I help teams get more out of their data: SQL that runs faster, databases that hold up as they grow, and practical ways of using AI in everyday data work.

I’ve done this hands-on for 20 years, across Oracle, SQL Server, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Snowflake and Databricks. Today I work at Remote on an enterprise data platform, author data and AI courses for Pluralsight, and teach SQL to people starting careers in data.

Data consulting

I help when your database or SQL work isn’t doing what you need. Typical situations:

• Queries and reports that have become slow, and you need to know why
• Applications that block or slow down when many users work at once
• A database or data model you want to get right before everything is built on it
• PL/SQL or T-SQL code that has become hard to maintain or troubleshoot
• Moving or connecting data to Snowflake, Databricks or other cloud platforms
• Figuring out where AI features fit into your SQL Server or data workflows

My strongest focus is Oracle and SQL development. You get a clear diagnosis, a fix your team can maintain, and an explanation they can learn from.

Team training

Practical training for teams that need to work with data or AI more confidently:

• Developers and analysts: SQL from fundamentals to advanced querying, database design, performance tuning
• Data engineers: data modeling, data warehousing, cloud data platforms
• Business teams: prompt engineering and practical uses of AI agents

Sessions use real business scenarios, demos and hands-on exercises, so people can apply what they learned the next day. The format and length are shaped around your team’s level and goals, from a focused workshop to a longer course.

I spent 10 years teaching databases and programming at Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași, I mentor on Wantsome’s accredited Data Analyst & Data Engineer program, and I’ve published 15 video courses on Pluralsight. You can get a feel for how I teach from the courses below.

Built in production

Since 2010, I’ve been the go-to database engineer for an enterprise sales performance management platform. It calculates commissions and incentives for Fortune 500 and FTSE 100 companies and processes tens of millions of rows of data a day. On that platform, I’ve:

• Built and maintained the Oracle code behind its data processing, including data migrations and troubleshooting failed loads
• Delivered direct database access so clients can query their own data from their BI tools, with read-only permissions
• Helped build an MCP server prototype that lets AI agents query client data in natural language, through controlled read-only access
• Delivered recurring data reports for clients, leadership, professional services and product teams, and supported the company’s AI initiatives

The situations listed above are the ones I deal with on this platform every day.

Get in touch

Have a data problem or a team to train? Email me at lucian@lucianlazar.com with a few lines about your situation.

Learn with me live

Courses where you learn in real time and can ask questions as you go:

• Native SQL For Developers (Maven)
• Introduction to Databases (Wantsome, in Romanian)
• Data Analyst & Data Engineer (Wantsome, in Romanian; I teach the SQL sessions)

Learn at your own pace

If you prefer to learn on your own schedule, these Pluralsight video courses cover AI, SQL and data platforms.

AI in data work

• AI in SQL Server 2025
• Agentic AI in Retail
• Prompt Engineering for Communications

SQL and database development

• Data Modeling Core Concepts
• Advanced SQL Server Triggers: Optimizing and Troubleshooting
• Oracle PL/SQL: Using Subprograms
• Oracle PL/SQL: Working with Composite Data Types
• NoSQL Foundations: Document Databases

Data engineering and cloud

• Query and Explore Data in Databricks SQL
• Databricks Certified Data Analyst: SQL in the Lakehouse
• Data Warehousing for Data Engineers
• Streaming Data Pipelines with AWS
• Data Transformation in Alteryx
• Understanding AWS Cost Drivers
• AWS Cost Governance

Free projects

Open-source Oracle frameworks you can use and adapt in your own applications:

• Application Locking: a PL/SQL framework that adds an application-level locking layer to reduce waits and deadlocks in busy multi-user Oracle applications. I built it after tracing a slow application with hundreds of concurrent users, and it removed almost all of its deadlocks.
• Menu Permissions: an Oracle data model and PL/SQL framework that stores your application’s navigation menu in the database and shows each user only the items they’re allowed to access.

If you’d like help adapting one of them to your application, get in touch.