heroku LetsEncrypt certificates are verified in Heroku Admin UI; DNS proxies and SNI targets are verified on the command line. DNS targets are verified with dig and host Linux command line queries. Authoritative DNS records are set in registration service and third party DNS service. Security validation in all major browsers can be set by pointing.
  • Base domain name ALIAS record to unsecured Heroku DNS target
  • www domain name ALIAS record to secured Heroku DNS target
  • Wildcard * domain name CNAME record to wildcard Heroku DNS target
 General
Jobless Profile Accelerate and document findings. This important face-to-face. General

Database Management Applications