As a DBA, all of my best ideas came out of IOUG. I have spent a lot of time after sessions and during gatherings at COLLABORATE talking with my peers about things I was working on or stumped on at work. I have often been shocked at how many times someone had an answer so quickly. But I have figured out that they weren't DBA gods, but rather someone similar to me. They have just had the same issue I had but sooner and had worked on it for hours. I was just getting the benefit of all their time.
Posted April 12, 2018
As the president of the Independent Oracle Users Group I often get asked for advice about which Oracle event to attend—COLLABORATE or Oracle OpenWorld. Sometimes it's just, "What is COLLABORATE?" or even, "Isn't COLLABORATE just a mini Oracle OpenWorld?" These two events are very different, and, depending on your role, one may be better for you than the other.
Posted February 01, 2018
In the past, user groups were the place where you would meet people interested in the same thing you were. Vendors worked with the user groups to communicate new releases, and gather feedback on beta testing and leveraged them as a source for new features. The user group had a library of information, presentations, events, and ways to interact with other users and vendors. Now, with social tools, including Facebook, Slack, and LinkedIn, and powerful search engines such as Google and Bing, the question is: Are user groups still needed? They are, and here is why.
Posted December 01, 2017
Normally, for this column, I would write a technical article or something on leadership. However, recently, I have been dealing with some career choices and I thought it might be interesting to write about my decision-making process. Most of us have had at least one job change. What do you do when you are trying to figure it out? Do you talk to others? Do you think it to death? Is it just a flip of a coin? Below I'm going to highlight my process.
Posted October 18, 2017
On Sunday at Oracle OpenWorld, several Oracle user groups, including the IOUG, will bring the experiences of our users and experts to San Francisco and share with thousands of our peers. If you're coming to OpenWorld, I can't say enough about how important it is to participate in the Sunday Program.
Posted August 24, 2017
You may think your company is behind the curve because you are not 100% in the cloud. Very few companies are there, and most won't make it all the way to 100% due to security, performance, or other strategic reasons. Most, however, are at least getting some workloads into the cloud for price, scalability, and competitive advantage. If you are just starting your journey, here are a few things to consider.
Posted August 09, 2017
Often, when working with technical people, they get excited over the latest and greatest piece of software or hardware. They try and get their management excited, but it seems as if their management just doesn't "get" how good it is.
Posted June 01, 2017