Oracle Academy Tech Chat

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Oracle Academy, Oracle's global philanthropic education program brings you Oracle Academy Tech Chat where we discuss how Oracle Academy helps prepare the next generation’s work force. In this podcast Tyra Crockett, Senior Manager Oracle Academy North America, interviews experts across the Oracle ecosystem about their experience and advice for educators and their students.

  1. APR 29

    Multi-tenancy in Cloud Computing

    In this episode host Tyra Peirce chats with Rolando Carrasco, an Oracle ACE Director based in Latin America. Rolando and Tyra speak about Multi-tenant cloud. What it is, what it isn't, and when it should be used. --------------------------------------------------------------- Episode Transcript: 00:00:00:00 - 00:00:34:01  Unknown  Welcome to the Oracle Academy Tech Chat. This podcast provides educators and students with in-depth discussions with thought leaders around computer science, cloud technologies, and software design to help students on their journey to becoming industry ready technology leaders of the future. Let's get started. Welcome to Oracle Academy Tech Chat, where we discuss how Oracle Academy prepares the next generation's workforce.    00:00:34:03 - 00:01:02:16  Unknown  I'm your host, Tyra Peirce. Today I'm joined by our Rolando Carrasco. Rolando is an Oracle Ace director based in Latin America. He has been in the IT industry for the past 25 years, working for companies such as Hewlett-Packard and Oracle. Then in 2010, he started his own consulting firm where he is currently the CTO. His work has been focused on distributed systems, working with several integration platforms, API management tools and the cloud.    00:01:02:18 - 00:01:29:06  Unknown  He is a constant speaker at both local and global development conferences. Welcome, Rolando. Oh thank you Tyra. So to start off, can you give me a bit about your background and your current job role? Yes. Thank you Tyra. Now I'm currently the CTO for a Mexican consulting firm here in Mexico. The name is CES, and I've had this role for the past 15 to 16 years now.    00:01:29:08 - 00:02:07:13  Unknown  And as you already mentioned, my experience is focused on distributed systems. And probably, I will say, the evolution of those type of needs in terms of integration in the cloud now. And I will say that I have a mixed profile in terms of, development, if you will, and also experience on sales and pre-sales and architecture, or so I will say that I have that type of hybrid more a rosary and my experience is being focused mostly and in the Latin American region, from Mexico to Brazil.    00:02:07:15 - 00:02:32:21  Unknown  Today our focus is on, multi-tenancy and cloud computing. Can you tell me what a multi-tenancy is and cloud computing and how does it differ from single tenancy? I can say that multi-tenancy is the ability to have different organizations working separately, and that's the key. But we'll be using the same infrastructure okay. Even though they share this infrastructure.    00:02:32:23 - 00:02:57:07  Unknown  The main thing, as I said, we already mentioned is that those different organizations are isolated. They can see each other, they can see their data. And I can say that normally service providers work in this fashion. They offer their services to several gateway stations or customers. And from the infrastructure standpoint, they share the infrastructure now along all those organizations.    00:02:57:09 - 00:03:25:08  Unknown  And the difference, the difference between multi-tenancy and the single tenancy is that which single tenant, every organization use its own infrastructure. I mean, there is nothing to share between them or among them, but you need to deliver on a specific infrastructure for every single organization. So which follows on to my next question. Can you share a real world example of multi-tenant cloud implementations?    00:03:25:10 - 00:04:03:19  Unknown  Yes, absolutely. I will say that the software as a service market and the software as a service, providers and application owns most of them. And I can say that both big companies such as Oracle and small companies or even startups, they use these type of model offering these, those type of services. For example, an email application and the one that we normally use, Outlook or Gmail or any of that type of email application is a clear example of then we all have an account.    00:04:03:21 - 00:04:26:22  Unknown  The infrastructure is the same. We don't care as a user, we just use the service as its own, as it's been, offered to, to us. So, the users are not aware of that. And I will say that probably the users are not even interested in if it is a multi-tenancy or not, but all I what I was trying to I was trying sorry to explain.    00:04:27:00 - 00:04:51:19  Unknown  Is that mostly those type of SaaS applications use this model. For example, maybe you or the audience are aware of applications such as Monday.com or Bitly. The shortener, URL application, or any other type of application that you normally use that you just use and you just subscribe to it. It is so very clear example of behind the scenes is working in a multi-tenancy fashion.    