About the Oracle ACE program

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There is no Oracle User Group in Czech republic. As far as I know, there are just few PR events organized by local Oracle branch few times per year. Last year there was some initiative to organize monthly meetups, but that died quickly. From the rumours I heard several people tried before and failed. I guess there is not enough interest from both sides.

Other sad thing is that I don't know a single person in Czech republic who would publish anything for the community. So to be part of the Oracle community, you have to think beyond the borders. Our closest neighbours (Austria, Germany and Poland) have quite large and engaged communities with many events, but I don't know German nor Polish. It might be your case too. Don't be discouraged by that, there are other options.

You can become the ODTUG member or a member of any existing Oracle User Group you like. You don't have to live in that country to be a member, but you should know the local language. Joining Spain user group in pointless if you don't speak Spanish. Important difference with the Oracle ACE program is that you don't have to share any knowledge, you can just consume it.

Or you can be part of the Oracle ACE community, 400+ Oracle experts all around the world willing to share their hard earned knowledge with others for free.

Before the annual June purge (they call it a review), we had 463 members (46 with APEX expertise):

• 202 ACE Associates (24 with APEX expertise)
• 191 ACE Pros (13 with APEX expertise)
• 70 ACE Directors (9 with APEX expertise)

Same stats by the region:

• 209 EMEA (29 with APEX expertise)
• 126 NA (8 with APEX expertise)
• 97 APAC (5 with APEX expertise)
• 31 LATAM (4 with APEX expertise)

Looks like 52 APEX experts signed up for the new season already.

What to expect?

There are several benefits you get by being on the program and they vary depending on your level. The obvious one is that you can brag about being an ACE. In my country I am the first and the only one (so far, right Tomas?), but many of my colleagues don't know about this, many just don't care and some knows but chose to ignore it. One weird yet cool thing about LinkedIn, after posting something I am proud of, I get visits from all sorts of people, but I get the support from people abroad and strangers. Extremely rarely I get any interaction from locals I know in person. So you can meet new friends there.

ACE title will not change your life, at least not right away. But in a long term and specially if you are looking for a job abroad, it can't hurt you. Also remember the glass of water. It cost different amount in your local store, different amount on the airplane, different amount in the desert. If someone doesn't see your value, you are probably on the wrong place. Many people desire to have a fancy title and that could drive you at the start, but when you actually get there, you might not care that much. There is so much more.

There are usually two ACE meetings every month. One is technical and usually covering some Oracle product, the other is for ACE program updates and networking. During some big conferences there are also ACE dinners and trips (they are kind of far from me, so I didn't went yet, but I would like to). You might also get a free ticket to Oracle Cloud World. And you also get 1 exam voucher every year which you can use for any Oracle certification. Sadly, there is no merch for ACE Associates, you will just get the digital assets (wallpapers) which you can use on your desktop or Teams/Zoom meetings.

When you get to the next level, the ACE Pro, your benefits will get better. You will get 5000 USD credit for OCI every year and you will get some merch. Maybe some other things, I don't know yet. The cloud credit is the most significant one. If you want to test OCI features hidden behind the paywall, you might not be willing to create new account every month. So this cloud credit enables you to test anything anytime, exactly the support from Oracle what I would expect.

There is one more big benefit for all members. We can talk to each other. If I approach other ACE members or even Oracle employees, they will more likely respond to me. Imagine that, if I don't know something at APEX, I can approach 45 APEX experts and ask them. And sometimes they ask me. It is nice to be recognized and appreciated and people on the program are ready to help you. So being a part of this community really has some value. Also your work might be featured by Oracle and give your blog/channel more traction.

One more thing. The hard part is to actually get into to program (if I would publish 7 articles in a year and fill out 1 survey, it would not be enough to be invited into the program, but that is enough to retain your ACE Associate status). To get into the program, you must be publishing content for months (sometimes even years) and then you will have to wait endless months to get accepted (or wait for next year on rejection). Once you are in, it is about collecting points. Some people don't like that, but I do. You can think about it as a gamification to motivate you to produce content instead of excuses and also as a mechanism to get rid of the freeloaders. When you click at specific member in the ACE Directory you can see their contributions.

How to start?

As in many other things in your life, the hardest part is to start. So here are some tips:

• you can be a blogger, you can do Youtube videos, you can do podcasts, you can be a speaker on conferences... pick a format which suits you
• content is the most important thing, to be successful you have to have the commitment to not give up, you have to have plenty ideas in the queue, you have to have several topics which you would like to write/talk about
• some people write about what is in demand, I prefer to write about things I face on my projects (but you have to be careful to not violate your NDA)
• most of the blogs/channels fails after few months, because they run out of ideas and willpower to continue; you have to accept that this is a long time commitment, you will not become an ACE because you wrote few articles last month, you have to be contributing at least for a year
• start sharing in regular intervals, like once a week or twice a month, depending on your confidence and queue size, but keep in mind that this will get harder; also to get into the program doing one article per month will not be enough
• add new ideas to your queue so you have always a new topic to cover, try not to cover already published topics or obvious things
• AI generated content doesn't count as your work, nor does the content you will publish on behalf of your employer
• you don't have to publish in English, but if I would be publishing my things in Czech language nobody would notice, I would get more readers in Klingon
• pick the right platform, for bloggers the Hashnode is quite popular; use your own domain name if possible
• if you decide to do this, you can ask for a mentor from the ACE program which will help you; keep in mind he will not do the hard work for you, mentor will typically just guide you, provide you feedback so you know that you are on a correct path

But first, ask yourself this question: Would you continue to publish your knowledge for free if they kick you out of the ACE program? If your answer is no, then this program might be not for you. ACE title is a recognition for your community work. If you decide to share your knowledge and get into the ACE program, let me know. I can be your mentor.