Every so often I feel moved to write something about community programs. In the past it has resulted in these posts.
After some Tweets over the weekend I felt the need to write something more.
I’ve said in previous posts that you shouldn’t aim to become an Oracle ACE. If you enjoy what you do, and what you do is already aligned with the current criteria of a community program, like the Oracle ACE Program, then everything will be smooth sailing. You will eventually be nominated, join the program and everything will work out fine. The “judging criteria” will be almost irrelevant as you will have no trouble meeting them. If you aren’t aligned to those specific criteria, your experience will be more problematic. You will struggle to meet the criteria and eventually give up.
The current criteria for the ACE program are almost tailor made for someone like me. The only way I can learn new stuff and improve my understanding of existing stuff is to write. I did this before the Oracle ACE Program existed. I did it before my website existed. It’s just what I do. I almost never type something into a console or command line. I write it in a scratchpad and paste it into the command line. I’ve got literally thousands of lines of instructions, commands and ideas that may or may not end up as articles. The point is, it’s really easy for me because the way I am and the way I work make it easy for me.
For others like me it can be really hard to appreciate how other people react to the judging criteria, because their perspective and way of working can seem so foreign to us. The problem with these discussions is “everybody is correct” from their own perspective. In a Tweet I wrote the following.
” I think we all have different experiences and different motivations for what we do. If this aligns with the goals of the ACE program, then the experience will seem great. If it doesn’t align, it will seem forced and unfair. All opinions are valid.”
I was originally quite defensive, and I wanted to post about all the points made and give my counter arguments, but what’s the point? My opinion is no more or less valid than anyone else’s. 🙂 If you are interested in what I think, read the posts linked above, because I think I’ve said it all before, but that’s just *my* opinion!
Cheers
Tim…
On 1st April 2006 I got an email telling me I was an Oracle ACE, so either this is the most drawn out