00:04:51:21 - 00:05:15:22  Unknown  That actually makes sense. The Bitly one makes sense to me because I've used it before. And same with like my email. My email. Programs. I understand how that would work. Like, you access it one way, but you might be touching multiple clouds. So that's that's actually really, really fascinating for me. So on to my next question. Why do organizations choose a multi-tenant architecture over a single tenant one?    00:05:16:00 - 00:05:45:22  Unknown  I will answer that in two ways. And the first one is for service providers. These multi-tenancy model may imply the reduction of several cost and operations because instead of provisioning dedicated infrastructure and all the consequences that it that it has, they use just one single, infrastructure and that single infrastructure is the one that they operate. They your grade and then they maintain.    00:05:46:00 - 00:06:13:17  Unknown  But at the same time they isolate the organizations as as we mentioned in, in the past questions or in the previous questions. And the second thing is for organizations who create their own software, I mean, that they are looking to create a solution. They are building, an application they will like to or free to many customers, and they need to deliver it in, in such a way that they need to reduce their own cost.    00:06:13:19 - 00:06:43:18  Unknown  Then probably they are going to choose these type of models because it is going to be not that expensive. And for example, in terms of Oracle technology, a Oracle's database is a very clear example of the unorganized organization, sorry, an organization that is looking to create an application which uses a database. But it happens that these database needs to be separated, be separated because the departments needs to be isolated.    00:06:43:18 - 00:07:10:23  Unknown  Just to give an example, this type of organization can leverage from the Oracle database technology. And in the specific the database multi-tenant option one single database engine, but multiple databases running on that very same engine. So I would say that those two things are the ones that are going to make an organization to use this multi-tenancy model that is that also makes a lot of sense to me.    00:07:10:23 - 00:07:45:09  Unknown  Like if you need to separate your databases, you want to separate your data, you want to make sure that it's controlled and then only accessible by a certain group of people. That also makes sense to me as well. Which leads to the next question how does multi-tenancy impact database management in cloud applications? I will say that it reduces the complexity of managing different databases with a whole set of infrastructure, because if you think about it and you have separate databases, then you need probably different persons to manage those different layers.    00:07:45:11 - 00:08:10:14  Unknown  So in the Oracle database multi-tenancy model or in a database dependency model, it is just one single infrastructure. So you reduce the number of persons or the team that is managing the infrastructure. The second thing is the streamline is streamlining the database provisioning and the provisioning, because you just need to take care about let me say it in this way just as database.    00:08:10:14 - 00:08:38:22  Unknown  So for it that's that's the there's the thing that you need to manage and you need to deploy or, or provision or the provision instead of the whole infrastructure. The third thing is to consolidate the database management. You are consolidating in a single group of persons and sometimes it is just one single DBA. You leave me managing different databases with, you know, very same infrastructure or the very same infrastructure.    00:08:39:00 - 00:09:07:01  Unknown  You can also consolidate database monitoring. So you have a single glass of pane if you will, where you can check the different databases that you are running in this multi tenancy model, instead of having separated monitoring tools or monitoring applications, working on top of these different databases, you have one single glass of paint on modeling of new organization.    00:09:07:01 - 00:09:29:05  Unknown  You will be easier because you already have the infrastructure. You just need to provision the database for this new department or organization and probably already mentioned it, but I think is is okay to repeat it to reduce the number of DBA is managing all that infrastructure. I like that, I like that it's all about streamlining and making sure that they you don't need as many resources.    00:09:29:06 - 00:09:48:01  Unknown  Managing certain types of things like the DBA is can go out and expand into doing different types of work. And it's that's a little bit more interesting. Or you have like a, a person that is just an expert in one area, which I think  is kind of helpless. You can spread your resources out and make them a little bit more nimble and flexible.    00:09:48:01 - 00:10:21:21  Unknown  So

