Last night I had the opportunity to attend the Oracle ACE dinner. Maybe I should clarify that by saying I showed up, grabbed a seat, and managed to avoid getting tossed out. As you might have guessed, I’m not an Oracle ACE but that didn’t stop me from rubbing shoulders with them for several hours. (It seemed to help that I had a BLOGGER pass to Open World…)
For their efforts they got a nice dinner and a free jacket with the Oracle ACE logo on it. But more importantly they got to meet and interact with each other.
There were probably 100 people there. Down at my end of the table I was seated with individuals from Kuwait, Oregon, Netherlands, and Austin. That was a clear indication of the global nature of the Oracle products and their ability to transcend cultural and geographic differences.
What they shared in common was a deep expertise in specific areas of Oracle technologies. The other common element was their involvement in sharing their expertise in different ways by presenting, teaching, responding to questions on forums, and writing articles.
Next to me were two ACEs who regularly interact on the Oracle Technology Network (OTN) Forums providing responses to the many questions that are posted. These two ACE’s had never met in person but through their efforts on the Forums they had developed a friendship which was evident at the table. They live in time-zones that are 10 hours apart so they joked about how they can tag-team the forum, one responding while the other sleeps.
As I listened to their conversations and their various interests I came away from the evening with a greater appreciation for these individuals and the role that they play in improving the Oracle environment. Keep in mind that they still have regular jobs, so their efforts as an ACE are just one more responsibility they have to juggle. I for one appreciate their efforts and that of Oracle to recognize them. They deserve it.
Incidentally, if you’re entering Triora Group’s “Oracle Open World Get Me Some Bling!” contest, I’ve highlighted the answer to today’s question. Just click on the answer, and you’ll be taken to the questionnaire.
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7 responses so far ↓
1 An ACE outsider looks in | Programmer's Edge // Oct 1, 2008 at 1:09 pm
[...] a nice post on the Triora Group blog, Robert McMillen recounts his experience crashing last week’s Oracle ACE dinner, and in the [...]
2 An ACE outsider looks in (ArchBeat) // Oct 1, 2008 at 1:12 pm
[...] a nice post on the Triora Group blog, Robert McMillen recounts his experience crashing last week’s Oracle ACE dinner, and in the process [...]
3 Marco Gralike // Oct 2, 2008 at 5:38 pm
Cool post !
Grz from The Dutch Guy
4 OpenWorld 2008: A Few of My Favorite Things | Programmer's Edge // Oct 2, 2008 at 6:14 pm
[...] the opportunity to interact in person. (For an interesting perspective from an ACE outsider, read this post from Robert McMillen.) The number and quality of new ideas that fall out of these meetings is just [...]
5 OpenWorld 2008: A Few of My Favorite Things (OTN TechBlog) // Oct 2, 2008 at 6:31 pm
[...] the opportunity to interact in person. (For an interesting perspective from an ACE outsider, read this post from Robert McMillen.) The number and quality of new ideas that fall out of these meetings is just [...]
6 Hussein Sawwan // Oct 6, 2008 at 1:07 am
Hi Robert,
It was nice meeting you (and Oracle ACEs) in person.
Thanks for writing this experience, it is really appreciated
Hussein – Kuwait (+3:00 GMT)
7 Michael Taylor // Oct 6, 2008 at 5:22 pm
Hi Robert,
I was fortunate to be seated at the ACE dinner with my friend from Kuwait who was just upgraded from a virtual OTN colleague, and the blogger who wrote the most eloquent description of the event on the Net so far.
Thanks for capturing the moment for us.
Michael - Oregon
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