IOUG interviewed Gokhan Atil about his experience as an Oracle ACE. Recognized for their technical expertise, Oracle ACEs contribute knowledge with articles, technical advice, blog posts, and tweets. Oracle ACEs are proven Oracle experts.

When did you become an Oracle ACE?

I became an Oracle ACE in September 2011.

What is your current occupation?

I’m a senior database administrator, working in one of the leading IT consultancy companies in Turkey.

Tell us a little about your history with Oracle.

I have been working with Oracle technologies for more than 10 years. I started my career as a software developer, worked with different programming languages and technologies such as Delphi, Visual Basic, PHP, and Oracle Forms. After spending a few years with developing software, I realized that I like to work with database technologies, and then I focused on Oracle databases. I feel lucky because I really love my job. So I spend my time studying, reading about Oracle technologies, sharing my knowledge on my blog, and speaking at local conferences. All these activities make me happy and helped me to receive the Oracle ACE award in 2011.

What does this experience mean for you personally and professionally?

I have a blog where I share my knowledge and experience related to Oracle technologies. I have also been attending Oracle events as a speaker and am helping Oracle users via email by replying to their questions. I wouldn’t call myself an Oracle expert or a community leader, but I enjoy researching, writing and sharing Oracle technologies. The Oracle ACE award was very important in order to show that my efforts are recognized by Oracle. I didn’t plan to be an Oracle ACE and didn’t see it as a career goal, but it’s surely a milestone in my career.

Has your status as an Oracle ACE helped you in your career?

Oracle ACE is definitely a respected title. After becoming an Oracle ACE, more people started to recognize me in the Oracle community. I think it’s early to evaluate how it affected to my career, though, because it has been only a one-year adventure for me.

What Oracle technology/application are you most looking forward to? 

I’m eager to test the new features of Oracle Database 12c. It seems it will come with very handy features such as adaptive execution plans, pluggable databases, improvements on partitioning, identity columns, etc.

Do you have any advice for novices in this industry?

The IT industry is constantly evolving and changing, but we have significant opportunities to adapt to this evolution. It’s easy to reach valuable information through the Internet, and the Oracle community likes to share its knowledge. Of course, these can be also handicaps because they create endless competition. If you don’t want to adopt new technologies, you stay out of the competition.

So my only advice for novices is that they should spend time on improving themselves. They will see that their personal return of investment is higher than anything else. You may ask how they can do it. They should join Oracle events, follow the publications, read blogs and write blogs (you learn while you share), and, lastly (but maybe the most important one) they should become an active member of user groups.

Now that you’re an Oracle ACE, what’s next?

One of my goals is to become an Oracle ACE Director.

Do you have any advice for IOUG members for their own careers?

Well, I think I already answered this question. IOUG members are one step ahead because they are already a part of one of the biggest Oracle user group!

Is there anything else you’d like to add?

I would like to thank IOUG and the SELECT Journal editors for including my Oracle ACE profile in this issue.