    15 min

  2. APR 18

    What is a Data Center?

    In this episode host Tyra Peirce speaks with Oracle development data center manager Ryan Lucas. Ryan tells Tyra about the key components of a data center, and what it takes to run a data center. --------------------------------------------------------------- Episode Transcript:  00:00:00:00 - 00:00:34:09  Unknown  Welcome to the Oracle Academy Tech Chat. This podcast provides educators and students in-depth discussions with thought leaders around computer science, cloud technologies, and software design to help students on their journey to becoming industry ready technology leaders of the future. Let's get started. Welcome to Oracle Academy Tech Chat, where we discuss how Oracle Academy helps our next generation's workforce.    00:00:34:11 - 00:00:58:17  Unknown  I'm your host, Tara Crockett Pierce. In this episode, I speak with Oracle Data Center manager Ryan Lucas. Ryan breaks down the basics of data centers what they are, how they work, and why they're essential for empowering your favorite streaming services to securing business critical data. So far to securing business critical data. Data centers are the unseen force behind modern technology.    00:00:58:17 - 00:01:27:03  Unknown  Welcome, Ryan. Thank you. Thanks for having me. So go ahead and start off. Ryan, can you give me a little bit about your background and your role at Oracle? Yeah. So I first started working as a system administrator, for the Java group at Sun Microsystems back in 2002. My responsibilities included deploying and maintainingsystems, like Solaris, Linux, and even windows servers.    00:01:27:05 - 00:02:03:20  Unknown  And I would also troubleshoot network, software and hardware issues. Eventually my responsibilities included backing up important files like source code for the Java Development Kit or otherwise known as JDK. I've been at Oracle for 16 years. Yeah. So in my current role, I help manage labs that, are essentially on-premise data centers. They may not be as large as something you would see like an on OCI site.    00:02:03:22 - 00:02:33:11  Unknown  But the labs that I support, they when you're inside them, they look like data centers. And we, they basically are used to to test Oracle engineered systems. So my group we help provide local support for the engineers of Oracle Engineered Systems. We have systems that have been released to the public. And we have systems that have not been released to the public.    00:02:33:13 - 00:03:01:03  Unknown  And so what we  are responsible for, you know, deploying, maintaining, keeping these servers running and helping create testing environments so that engineers can make sure that the engineered, that their hardware works as advertised. And then, sometimes even after hardware has been released, if a customer has some kind of concern, we may have to recreate their environment in our lab.    00:03:01:09 - 00:03:21:06  Unknown  Well, I call it lab, but it's a data center. And that way, we can try to discover if the customer's having a lot of times the customers having an issue because it's a customer error. So, you know, maybe the customer is trying to use our hardware in ways that we hadn't, you know, thought about or wasn't really designed for.    00:03:21:08 - 00:03:47:03  Unknown  But, yeah, eventually there will be some issues that we have to work through. And, and so it's it's very dynamic. So a typically like a, like an OCI production data center, you know, that is very structured. You know, all the cables are pristine a specific length. You know they push they push a new rack of servers into a gridlock station.    00:03:47:05 - 00:04:11:16  Unknown  It's there for the life of the of the rack. You may they have a field engineer come in and service some hardware, but then after it's decommissioned, they roll it out and they put in a new server. But in my in my group, we are constantly moving things around to recreate environments. It's very dynamic, very different. But it also makes it the challenge makes it very fun as well.    00:04:11:18 - 00:04:45:09  Unknown  So Ryan, kind of with that really cool introduction and background, what is a data center and what are its core components? Gotcha. Okay. So I'm going to read a formalized explanation. Just so I don't ramble off or get too technical. And then I'm going to talk about some things in my own words. So a data center is a physical facility to house a group of networked computers, servers for the remote storage, processing and distribution of data.    00:04:45:11 - 00:05:07:23  Unknown  A data center provides security, physical space, power, and cooling for racks of servers and network equipment. Those are the core components. But let me let me just I think I was trying to imagine what it would be like for someone who's never been in a data center to try to grasp the magnitude of scale that is a data center.    