I’m writing this at my departure gate in Denver, waiting for my flight home from the Training Days ’14 event hosted by the Rocky Mountain Oracle Users Group (RMOUG.) The RMOUG conference is the unofficial kick-off for Oracle conferences for the new year, and it’s one of my favorites.
I helped put together a panel discussion on professional development, and one of the topics that came up was the ability of employees getting the approval to attend training and user group conferences.
For those of you who are NOT able to attend these events, I have a question for you.
What if there was a local event you could go to on a Saturday?
No approval required – just the desire to learn and meet some of your fellow Oracle nerds.
There are other communities in the tech arena that have followed this model – meeting outside of the workweek. But I wonder if the average Oracle Joe and Jill would find this appealing.
I asked this question on Twitter and so far have received some positive feedback.
Hey Oracle nerds who can't get approval to attend conferences…would you go to a local Saturday event?
— Jeff Smith (@thatjeffsmith) February 8, 2014
I’m willing to help make this happen – recruit speakers, drive attendance, and even talk about SQL Developer a little bit 🙂
Maybe this won’t go anywhere, but the idea has been stuck in my head for a few years now and I’m ready to at least start talking about it…on a Saturday.
9 Comments
I would definitely attend an event on Saturday (or Sunday). I am finding not only is it hard to get approval from work, but even if your management is supportive, there is often so much to do that investing time in professional development unfortunately gets bumped. I would be all for this.
Thanks Jeff, I’m now following these 2 twitter handles.
Hi Jeff,
I’m interested in attending Oracle related stuff on Saturdays. I belong to Upstate New York Oracle User Group (unyoug). Most events are held during the day, on a Thursday in Rochester or Buffalo. They alternate events between the two cities and meet quarterly.
I have attended a SQL Saturday at Rochester Institute of Technology to learn more about SQL Server and had a good time.
One thing that I have found in the SQL Server community, that I have not found in the Oracle community, is a weekly curated newsletter that provides a good overview of the week’s news like RedGate provides at http://www.databaseweekly.com/NewsletterItems.aspx
So put me down as a strong yes, and keep up the good work.
-Alexei
I presented at that event in Rochester about 3-4 years ago. It was a very nice crowd.
A weekly curated newsletter…hmmm. There may be something like that in the Oracle space, but if so it’s very well publicized. Definitely follow @OracleDatabase and @OracleBlogs though for news and links to great updates.
Hi Jeff,
At Latin America we are doing some conferences on Saturday for the past 3 years with very good results 😉
Regards,
Francisco Munoz Alvarez
That’s awesome. I assumed there were folks already doing this – just didn’t know who exactly. I might ask you for some advice 🙂
I’m sitting in a SQLSaturday event right now.
And except for most speakers, my guess is that the 2-300 attendees use more than just SQL server in their jobs.
So I’d love to see Saturday Oracle events. Heck, I’d even come speak at one. 😉
Adding Oracle tracks to existing SQLSat’s might be a good place to start. Already talking with some Denver folks…I’d love to have you speak though if we ever do something on our own.
Jeff
Although your idea of local probably differs from mine (Netherlands) I thing the general idea of having events on other than office hours is great.
First of all, obviously for people who have trouble getting approval to attend.
But also for people like me. As an independent contractor at the end of the day I (well, my wife of course) grant permission, or not.
However, every workday I miss directly influences my wallet. An effect that is usually far greater than a possible registration fee.
And though I consider such events to be both fun and very important for my development there is a limited number of workhours I can allow myself to miss.
Therefor I welcome events in the evening and weekends.
In the Netherlands some companies like Amis have ‘knowledge sessions’, usually in the evening, open for anyone to attend.
I love going to such sessions because they give me the opportunity to learn without skipping work.