Gregory Mikolay, a Senior Oracle Developer based in Salt Lake City, Utah, outlines what individuals should expect over the next year across Oracle PL/SQL development, SQL performance tuning, and enterprise database operations.
Utah, US, 25th February 2026, ZEX PR WIRE, Gregory Mikolay, Senior Oracle Developer and Oracle database consultant focused on PL/SQL development and performance tuning, is sharing a practical one-year outlook for individuals working in Oracle database development, application tuning, and enterprise reporting environments.
Gregory Mikolay’s outlook is shaped by more than two decades in IT and a career spent inside high-demand transactional systems, data warehouse environments, and reporting stacks that span Oracle EBS tooling and related enterprise workflows. Over the next year, he expects the work to keep moving toward higher urgency, higher scrutiny on performance, and faster cycles of change inside organizations.
I have embarked on several Career Paths throughout my life.
Looking to become an integral part of a team of individuals involved in all areas of development, from designing applications to troubleshooting database applications and software.
What changed recently
Across enterprise environments, the day-to-day expectations around database work have tightened. The technical bar remains high, but the bigger shift is operational: data sets are larger, systems are pushed harder, teams are more distributed, and the tolerance for slowdowns is lower.
Gregory Mikolay’s recent consulting work at Elite Data Partners has centered on PL/SQL development and database and application performance tuning for clients, often in hybrid settings. His prior role at Young Living Essential Oils combined Agile development with an on-call support model for promotions, requiring rapid context switching between planned work and urgent delivery support.
Position required one’s ability to switch between a market/customer ad hoc/on call support model for promotions and agile for development tasks.
What people are getting wrong
Gregory Mikolay sees individuals underestimate how much performance work is now a full-time mindset, not a periodic cleanup. Many treat tuning as something you do only when a system is already strained. In practice, tuning starts earlier: with table designs, table relationships, application interactions with database objects, query design, indexing optimization strategies, package design, and an ongoing habit of validating how changes behave under load.
He also sees individuals over-focus on tools and under-focus on fundamentals: clean SQL, readable PL/SQL, careful use of triggers, and clear documentation that survives team handoffs. In environments where business needs and technical constraints collide, long-term reliability often depends on consistency and communication, not clever shortcuts.
Known for precision and persistence, Gregory brings deep technical fluency to every project, often serving as a critical link between engineering teams and business units.
What is likely to get harder next year
Gregory Mikolay expects pressure to increase in four areas:
Faster turnaround demands for production support and ad hoc needs
Higher expectations for cross-team coordination across remote and offshore structures
More attention to performance and data integrity alignment with business requirements
Less tolerance for fragile fixes that do not scale
The strongest contributors will be those who can move between building and stabilizing. That includes the ability to tune SQL and PL/SQL, partner effectively with DBAs, and balance performance gains against real constraints like load, memory, and disk parameters.
Additional tasks required performance tuning of PL/SQL programs, SQL queries, creating indexes and working with DBA’s on database performance tuning measures balancing performance with resources/load/memory/disk parameters.
What will work
Mikolay expects the most durable approach to be practical, repeatable habits:
Treat performance as a design requirement, not a rescue task
Build change discipline around packages, procedures, functions, and triggers
Invest in collaboration habits that hold up in hybrid and distributed teams
Keep documentation and technical design artifacts current
Stay fluent across the stack you support, including reporting and ETL where relevant
His experience spans transactional systems support, data warehouse ETL development on Oracle 19c, 12g, 11g, Oracle Reports and Discoverer environments, and enterprise support structures that connect IT delivery to business needs.
Data points from Gregory Mikolay’s background
These figures reflect the operating realities that shape Gregory Mikolay’s outlook:
20+ years in the IT industry
Consulting at Elite Data Partners since June 2022 (3 years 9 months)
Young Living Essential Oils role: Feb 2018 to May 2022 (4 years 4 months)
Crown Point Ecology contract: Jan 2016 to Feb 2018 (2 years 2 months)
Signet Jewelers role: Jan 2013 to Jan 2016 (3 years 1 month)
Fox Chapel Area High School graduation: 1986
Associate’s Degree completion: 1999, summa cum laude, with a 4.0 grade
Three scenarios for the next 12 months and the best individual actions
Optimistic scenario
Workflows stabilize. Teams get clearer on ownership. Performance work is planned earlier and executed more consistently.
Best individual actions:
Standardize a personal checklist for SQL and PL/SQL review before deployment
Build a repeatable approach to indexing strategy and query validation
Maintain a living library of patterns for packages, procedures, and common tuning fixes
Realistic scenario
Demand remains high. Priorities shift often. Support work and development work keep colliding, especially around promotions, reporting, and peak operational windows.
Best individual actions:
Practice fast context switching with a tight note-taking and handoff routine
Keep tuning skills sharp by regularly reviewing execution plans and query behavior
Strengthen working relationships with DBAs and adjacent teams to shorten diagnosis time
Cautious scenario
More unplanned work lands in production. Systems run closer to the edge. Teams are stretched, and small inefficiencies create outsized disruption.
Best individual actions:
Focus on stability first: simplify brittle SQL, use effective PL/SQL code, reduce unnecessary complexity
Create rollback-aware deployment habits and clear validation steps
Push for documentation discipline so fixes do not disappear with team changes
Readers can choose a scenario, optimistic, realistic, or cautious, and commit to the matching steps for the next 12 months. Start with the checklist and habits that fit your environment, then make them routine. The work compounds over time, especially in performance tuning and enterprise database support.
About Gregory Mikolay
Gregory Mikolay is a Senior Oracle Developer and Oracle database consultant based in Salt Lake City, Utah. He focuses on Oracle PL/SQL development, SQL performance tuning, and enterprise database support and optimization, with experience across transactional systems, data warehouse ETL work, and reporting environments.
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