00:05:08:01 - 00:05:35:09  Unknown  You know, like you're if you're at home and you have your home computer, maybe it has a gigabit Ethernet port, and maybe you connect to the internet with with one internet service provider and your speed, you know, depending on what you're paying, is your bandwidth isn't huge, right? It's so hard, I think. Had I not had the experience I have, it's can be very difficult to try to imagine what a data center is capable of.    00:05:35:11 - 00:05:56:18  Unknown  It's kind of like if I were, you know, I'm driving a car and trying to imagine what it's like to drive a Formula One car, but that's not even a good analogy because it's not even a formula One car. It's a fleet of Formula One cars in each of them. Each of my racks, we have switches that can process 100 gigabits per second, 100 gigabits per second.    00:05:56:20 - 00:06:32:23  Unknown  And between each of our data centers, each of our labs, we have switches that are can process 400 gigabits per second. There's switches out there that will do 800 gigabits per second. Then there's probably even switches beyond that that I'm, you know, not familiar with yet, but so it's really hard for someone who, when you talk about the scale of what is involved and what these data centers can do and how much planning and organization goes into building them and running them, it's it can be a little hard to comprehend, you know, but it makes it fun, right?    00:06:32:23 - 00:06:56:22  Unknown  I mean, that's one of the reasons why I love my job is because I get to to work with, work with, and touch hardware that is just sometimes blows my mind. I also think about Oracle probably has some of the most advanced data centers in the world, just based on what we do as well. So like this is like the Rolls Royce of like and the Maserati of data centers and what we do every day.    00:06:57:00 - 00:07:22:08  Unknown  Which leads me to my next question. What are the different types of data centers? Right. So I was thinking back to some of my early days when I was at CERN, and I can remember someone telling me that one of the early developers of MySQL or MySQL had a server under his kitchen table. I can't even imagine what I mean.    00:07:22:10 - 00:07:40:02  Unknown  It probably was I'd like a desktop PC or a workstation. It wouldn't have even been a server because that would have been too loud. But if you think about what what happens if your power goes out or if your internet service provider goes out, there goes, you know, so I, I don't know if that's true or not. I just remember somebody telling me about being blown away.    00:07:40:04 - 00:08:11:00  Unknown  But, so you there's some companies that have, on premise, you have an on premise data center. So that's like, if I want to do all the heavy lifting myself, you know, so I'm going to build the data center. I'm going to have a facilities group that is responsible for providing power and cooling. And then I'm also going to have my own teams, you know, like system administrators, network administrators to support all the hardware in that lab.    00:08:11:02 - 00:08:39:09  Unknown  And then, you know, you're also responsible for making sure you have, you know, connections to the theinternet backbone. There's there's a lot involved. So, so on premises, if some, you know, you're a company and you want to control, have that data center managed by you, then there's something called co-location or colo. And what a colo is.    00:08:39:09 - 00:09:08:16  Unknown  And then you have like a third party and they specialize in the planning and the building of the data center. They provide the cooling and, the power and you, the different companies, different corporations or different entities, they can rent space, like maybe you'll rent a floor or you'll rent a cage. And they're also responsible for the security.    00:09:08:18 - 00:09:36:06  Unknown  So I know at colo facilities, you know, they'll have retinal scanners, they'll have man traps. I've been to data centers where they have armed guards, where they have conference rooms that generate, like, white noise. So if you're in a conference room and you're trying to have a private conversation and somebody walks by, they can't overhear you, you know, now, not that anybody would be trying to listen in on your conversation.    00:09:36:06 - 00:10:06:04  Unknown  But if you know, if you're with the NSA or something, you want to make sure that nobody can overhear sensitive information. So it can be very cloak and dagger. So yeah, that's that would be one concern. If you'reat a Colo facility a

