When I first started working with Oracle, as a lowly system tester/support person, I had no idea there was such a thing as an Oracle community, beyond the developers and DBAs that I had contact with. In fact, it wasn’t until I started my current job (4 years ago) that I realised there was even a hint of a community! That’s probably a combination of how I became an Oracle developer and the structure of the company I worked for previously.
I consider myself a part of several Oracle communities:
- OTN Forums
- Work chat channels
- the informal London pub Oracle massive*
- the Oracle Blogging community
and each one adds to my knowledge in different ways. I count myself very, very lucky that I work at a company which encourages communities via the IM chat program that we use – there are lots of channels dedicated to various areas, not just Oracle-based (eg. Unix, java, c# ….).
I think these channels are not only a vital source of help and knowledge, they’re a great way of networking across the company. I now have a little network of like-minded DBAs and devs, spanning continents, that I can be cheeky and ask for help from (and vice versa, of course!), which has been very helpful when I’ve been stuck, etc!
Pooling knowledge and forging ties is at the heart of every community and by participating, you can’t help but continue to keep learning new things or new ways to apply things you already know.
I would definitely encourage new (and old!) Oracle developers/DBAs to participate in at least one Oracle community; it’ll be well worth their while to do so!
* OMG! I sat next to Jonathan Lewis the last time there was a pub outing. O. M. G!! (This is not me name dropping, unlike a certain Doug I know *{;-) – this is me being totally amazed at the company I found myself in, even though I’ve met JL several times before now! Someone pinch me….)
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