And now.. ACE Director!

This post is also available in: Português

This year started with some great news for me! Some days ago, on Jan 8th 2020, I received an email from the ACE Program saying that my application for ACE Director was accepted! After I confirmed the membership terms, the next day Jan 9th 2020, this was officially published!

Another stage in my career as an Oracle DBA begins, but the origins of this date back many years before, and I decided to write this post to share how this trajectory went from my first article and my first Oracle event to where I am today. If you are interested in the ACE Program, I hope the tips help!

How it started (briefly)...

• 2014, April 14th

I was already working with DB for some years. Reading about the ACE Program, I decided that it would be cool to share some Oracle Database scripts and tutorials. A lot of things I did in my day-to-day life I couldn't find on the internet and then I thought: "when I write something that I can't find, probably someone else looking for the same topic will end up on my website". That is how my website, DBARJ (RJ is valid for both the initials of my name and that of my city) was born. I tried to remove the "com.BR" but at the time, there was already a USA farm site that had stolen my idea =]

• 2014, July 19th

I decided it would be interesting to start participating in community events! I didn't know anyone yet (no one at all) .. researching local user groups, I discovered the Brazilian User Group event, GUOB! I signed up for it. At the time, I paid R$ 400 (~ US$100 as of today), I think the best invested money I ever did up to date (you'll soon see why).

• 2014, August 2nd

GUOB was awesome! I saw that the database world was much bigger than I thought and there are many very smart guys around Brazil. But what most caught my attention was the session of Alex Zaballa (at that time, still unknown to me) "How to become an OCM". For me, OCM was something distant and apparently impossible, but this presentation was an inspiration. That day I've decided to become one.

• • Note the comment I made in his post by that time. =] (http://alexzaballa.blogspot.com/2014/08/apresentacoes-guob-tech-day-otn-tour-la.html)
  • The session is still available today on SlideShare (http://www.slideshare.net/alex_zaballa/how-to-become-an-oracle-certified-master-guob-tech-day-otn-tour-la-brazil-2014)

• 2014, October 22nd

I started to implement the OCM 11g plan! My target was to take the within 1 year. For each topic I studied for the exam, I wrote an article. With that, I consolidated a huge study guide material on my website (which was responsible for the largest number of accesses I got). This blog has long served as a "Guide to OCM" to many people. As the posts are in English, I started to have more international than national access. https://www.dbarj.com.br/en/ocm-11g-preparation/ .

• 2015, Novemeber 20th

I took the OCM exam on the October 14th and 15th and received the result 35 long days later! I became an OCM! I couldn't be happier!

• 2016, January 15th

At the GUOB 2015, I asked some ACEs how to become one, and at the time I was instructed to talk with Pablo Ciccarello. With his help, I decided it was time to become an ACE Associate. My website had a lot of content and he agreed that it would be possible to enter this first level! I did a self-apply, submitting all my contributions to him. I received the "Oracle ACE Associate Award Invitation" about a month later: January 15th, 2016. That was my first step in the ACE Program!

• 2016, July 30th

2016 I started the year as an ACE Associate. So it was time to start speaking on the events, and I got my first accept as a speaker at GUOB 2016! Session title: " Oracle Database Advanced Securing"! DB security is one of my favorite topics. Now my content sharing came not only via my websites and tools, but also through presentations.

• 2016, September-November
  • It was the first OOW I went to, where I had the honor of getting to know several ACE Directors and international speakers, such as Franck Pachot, Frits Hoogland, Carlos Sierra, Kerry Osborne, among others (if I type them all here, it will take me 2 hours) .
  • I also spoke at GUORS (Oracle Users Group of Rio Grande do Sul) at the end of that year!
  • At the end of that year, I joined Enkitec!