    20 min

  3. APR 1

    How to Become an AI Data Engineer

    Do you want to be a data engineer? In this episode, host Alba Joven speaks with Oracle Autonomous Database specialist Javier de la Torre Medina about what it takes to become an AI data engineer. Episode Transcript: 00:00:00:00 - 00:00:34:15 Unknown Welcome to the Oracle Academy Tech Chat. This podcast provides educators and students in-depth discussions with thought leaders around computer science, cloud technologies, and software design to help students on their journey to becoming industry ready technology leaders of the future. Let's get started. Welcome to Oracle Academy, tech chat where we discuss how Oracle Academy prepares the next generation workforce.   00:00:34:17 - 00:00:57:14 Unknown I’m your host, Alba Joven. And in this episode, I'm joined by Javier de la Torre Medina, an Autonomous database specialist at Oracle. Today, Javier and I will be talking about how to become an AI data engineer. Welcome Javier. Thank you very much Alba a pleasure to have you today here on this nice chat. Javier before we dive in   00:00:57:15 - 00:01:20:15 Unknown Can you tell us a little bit about what's your background and what's your role at Oracle? Sure. So I have it already at Oracle 13 years ago so when I when I joined and having working a lot of positions and all of the data related. So I'm working as a big data specialist, a NoSQL specialist, Oracle database specialist.   00:01:20:17 - 00:01:44:11 Unknown So always having, working to, to help customers to build data architectures and solution which has the best approach. So to help them to, get the best value of the data. So normally my day, I do workshops to show the technology and demos to show it live, architecture diagram. I also I do a lot of proof of concepts.   00:01:44:13 - 00:02:07:17 Unknown That's to, to help them to, to build the solution that their looking for. So at the end, I always been, data related, but now I have a special focus with, autonomous database, which is our, product right now in the, in the markets. I understand that you are an expert in, you know, autonomous database for those who may not be familiar what exactly it is and why is such a game changer?   00:02:07:19 - 00:02:35:15 Unknown They are markets perception that Oracle is difficult. And you need a lot of gears and expertise. In order to start using this technology. And this is our game changer because we provide the Oracle database as so some access, an ERP or a CRM. But for the technology point of view it’s access, because the idea of the goal of Oracle is you can start working directly with the data and forget about everything.   00:02:35:17 - 00:02:58:05 Unknown So Oracle automatically is in charge of putting the data is in charge and doing backups is in charge of doing all this kind of, of activities. And that's why I suddenly changer. Because so also one of the good thing is that there is a lot of configuration already done. So the idea is that you don't need to be an expert in Oracle in Uni in order to start using it.   00:02:58:07 - 00:03:18:07 Unknown Even if you left the university tomorrow, you can start using, create great applications, AI application that we'll talk later about it in a matter of minutes. And this is where the business see value because even in the, in the AI space. So we see that every day this a new something is changing or something is happening.   00:03:18:09 - 00:03:40:11 Unknown So to be up to date or to be able to adapt these new changes into your application or the business is very important. So that's why is the key difference from from there or a game changer for the autonomous database. Also, one of the key things is that, we're going to talk about this concept of data engineer.   00:03:40:13 - 00:04:00:16 Unknown So I think normally when we talk about the Oracle database, we are talking about database administrators. But this concept I think is one to disappear too. And data engineers. But the good things or if someone is a DBA and is listening to us is that the knowledge to do have is still is great because you need to work with the data you need to create.   00:04:00:18 - 00:04:23:09 Unknown Move the data you know the form of the data. So on this value you can use it is still as a data engineer there. But you can forget about all these tedious talks about patching, backups, upgrades or all these things that doesn’t provide value. And normally it's a stopper to to innovate on the DBAs or not, the data engineers can, benefit about all these new capabilities.   00:04:23:09 - 00:04:42:22 Unknown The autonomous database is going to provide. You have mentioned the role of AI data engineer quite a bit. Can you explain how Oracle has achieved this role? So before going into the AI engineer, let me explain. What is a data engineer? If someone is coming from a DBA or have seen Oracle has only a database point of view.   00:04:43:00 - 00:05:03:03 Unknown So I was mentioning. So one of the goal of the Oracle with the autonomous database is to focus only on the data, which is really important. But also there is a concept that we call in the autonomous database is the convert data model. So that means that we can work with any datatype. We can work with Json, we can work with data spatial.   