Julie Zimmerman

Database & Data Architecture

Designing data systems that preserve meaning while they move.

I build data pipelines, schemas, synchronization systems, and migration strategies for environments where stale or malformed data has immediate operational consequences.

My background includes Oracle enterprise systems, MySQL and MariaDB applications, SQL Server and FileMaker integrations, RETS and RESO real-estate feeds, and privacy-preserving synthetic datasets exceeding one million records.

Philosophy

Engineering Philosophy

Data architecture is the discipline of keeping meaning intact across systems, time, and scale.

A correct schema reflects the real business rules, not just the current screen.

  • Imports and migrations need explicit validation and recovery paths.
  • Synchronization should make freshness, ownership, and failure visible.
  • Privacy can often be protected through architecture rather than policy alone.

Privacy can often be protected through architecture rather than policy alone.

Problems

Problems I Solve

The most valuable work usually begins where a system has accumulated complexity, operational risk, or assumptions no one has revisited.

  • RETS-to-RESO migration and field normalization
  • Cron-driven ingestion under API limits
  • Cross-system identifiers and duplicate prevention
  • Large representative synthetic datasets
  • Legacy database analysis and migration planning

Approach

How I Work

I trace data from source to consumer before changing it. That includes field semantics, timing, transformations, identifiers, permissions, and the behavior of downstream systems.

I design for partial failure: resumable imports, validation checkpoints, useful logs, and clear distinctions between source truth, derived data, and cached presentation.

Selected Projects

Work that makes the method visible.

RETS to RESO Data Architecture

Modernization of real-estate ingestion while preserving field meaning and downstream behavior.

  • Field mapping and normalization
  • Migration validation
  • Compatibility with existing search and display systems

Enterprise Synthetic Student Data

Perl generators producing more than one million privacy-preserving Oracle records for performance testing.

  • Representative randomized data
  • FERPA-aware testing approach
  • Repeatable enterprise-scale generation

Real-Estate Synchronization Systems

Cron-driven high-volume data pulls engineered around API limits and freshness requirements.

  • Incremental synchronization
  • Failure visibility and recovery
  • High-stakes listing data

Job Costing & Purchase Order Applications

PHP/MySQL tools that replaced opaque or single-user business processes.

  • Accurate labor-cost visibility
  • Shared browser-based workflows
  • Legacy FileMaker integration

Experience

Representative experience.

Zee Creative · 2011–Present

Lead Web Developer

Lead developer and systems architect for a large, long-lived portfolio of production websites and integrations.

  • 250+ active web environments
  • Custom application and integration development
  • Technical standards, migration planning, launch QA, and incident response

SunGard Higher Education · approximately 8 years

Lead Software Engineer

Technical lead in enterprise higher-education software, working across large Oracle systems, performance testing, defect analysis, and release delivery.

  • Synthetic data generation exceeding one million records
  • Defect cross-reference and recurrence prevention
  • Enterprise release estimation and delivery

Technologies

Core technologies and areas of focus.

Databases

MySQLMariaDBOracleSQL ServerFileMaker Pro

Data Engineering

SQLPL/SQLETLRETSRESO Web APIODBCJDBC

Focus

Schema DesignData IntegritySynchronizationMigrationSynthetic DataValidation

Business Value

Why data integrity matters

A pipeline can run successfully while still delivering the wrong meaning. Reliable architecture tests more than transport: it verifies semantics, freshness, completeness, and downstream behavior.

That discipline reduces customer-facing errors, failed migrations, and the hidden cost of reconciling systems after trust has been lost.

Contact

Let's Talk

For technical leadership, architecture, modernization, or complex systems work, contact me directly.

Contact Julie
Moving data is easy. Preserving its meaning is the engineering work.