• 2017, September 12th

I had barely passed OCM 11g and months later OCM 12c was already available! 2017 I focused on upgrading this certification! I've also written the entire study guide and steps for the upgrade on this blog: https://www.dbarj.com.br/en/ocm-12c-preparation/. I started studying on March 1st, took the test on August 14th and the result arrived on September 12th! I passed !! =]

• 2017, 23 de Agosto

After almost 1 and a half years as an ACE Associate, I sent an email to the ACE program requesting a level up! I did a self-apply again. As I was even more inside the community spirit, giving sessions at events and going to international conferences, I thought it would be possible. It took them 2 months to analyze, and the answer came!

• 2019, July 1st

I was invited to join GUOB now as one of the board members! That User Group which 5 years ago I was going for the first time, and changed my life, now I was also there as a member, to be responsible for supporting and helping to change the lives of others. It was an honor for me, and I hope to stay for as long as my contributions are taking the community forward!

• 2019, July - September

2019 was the year that I also started to speak at international events! With that, I gained even greater visibility from other countries User Groups. There were 3 main locations:

• • ArOUG - Argentina
  • POUG - Poland
  • OOW - US

• 2020, January 9th

When I was at OOW in 2019 with Marcus Vinícius and Alex Zaballa, both from Enkitec and who were also speakers, at some point they asked: "Man, why don't you apply for ACE Director? You do publish articles, tools, give sessions and is also known by the community. Why don't you try?" This conversation (extremely shortened here) was another turning point.

I had thought about this possibility a while before, but the truth is that this "Director" title was never really an aspiration or goal. I was satisfied as an ACE, I did not aim for anything above that.. until their encouragement opened my eyes and I saw that this extra step would be important to me and that I was also capable. I owe them a lot for the conversations. So I planned to try this by the end of the year!

As most of you may know, to become an "ACE Director", unlike other levels where your contributions are exclusively what counts, you need an indication of at least one Product Manager from Oracle and at least at least two ACE Directors who do not work with you. I then talked with two friends that I made over the years, after many twists and turns through conferences: Matheus Boesing (DBA from Rio Grande do Sul - Brazil) and Franck Pachot (DBA from France).

I know Matheus since GUOB 2015! At that time, we were just 2 listeners absorbing everything that those experts were presenting! Good times! Since then, I met him in practically all GUOB and even outside the country, at ArOUG - Argentina.

Franck, on the other hand, I meet him every year at OOW, since 2016! In 2019, we met in other international oracle events and also in Switzerland, during a vacation trip. If I had to list 5 best DBAs I have ever met, he would be on that list. A simple and extremely intelligent guy that I admire a lot.

Finally, as Product Manager, I asked for support from the database upgrade genius guy: Mike Dietrich. I met him at several GUOBs and OOWs events! Pablo Ciccarello was also in to support this nomination!

This application was the longest of the three levels. It took about 3 months of analysis before I was officially invited by our ACE Program representative, Jennifer!

I would like once again to show my eternal gratitude to all the names I have already mentioned in this post, in addition to all those who helped me get to where I am now, directly or indirectly.

And now? What changes as ACE Director?

A lot of people wonder what changes .. what is the difference between ACE and ACE Director? Well, what Oracle expects from us, ACE Directors, is that we are even more engaged and committed to Oracle technology, actively participating in the community, national and international events, actively interacting with Product Teams giving feedback on the tools, etc. In short, give our best to the company.

As benefits, I would say that the main difference is having the chance to be sponsored to attend community events, as long as I get accepted as a speaker and where there is also interest by the ACE Program. Annually, ACE Directors are also invited for a "Product Briefing", where we meet with Product Managers and receive an overview of the main changes in products and services offered by Oracle.

Next steps?

I've been asked: "What comes after ACE Director? ACE VP?" .. in fact what comes next is the eternal search for knowledge which we, in this IT world, must always seek to not be left behind.
In addition, sharing knowledge is the key. Today I am only where I am after reading many articles and posts written by people who thought so.. and I try to give back by helping the community.

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