00:05:03:09 - 00:05:26:23 Unknown We can work with a relational. We can work with graph data. It doesn't matter. This is very important because many companies want to be a data driven company but become they become data movement company. So they move data from one product to another product. And then when the business came, I need a report by one yesterday I need to buy yesterday.   00:05:26:23 - 00:05:52:01 Unknown No, there was too late. No. And this is one of the benefits that Oracle has to to be able to avoid to move data. Unless you don't need it. But also we have, great graphical interface which is called Data Studio. So I was mentioning you before that even if you left the university, today, tomorrow you can start using the autonomous database and you can become a data engineer.   00:05:52:03 - 00:06:13:18 Unknown And this is because this suite of tools which are included for free, it is something very, very important with the autonomous database, allow us to go through the life cycle of the data engineer. So the lifecycle of a data engineer has three main stages, which is load data from a source of data transform the data will be data quality and reach it and so on.   00:06:14:00 - 00:06:36:16 Unknown And then to serve it as maybe we need to serve it to a BI person who has to, prepare a report for their business. Maybe you want to serve it with an internal application because we need it for HR, marketing or so on, or even including application for third parties. So this is really very important. And all these three stages are very important from a data engineer.   00:06:36:16 - 00:07:06:04 Unknown And you can achieve it very easily with a graphical interface which is called the the, the data studio. And what we say the I know with artificial intelligence. AI is transforming every industry. But what exactly is an AI data engineer. So have been talking about data engineer. So the AI engineer go a bit farther now, something that, I see, and I hear a lot is like a AI is not going to take your job, but someone who will use it.   00:07:06:04 - 00:07:28:18 Unknown Wait. So this is very, very, very important because this is going to boost productivity. But even if it boost productivity is very important to check what the AI is suggesting because it's not going to do all the job for for us. So this is very, very important. And also in the data studio, we have included, a lot of AI features that anybody can can use.   00:07:28:20 - 00:07:49:00 Unknown But something that I would like to highlight is that all the AI features that are included are open. So it means that I can work with any level in the market. You know that tomorrow, today, open AI is really cool, but tomorrow we have a three and then we have the IPsec and they're everywhere. Is, is is changing now.   00:07:49:02 - 00:08:10:01 Unknown So something which is very important is to say, okay, from a business point of view, I want to take this technology and use it as soon as possible. But I don't want to change all the processes that I have underneath. If you have to adapt or develop something every day, you will never get anything to production or anything useful no   00:08:10:03 - 00:08:26:17 Unknown And that's why in the database we are able to connect to any, and we are able to suggest or to work in order to improve this kind of pipelines or data load and all this kind of features that we like to highlight, you know, so this is very important.   00:08:26:19 - 00:08:50:17 Unknown I mean when we boost their productivity. But then the AI engineer go a bit farther because also on top of that we have the load transform on serve that I was mentioning before. The AI can do more things. One thing is to create synthetic data or fake data. Imagine that they have to create an application for an internal marketing department.   00:08:50:19 - 00:09:14:23 Unknown So I can use AI to generate the data model to generate the fake data. And the developer going to start working tomorrow directly. So this boost the productivity I don't have to worry too about, all these things are going to be a quickie. And also something that we can use in the autonomous database, which is very popular easily. We can work with that vector, database because the vector is a datatype is inside the autonomous database.   00:09:15:01 - 00:09:40:22 Unknown So, anybody is not familiar with the vector is that we provide is the information we provide to the NLM in order to provide, more, business related, answers. For example, we have PDFs, I have Excel. I have a lot of information, pictures that I want my NLM

    18 min

  4. MAR 18

    Bridging the Digital Divide: How Oracle Academy is Transforming Technology Education in Africa

