Miklos Szel
Senior Database Architect

Miklos Szel

I help keep your large-scale websites alive. Specializing in MySQL, ProxySQL, high-availability architectures, and the infrastructure that never sleeps.

Trusted by teams at
Location Vienna, Austria
Focus MySQL · HA · Infrastructure
25+ yrs Linux
10+ yrs AWS
20+ yrs MySQL
100M+ users scaled
01

About

Database consultant and infrastructure engineer with deep expertise in MySQL and ProxySQL, building and scaling large-scale website architecture. A Linux user since 1997 and working with MySQL since its first public release (3.23) in 2000, I bring over two decades of hands-on experience with planning, installing, and running HA systems on-prem, SaaS, DBaaS, and cloud-native environments.

With 10+ years on AWS/EC2 and deep experience in IaC with Terraform and Ansible, I apply best practices, discover weaknesses, and make everything click together — from query optimization and schema design to high-availability setups that keep businesses running 24/7.

Experienced handling highly sensitive data — from children's data (COPPA) to medical records (HIPAA) — with a deep understanding of PII, GDPR, and data protection best practices. Verified through multiple background checks by the NSA and the Canadian government.

Experienced in AI-driven development with high priority on security, safeguarding, and data protection.

Co-founder of the Budapest MySQL Meetup and Budapest Database Meetup, contributing to the database community through speaking, teaching, knowledge sharing, and open source projects.
02

Experience

Tixr Current
Senior Database Architect · Contract
Mar 2023 – Present · Remote
Edmodo
Senior Database Architect
Oct 2015 – Dec 2022 · 7 yrs 3 mos
  • Ensured MySQL performance, availability, and stability for a platform with 75+ million users
  • Kept MySQL running during 25x pandemic growth — from 200k to 5 million QPS in 3 weeks, with 24 million new user registrations
  • Reduced MySQL operational costs by 40%
  • Migrated 12 million users to a new DC with minimal downtime
  • Automated all DB-related tasks: scaling, deployment, schema changes, monitoring, and configuration management (Ansible, Bash, Python)
SysOwn Co. Ltd. — the company behind ProxySQL
Senior Consultant · Contract
Jan 2017 – Dec 2018 · 2 yrs
  • Helped companies adopt ProxySQL — worked with CTOs and dev teams to create cost-efficient, reliable MySQL setups
  • Performed emergency MySQL performance audits
  • Recurrent healthchecks for ProxySQL customers
Pythian / PalominoDB
Senior MySQL Consultant & Engineer
Feb 2014 – Oct 2015 · 1 yr 9 mos
  • DB platform consultancy, schema and query design
  • Ensuring HA, stability, and performance for enterprise clients
  • Worked closely with Adobe, eBay, Zendesk, SendGrid, Fitbit, Okta
  • On-call rotation
The Walt Disney Company
Senior System Administrator & MySQL DBA
Oct 2010 – Jan 2014 · 3 yrs 4 mos · Budapest
  • Re-designed the Disney International MySQL HA platform across APAC, LATAM, and EMEA
  • MySQL performance tuning for sites with 5 million DAU
  • Ran ~100 servers for ESPN Cricinfo — the largest Cricket site in the world (2–6M daily unique visitors, 25 billion pageviews during peak, Alexa Rank #177)
Invitel
ITC Internet Engineer / Server Administrator
Oct 2007 – Oct 2010 · 3 yrs 1 mo · Budapest
  • Server planning, racking, installation and operations (Linux/Solaris/OpenBSD)
  • Developed intranet/internet applications
03

Open Source

Featured Project

ProxyWeb

An open-source web interface for managing and monitoring ProxySQL instances. Multi-server support, inline table editing, built-in SQL editor, config comparison across Disk/Memory/Runtime layers, and role-based access control — all from the browser.
Python ProxySQL Docker GPL-3.0
proxyweb.org GitHub Percona Live Talk
04

Publications & Talks

"Introducing ProxyWeb — The Open Source Web Interface for ProxySQL"

2021 · Percona Live 2021 · proxyweb.org · Video
Percona Live 2021 - ProxyWeb ▶

"Pandemic — A Tale of 25x Growth in Three Weeks"

2021 · Percona Live · Slides (PDF) · Video
Pandemic - A Tale of 25x Growth in Three Weeks ▶

"Painless MySQL HA, Scalability and Flexibility"

Feb 2017 · FOSDEM · MySQL and Friends devroom · Video · FOSDEM Archive

"Infrastructure Review — Shining a Light on the Black Box"

2016 · Percona Live

"Utilizing Ansible to Manage a Highly Available MySQL Environment"

2015 · Percona Live Santa Clara

"MySQL Break/Fix Lab"

2015 · Percona Live Santa Clara · Workshop

"Scale MySQL on EC2 with Ansible"

2015 · Full Stack Meetup

"MySQL Break/Fix Lab"

2014 · Percona Live London · Workshop
05

Certifications

☍

Oracle Certified Professional, MySQL 5.6

Oracle · January 2016

✓

ITIL Foundation Certificate in IT Service Management

AXELOS · September 2011

06

Community

Co-founder

Budapest MySQL Meetup

Building the MySQL community in Budapest since November 2016. Regular meetups, talks, and knowledge sharing.

Co-founder

Budapest Database Meetup

Broader database community meetup covering MySQL, PostgreSQL, and emerging database technologies.

Organiser

Anilogue International Animation Festival

Organised Hungary's premier animation festival from 2007 to 2014.

07

Education

🎓

Eszterházy Károly College

2001 – 2005

Let's connect

Got a database challenge? Let's talk.

hello@miklos-szel.com LinkedIn GitHub