♠ Oracle ACE – what it means to me

Last week, I received the official feedback that I am now accepted to the Oracle ACE program, listed in the directory of groundbreakers and allowed to use this logo:

Im am very honored and grateful to receive this award and be a member of a group of over 450 Oracle experts around the world who love to share their knowledge.

For me, it’s a kind of “pat on the back” and a confirmation that what I write and talk about is seen as helpful for others – which is a huge motivation for me and has always be a main goal.

When I started to blog nearly two years ago, it was first of all for myself, because I enjoy writing about things that intrigue or bother me, but I wanted to do it in a way that probably could be helpful for others.

This very same motivation is still behind every post I write, it’s the reason I started my #100CodeExamples-Challenge (I’m still motivated to fulfil it, just not sure how long it’ll take) and it’s also the reason I started to present about stuff I care for.
I genuinely enjoy public talking (although it’s been very scary, too), but I want to do it in a way that is helpful and probably even entertaining for others.

Being an Oracle ACE now is an affirmation for me that I’m on the right track and that some people think I’m doing it well. That feels good and I appreciate and enjoy it, especially because everything I do in that matter is 100% voluntary.

My contributions for utPLSQL, writing blog articles, preparing presentations and public talking is not part of my day job and not related nor directly valuable to the company I work for (although I want to point out that I have awesome bosses who support what I do, not because they see business opportunities but because they care about me!)

For me, being ACE means appreciation for something I am doing anyway, because I want to do it.

What it does not mean

It does explicitly not mean that I’ll write or talk about stuff because I want to keep that ACE title next year. Getting the award has not been a main goal for me and it won’t become one. If I can keep being an Oracle ACE by doing what I enjoy and care for, that’s a great thing and I will appreciate it.

The program, however, will not dictate what I care about. It will not control what I write or say or what opinion I have and share about things, even about things that might be negative for Oracle.

I want to stay honest here, I can’t deny that the knowledge about what will be needed to stay in the program might influence some of my decisions.

Decisions like whether I’m trying to speak at one more local meetup or whether I try to have an article published on a known platform or in a magazine.

But it won’t influence my core values and the decisions around them, simply because being in the program is not a core goal for me.

I doubt you will see anything from me about the Oracle cloud or autonomous database anytime soon, although the program awards you with bonus points for writing/talking about these topics (which by the way is totally their right – it’s called “bonus” points).

All that said, I am really looking forward to some of the opportunities I might get now, for example meeting other awesome members of the ACE family.

I like the way my journey currently takes and I’d love to take you with me as I continue to share what I care about.