    In this episode host Bekere Amassoma speaks with Annick Sakho, Director, Government Affairs Africa about today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape and how access to technology education is a crucial factor in driving economic growth, innovation, and job creation. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Episode Transcript: 00:00:00:00 - 00:00:35:11 Unknown Welcome to the Oracle Academy Tech Chat. This podcast provides educators and students in-depth discussions with thought leaders around computer science, cloud technologies, and software design to help students on their journey to becoming industry ready technology leaders of the future. Let's get started. Welcome to Oracle Academy Tech Start, where we discuss how Oracle Academy prepares the next generation's workforce.   00:00:35:13 - 00:00:59:17 Unknown I'm your host, Bekere Amassoma. In this episode, I am joined by Annick Sakho who is Director of Government Affairs Africa in Oracle. So Annick to start off. Thank you for joining us. And can you share a bit about your journey into technology, how you got into Oracle and your current role as Director of Government Affairs for Africa?   00:00:59:22 - 00:01:24:01 Unknown A big hello to you, Bekere, and thank you for inviting me today. It's a real pleasure to be here with you to discuss Oracle Academy in this, podcast. Thank you for the opportunity. So I am currently the Oracle Government affairs in charge of Africa, and I am based out of Abidjan in Cote d'Ivoire, in the Oracle Cote d'Ivoire office.   00:01:24:03 - 00:02:05:17 Unknown So, you asking me about how I got into Oracle? Well, I started my career as a research and development engineer in a telecommunication company in Switzerland because I hold a telecommunication engineering degree. And later on, I joined Cote d’lvoire and joined IBM at the time when companies were starting to implement remote access to their mainframes and other computers. So, IT companies were actually in need of people who understood telecommunication to configure all these controllers and protocol, etcetera, to establish, stable, secure, remote connection.   00:02:05:19 - 00:02:42:20 Unknown And this is how I got into technology, because remember at those time, originally remote access was, about dialing up on the phone and having a modem to allow employees to connect to an office, network of telephone networks. And, since I joined technology using my telco skills, I stayed there, and my journey started a very fulfilling one, I would say, where I held, initially a pre-sales role before transitioning into a sales role.   00:02:42:22 - 00:03:11:21 Unknown I've been with Oracle almost 20 years now, and, New Year has been the same as the previous one because I was privileged to work with customers in different industries located in various regions across Africa, selling innovative solutions to support their business. And the most enriching part was the opportunity to work in a multicultural environment. To progress to a managerial role and then to lead virtual tips.   00:03:11:22 - 00:03:37:04 Unknown So when I was leading the technology cloud sales team across sub-Saharan Africa a few years ago, I realized that a lot of governments were not familiar with cloud technologies, not even with Oracle solution portfolio. However, we knew that governments have a crucial role in supporting the regulatory environment and the adoption of these technologies in the local digital economy.   00:03:37:06 - 00:04:17:00 Unknown And this is one this is, the reason why when the director, Government Affairs Africa position opened, I applied. This is what led me to, being today the government office director for Africa. In this capacity, I lead and coordinate Oracle's engagement with the African government officials and the various stakeholders like the NGO, the trade union, the industry associations, etc. and working closely, on the other hand, with Oracle Senior Management in Africa and Oracle Global Business Units.   00:04:17:02 - 00:04:51:13 Unknown And part of my responsibilities include educating government officials about our company, about our industry and more generally, about technology. Wow Annick that's quite interesting and thank you for sharing. Now how would you describe the current state of the digital divide in Africa's education sector? Interesting question. Africa's digital transformation journey is marked by significant challenges that require, strategic intervention to overcome.   00:04:51:15 - 00:05:29:03 Unknown And one of the critical areas that needs attention to ensure that the continent can fully leverage digital opportunity. Revolves around digital skills. With 70% of Africa's population under 30. There is a pressing need to reform education systems and to align with our industry needs. And, traditional education, from what I see it often does not equip young people with a skills demanding by the tech industry because we have not been able to, revovle in terms of curriculum.   00:05:29:05 - 00:06:02:19 Unknown And this leads to a mismatch between education and employment opportunities. So the digital divide in Africa's education sector remains a significant challenge, particularly at the university and high school levels, because this is a last stage before going into the workforce and before applying for jobs. While, digital transformation is accelerating globally. Many African students still face barriers to accessing quality tech education for various reason.   00:06:02:21 - 00:06:35:23 Unknown Inadequate infrastructure, limited internet connectivity, lack of appropriate training, and the lack of access to quality tech education and relevant training program impede the development of digital competency among the students. And additionally, we can also see that we have disparities between urban and rural areas where limited access to technology into the spread of digital and computing skills and, remote reach.   00:06:35:23 - 00:07:08:01 Unknown This gap limits the ability of African student to compete in an increasingly technology driven job market. The World Economic Forum had just released their report on jobs, The Future of Jobs 2025, and it really showed that the jobs will transform, and we need to be equipped to have a chance to thrive in this new environment. Companies today, they are not hiring young people based on the traditional degrees alone.   00:07:08:03 - 00:07:48:04 Unknown They hire them based on skills. This means that, you know, so should certification programs. The, certificate that they can earn will demonstrate how skilled they are. And they have now more values than having a bachelor's or a master's degrees in many cases. And knowing that, Africa has a young population, we need to have a reform of our education system to adequately equip young people with the skills needed for the digital age.   00:07:48:04 - 00:08:26:11 Unknown And this is, concern more and more, countries, being conscious about and are working towards changing things. Well, I will say that we need to democratize education and the access to digital education. And for that, we need to focus now on upskilling or reskilling our youth to bridge the digital skills gap, ensuring that our young population is prepared to participate in and to drive the digital economy.   00:08:26:13 - 00:08:56:00 Unknown Addressing this skill gap is essential for the continent's digital future. So as a conclusion, I would say that, we need to foster digital literacy and practical tech skills. Otherwise, the next generation of African professional will not be in a position to compete in a global environment, and they need to be empowered to drive economic growth and innovation across our continent.   00:08:56:06 - 00:09:38:18 Unknown This is very important. Thank you very much Annick. Well said. Now to the next question. How do you see Oracle Academy's overarching mission in Africa, and how does it align with global efforts in tech education? I had the opportunity to engage with Oracle Academy in, different African countries, and I could see the impact. Oracle Academy's mission in Africa is to democratize access to technology education by providing free, high quality computing resources, curricula and training both to the students and the educators.   00:09:38:20 - 00:10:18:10 Unknown Oracle Academy helps to bridge the digital divide because it helps equipping student and educator was essential digital skills, and by doing so, it aims to equip young Africans with the digital skills needed for the modern workforce, particularly in high demand fields such as software development, artificial intelligence, cloud computing. This mission aligns closely with global efforts in tech education, which focus on closing the digital skills gap, promoting Stem learning, and fostering innovation driven economy.   00:10:18:12 - 00:11:04:17 Unknown And when we talk about Stem learning, I would like to also stress the opportunity it gives to women and young female students to have access to technical, education, because I'm a big fan of promoting Stem for the young girls for them to, really get interest into this, subject. So, in Africa where, internet penetration and digital infrastructure are still developing, Oracle Academy plays a crucial role in bridging the digital divide that were mentioned earlier by collaborating with universities, high schools, government institutes.   00:11:04:19 - 00:11:34:18 Unknown It supports curriculum enhancement, teacher training and practical learning opportunities because we have we are giving access to students and teachers to a hub where they can find all the resources to be really educated and trained to the latest technology. And these ensure that Africa's youth is not left behind in the global digital economy. So this is a, very important role.   00:11:3

