AIOUG Oracle Community Yatra 2024 … After Event Thoughts

This is going to be a bit of a personal blog post, but I think is important to be shared with the people who follow my blog (dbasolved.com) and maybe inspire others who are struggling in today’s industry. Afterall, the industry has changed drastically with the arrival of Artificial Intelligence (AI). I ask that you, as a reader, be kind and reflect on your career as I have and continue to strive to make your community better.

Here are my thoughts after attending the All-India Oracle User Group (AIOUG) Oracle Community Yatra 2024:

For many, you may be wondering what a “Yatra” is. I thought the same thing; the word “Yatra” means “a procession or pilgrimage, especially one with a religious purpose”. In the context of the Oracle Community, the “religious purpose” doesn’t really apply; however, after being on this year’s Yatra, it was truly eye opening on many levels. So, if the “religious purpose” applies to the participant, then bless you.

To put some of this in perspective, it is beneficial to understand where I started within the IT industry and with Oracle products.

Background:

As a young man, 18 yrs. old, attending university and then joining the US Army, because school wasn’t for me (at that time). As a young, smart ass, 18 yrs. old, I never thought I would have the career that has occurred and the ability to contribute to a larger community, plus the global network of friends that come with it. For that, I can only say that I’m blessed and thankful on so many levels.

After being in the industry for nearly 30 years, I often look back at what has been achieved to plot a course forward and what technologies I find interesting. In doing so, I have viewed my career as having spanned over various government projects, banks in the financial sector, System Integrators/Consulting companies, a Product Manager at Oracle, and now working to blazing a path of my own. All of which I have done with Oracle technologies. From Oracle 8i to the latest innovations with AI, it has been a wild ride. Having the privilege to work on cool technologies, with cool people, and travel, US and internationally, has always kept me motivated to push the boundaries of what can be done. At the same time all the friends made along the way. Did I mention, a lot of this wouldn’t have been achieved without the love and support of my beautiful wife for the last 27 years as well.

I say a lot of this to set a tone for where I was at when I was asked to join the 2024 Yatra.

When one looks at their career, they may look back and wonder where did time go? What have I really accomplished or does my contribution to a product or community matter? The answer is, it matters if you want it to matter! How you make it matter is up to you!

Yatra 2024:

For me, April 2024, I was in a funk and wasn’t sure what to do with my career. At that time, a friend since 2014, sent me an email inviting me to India for AIOUG OCYatra2024. As part of the Oracle Community, events like the Oracle Community Yatra are often perceived as only being for select people because of their connection with Oracle Corp or some sort of “clique” within the community.

I was initially shocked at the invite and almost turned it down. My wife looked at me and said you are going, and you will do great! At that time, I wasn’t 100% sure but responded to my friend and accepted the invite to the Yatra. Wasn’t sure what I got myself into, after all it is another conference? I was mistaken, not another conference!

As the date for the Yatra approached, I arrive in Bangalore, India, three days early (July 17, 2024) with the hopes of betting jet lag (which took me about five days to recover). The first night I connected with Paramdeep Saini for a brief dinner and discussion. The next day, I met Vijayganesh Sivaprakasam during breakfast in the hotel restaurant while working on my presentations, and the introductions lead to another friendship being formed. As I started to meet other speakers who would be joining me on the Yatra, I still did not grasp what the Yatra was about. Only knew we were going to six different cities in India.

The kickoff for AIOUG OCYatra24 started on a Saturday (20 July 2024) in Bangalore, India. I was surprised by all the attendees on a Saturday. During the morning keynote, all the speakers had to introduce themselves to the attendees. This was odd to me due to this being a conference, we never did this at conferences, at least I never did. After the morning keynote, our sessions started. I was lucky to have the bookend sessions (11am and 4:15 pm IST) each day for the duration of the Yatra (July 20 – July 28, 2024).

City after city, session after session, attendees were excited about the Oracle technology that I and other speakers were highlighting. Discussion before sessions, questions during sessions, and the lively interactions between sessions added excitement to each event in each city. Every city on the Yatra provided a different experience, different interaction with the attendees, and a different view on how Oracle technology is being used on a wider scale. It is one thing to speak on a topic at conferences, but the interaction during the Yatra was on another level, which provided an eye-opening experience.

Taking in all these interactions across the Yatra, (the cities, the people, and the discussions) and attempting to wrap all these interactions into a few sentences is hard. I cannot really express how tiring yet enjoyable the Yatra was; all I can say is thank you to everyone for attending, listening to all the outstanding speakers, and providing a level of hospitality that was unexpected for a first timer to India!

Thank you!

To all the attendees, professionals and students, who attended the throughout all cities:

Thank you for coming and hearing all the great speakers. Giving back to the larger community is part of the reason speakers will travel great distances to see and interact with you! Please take what you have learned and share it with your co-workers, fellow students, or anyone who wants to learn! What you do with the shared knowledge is how you build for the future!

To all the Yatra speakers:

Many of you realized I am mostly quiet person. Many of you asked multiple times if I was enjoying the Yatra and the travel. I can honestly say, yes! I truly did and look forward to a possible return down the road! Getting to meet and know many of you for the first time, plus reconnecting with others I have met in the past but did a poor job of staying connected or even having conversations with. It was a pleasure to travel all the way to India and experience not only the Yatra but the Indian culture (to a degree)! It was hot at times, it was raining at times, the late-night travel and the mornings came way too early yet I believe the friends made through it all is the real meaning of the Yatra!

Thank you, Sai Penumuru, for inviting and having me at the OCYatra2024 this year! It was a wonderful experience and great to reconnect and travel together. You are a blessing to the Oracle Community as a whole and having you as a friend is a blessing as well.

Thank you, Sandesh Rao, for staying after the conclusion of OCYatra2024 and showing Mirela Ardelean and I some amazing sites within India! It was great to connect and discuss topics outside of Oracle technologies and enlightening to get a deeper understanding of the Indian culture and history. Next time, let’s not pick the hottest days after the tour to site-see!

Summary:

As I started this blog post, I presented how I got into the industry and a little bit on how I progressed over the years. After being in the industry for so long, sometimes it is hard to stay motivated and keep evolving to keep up. Having the opportunity to participate in the Oracle Community Yatra this year, somehow, some way, renewed my excitement for the technologies we use daily and to build new and exciting things with it.

As well, the relationships established with new and old friends, and the excitement from the attendees has reignited my desire to use the technology, make new ideas a reality, and to help grow not only professionally but personally. I hope my fellow speakers this year took something similar from the Yatra and will continue to push the boundaries of what we can do with technology across industries.

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