My favorite Oracle conference starts soon. This year, KScope14 is about much more than going to all the great sessions presented by a phenomenal group of experts.  This time it’s about involvement.  What could I do over the course of the year to contribute to an organization that has been instrumental in the development of my Oracle foundation.

Here is my story.

Year 1: – KScope12
Thanks to meeting Barbara Morris at an APEX meetup, I won a drawing at OpenWorld for a FREE registration to KScope12 in San Antonio, TX.  It was hot, but it was a blast. It was here I met great people like: +Kent Graziano aka Oracle Data Warrior that DataVault guy, +Martin Giffy D’Souza APEX Guru extraordinaire, +Monty Latiolais ODTUG President, the infamous Chet aka +ORACLENERD he’s a BI guy, and +Jeff Smith aka thatjeffsmith. He actually works for Oracle. Among other things makes SQL Developer kick ass and keeps us entertained on twitter.

Of all the sessions I attended that year, there was one session that resonated with me:
APEX: A CEO’s Perspective by Cameron Mahbubian, ClariFit

I walked away from that session with a new purpose; building my reputation. My career goals demanded that I do that.  I dusted off that old Twitter account +dbcapoeira and started a blog about my experiences in the Oracle space.  You can find it here: blog.dbaontap.com  My small group of “oracle people” started following me and re-tweeting my blog posts.  I started following names of people I didn’t even know such as +Kellyn Pot’Vin aka dbakevlar and +Leighton Nelson.  Why?  Because everyone else was, and their blog posts got me thinking more about what could be done with the Oracle technology.

Year 2: – KScope13
Continuing to remain active in social media, networking events, and webinars my circle of friends continued to grow.  Met this firecracker of an Essbase/Hyperion/EPM expert +Sarah at an Atlanta Meetup. She moved, but we still see each other at conferences and communicate via Twitter.  Plus she can throw one heck of a party.  I was back at KScope13 in New Orleans! While I am thankful that work paid for this conference, I would come out of pocket.  It’s that good!  New and renewed friendships. +Galo Balda-Andrade reminded me of the power of Regular Expressions, and +Leighton Nelson brings the hotel network to a crawl because he’s downloading the just released Database 12c.  He didn’t just do a live demo with that did he?  All signs point to yes. Also met +Bobby Curtis aka dbasolved, +oracle-ace living in my hometown of Atlanta. I also ran for the +ODTUG Board of Directors.  I didn’t win, but thank Jeff for the nomination and Chet posted a great article of support right here. It’s those things that make you want to do more. So I enrolled in school to get a degree in Database Administration and Linux Administration.

Year 3: – KScope14
This year is a bit different. Every year I strive to do more and be more.  Kscope14 sees me participating on one of the Abstract Review Committees headed by the energetic +Amy Caldwell.  She works at Chick-fil-A … in Atlanta.  Congrats for winning the #DineWMonty contest!  Was anticipating an opportunity to reconnect with my +Oracle beginnings at the youth Hackathon. I joined a committee or two, seeing how things work from a different angle.  I got brave and submitted an abstract to KScope14 and yep, I’m presenting this year on Database Migration using +Oracle SQL Developer. I was so confident after this, that I submitted something to for OOW14 and it too was accepted.  One of the most rewarding things, because it recognition by your peers, was being nominated for and being awarded the new Oracle Ace Associate designation.

I am now at the beginning. A new path of service to the community that embraced and taught me so much. I can’t wait to get to Seattle for KScope14 and do my part.  The countdown has started as my +Delta Mobile App is telling I have one day until check-in.  For anyone doing the math, that means I’ll be there on Friday.  Let’s connect when you get there.

-DB