Once again, we find ourselves on the other side of COLLABORATE 2018 IOUG Forum, and we asked members of the SELECT editorial board to provide their takeaways from IOUG Forum.

Back to work we go, bringing new information and our learnings from the previous week back to our respective day-to-day roles. It was a fantastic conference that allowed for the networking and hallway discussions to solidify the takeaways from the sessions.

Cloud and migrations were important topics that were covered. The IOUG attendees also dove into several hands-on labs with opportunities to look at the new features of 18c. The role of the database administrator has been evolving, and there were plenty of discussions about new career paths and technologies for data professionals to embrace.

I had the opportunity to participate in the IOUG Mentor program for first-time attendees. It was not only great to meet someone new but to also find out what they were coming to learn and experience. She might have thought I was just showing her around and how to navigate the conference, but we both made new connections and learned from each other.

We also asked members of the SELECT editorial board to provide their takeaways from COLLABORATE 2018 – IOUG Forum. As you will read, they experienced new topics, sessions that provided needed information and networking with groups that have used different platforms and technologies. And of course, there was definitely some fun thrown in, which allowed us to retain more of what we learned.

Jim Czuprynski

“Developer-centricity was a key trend at the presentations I attended, with special focus on the newest methods to get data into and out of Oracle databases (REST) as well as the necessity to enable our developers to access data from multiple sources, including JSON documents and HDFS / HIVE resident data.

 

Also, the transition to what I call Oracle DBA 3.0 – the new roles that DBAs must embrace to maintain their credibility and relevance – was obvious among the many topics that were presented. I contributed my own topic on #SmartDB, a favorite of my colleagues Bryn Llewelyn and Toon Kopelars, but many other speakers accentuated that the traditional role of DBA has been changed forever with the onset of true Cloud Computing, especially the Oracle Public Cloud and the new Autonomous Database (AuDB).”

Mike Gangler

“This is my 30th year on attending Oracle Conferences and although I haven’t been to all 30, I have been to many. There were many great takeaways and gained a lot of knowledge from sessions and networking. As mentioned in the new attendee meeting, a suggestion was to attend meetings on topics not normally familiar.

 

RLWRAP – this session was a quick mini-tech lesson on a 3rd party product called RLWRAP (Free) – it’s a to like SQLCI, a command line interface for SQLPlus, RMAN, TFA and other Oracle tools. It can be used to capture commands commonly used and replayed, especially useful and long commands from RMAN. SQLCL, only works for Sqlplus, RLWRAP can be used for many tools. It is a 3rd party tool (Free), and it requires root to install. Other than the root requirement, it’s a tool that I can really use. This session was presented by Sean from Pythian and very well done.

 

DOCKER – there were many sessions on Docker and containers during the show. I have personally used ZFS Zones and this Docker technologies is similar. This technology is and will be useful for our Demo/test environments as well as those Dev/Ops situations that require frequent database refreshes and databases that Developers can use in a Dev/Ops scenario.

 

Kafka – this streams technology has been around for a while and this was my first introduction to the Kafka technology (I know it’s about time). It is a technology that was originally used for large data streams like twitter, LinkedIn, but the presentations demonstrated how to use it with Oracle and everyday applications like reading Redo logs and other Oracle sources. Mike Donovan’s – DBVISIT presentation really helped close the gap between theory and usage in the Oracle World and environments.

 

Lastly, there were a few security and audit presentations that were really excellent and will be useful in my environment.

 

As for Networking, I met some new folks from Postgres and the Exadata world, and learned many things on those technologies. As a matter of fact, I had an issue regarding Exadata and received some valuable information that will be immediately helpful at my shop.

 

Personally, I judge a presentation on the ability to use the concept or tool in my environment and all of these I mentioned, will be on my agenda for the next 2 or 3 quarters.

 

BTW, the beach party was the best in a few years, so really enjoyed the whole conference and networking.”

Jonathan Gennick

“COLLABORATE 2018 – IOUG was a superb event, and it’s reminded me of just how important it is to get away from the office and spend some face time with distant colleagues. We enjoy the benefits today of Internet and Skype and video chat and remote learning, but nothing will ever replace being physically present and meeting and talking face-to-face. Industry events like ICOLLABORATE 2018 – IOUG allow you to make and cement the relationships that will propel your career forward and provide benefits all year long.

 

Most of my time was in the exhibit hall. I did get to one session though, and that one was Patrick Donlin’s talk on The Art of Conversation. The older I get, the more I realize the importance of soft skills. My first OpenWorld in the late 1990s I remember being afraid to talk to anyone. I’ve gotten better at that, and am still working to improve.”

Mike Messina

“COLLABORATE 2018 – IOUG was one for the record books. I was so excited to see folks I had not seen in quite some time, attend some excellent sessions and have some great technical conversations on the challenges facing DBAs, including cloud, engineered systems, DevOps impact and a big hot topic: automation.”

Summary

COLLABORATE 2018 was a terrific conference. Everyone I spoke with is excited about coming back to COLLABORATE 2019, and some even rejoiced at the fact that it will not take place in Las Vegas. It will be San Antonio next year! That means more fun places to network with new and old friends and colleagues.

Tell us what you learned this year, and hopefully, we will see more of you next year in San Antonio!