    22 min

  5. FEB 18

    Real-World Applications of P6 in Construction Projects

    In this episode host Lorna Juma speaks with recent construction management graduates, University of Nairobi, Lewis Miringa and Joyce Ojamong about real-world applications of P6 in construction projects. Learn how Primavera P6 has shaped the careers of two recent Construction Management and explore the increasing role of tech in construction.     -----------------------------------------------------------   Episode Transcript:   00;00;09;02 - 00;00;36;01 Welcome to the Oracle Academy Tech Chat. This podcast provides educators and students in-depth discussions with thought leaders around computer science, cloud technologies, and software design to help students on their journey to becoming industry ready technology leaders of the future. Let's get started. Welcome to the Oracle Academy Tech Chat, where we discuss how Oracle Academy prepares the next generation's workforce. 00;00;36;03 - 00;01;13;20 I am your host, Lorna Juma. In this episode, I am joined by Lily Smearing and Jasper Jamal Rees, recent construction management graduates from the University of Nairobi. Join us as we hear their stories. Learn about, how Primavera P6 has shaped their careers and explore the increasing role of tech in construction project management. Whether you're a student, educator or professional in the construction field, this episode will offer valuable insights into the practical impact of P6 on construction projects and career growth. 00;01;13;22 - 00;01;40;16 Welcome Luis and Joyce. Now, to start off. Can you give me a bit about your background and the respective courses you undertook? Joyce, I'll start with you. Thank you. Lana. I'm so grateful to be here. My name is just a general environmental graduate and construction management graduate from the University of Nairobi. But until recently, where I am currently practicing as a scientist. 00;01;40;19 - 00;02;05;11 Data. So, I basically monitor on project site activities. Thank you. Luis. Thank you, Lorna. My name is Luis meeting. I am a graduate from the University of Nairobi on pursuing construction management. Currently working on Junior Challenge development at city. We also are developing a lot of seating data. Thank you so much. And Leo is just, to have that conversation. 00;02;05;14 - 00;02;31;29 How did you first hear about the Oracle Academy program and its inclusion of Primavera P6? Thank you. My first introduction when I came to learn about Oracle Academy was through creation. This is a student body in full construction real estate student association at the University of Nairobi. Faculty in the Built Environment and at the Department of Real Estate Construction Management and quantity serving. 00;02;32;01 - 00;02;59;12 So, I will part of the students conceived and then time which is the regression body. And the part of the initiative we had wanted to do is have also invited people who can be relevant when they graduate out in the industry. And how do you do this? Is, well, one of the ways is equipping these students with skills that actually in the industry. 00;02;59;16 - 00;03;30;12 So, part of what we're using construction is, Scheduling software. Scheduling software. So, we did that bridge broken. Think the country director. We need what I've been doing, which was well-received. They invite us a meeting them we this class with these. So, when we got there, it was like, let's get into what happened. We came to realize that these are being part of. 00;03;30;14 - 00;04;06;05 And there's a lot of an academy that offers these courses on products that Oracle offers. So, we got there, learned about. The curriculum they do offer and part of it was to have the university, partner with Oracle and get us to have account. So, though I will share the content. We were able to initiate this partnership. The university was already done was giving an account a member account where lecturers are able to sign up students. 00;04;06;07 - 00;04;36;06 Now students get to their own instances, but accounts for these accounts so they are able to access these curriculums. In on the afternoon. So, through this, I was able to learn more about D6, pretty much about the project management curriculum. Good. Even, attempts to download the BC software as a student version. Practically use it. New scenarios I need, which is really amazing. 00;04;36;09 - 00;05;10;09 And that was my first experience. And we the analytics and, thank you so much for that story. So just moving on to you. What motivated you to enroll and learn about this specific tool? And that is Primavera P6. Thank you, Lana. So, my first experience with P6 is from the Python version. So just talked about, with organized our actual training by P6, we were made aware that this is a tool that is widely used in the industry. 00;05;10;12 - 00;05;33;01 So, that motivated me to learn more about putting my video pieces as well as the resources that you provided, that Oracle provided. You were able to get tutorials from the student home and it able also be gained a certificate after the training sessions. And, just having the available resources for you to go through was motivation enough. 00;05;33;02 - 00;05;57;07 And I'm so grateful for that opportunity. How has gaining, Primavera P6 skills given you a competitive edge during your job search? So, during my job, such, there was an opportunity of, site coordinator in a construction site, and I was called for an interview, and they were looking for someone with a vast, project management skills, in particular. 00;05;57;07 - 00;06;23;09 Skills. Link. And since Primavera P6 is a skills link tool. I got to be. I was asked more about it. And the skills that I had and the knowledge that I was able to explain the cost aspects, there's considering aspects, the resource management aspects and that, let me get the job opportunity. And now, Lois, moving over to you. 00;06;23;11 - 00;06;54;04 Can you share specific examples where these skills helped you stand out or secure an opportunity? See what I can mentioning. And it's really nice when somebody asks you something that you are really conversant about. So, when I was actually attending the interview, I was asked, to give a scenario on how you would allocate resources to an activity and how will you know you, and I'm not, resources already located. 00;06;54;09 - 00;07;21;20 This is the kind of questions where you, you actually see deadlines and, and answer them because, but back in school. Oh, we interacted in the P6 till about scheduling. And so, and you are really, really conversant about it. So, it's, it's, it's a question that we answer in confidence. You even give a practical scenario of how you will schedule unit, which is actually what I need. 00;07;21;22 - 00;07;46;15 And I know it pretty much. And I am employed and another scenario, after working there for some, some time, we were actually sent to an did it for a crash program, which is also a concept in P6 when you are really lagging behind in the in, in, in in the scheduling in in addition, you know, the credit, you have to come up with a crash program. 00;07;46;20 - 00;08;19;10 Are you interested in activities and catch up with the lost time. So, part of what we were tasked to do is come up with a crash program. And if, we were given timelines when given due process and asked to come up with a schedule of how you are going to complete these tasks, which was handing over units, but 48 of them in in a period of three months, something you interact with it, you do it. 00;08;19;12 - 00;08;51;22 Because you understand it, which is actually what I need. And, turned out to be successful. So, it is it is something that is applicable out here. As much as you learn, it is good. So, what I'm hearing is a lot of, importance of academia, industry collaboration, which, you know, gives you access to industry tools. And once you are conversant with them, you know, you get a lot of confidence, gives you a differentiating factor, even when you're applying for jobs, even when you're undertaking the interview. 00;08;51;25 - 00;09;20;04 Great. Thank you so much. Now, Joyce, now that you started working in the construction industry, how are you applying Primavera P6 skills in your daily task? You learned so much that, you find that in large construction projects you have multiple contractors, multiple contractors with different tasks that, they have we have to schedule them in a way that we don't lose time as we go along the projects. 00;09;20;06 - 00;09;45;23 So daily, we schedule activities. Primavera P6 provides a work on structure. So, you want to group your activities into smaller tasks and then to be able to schedule them appropriately, allocating enough time for all the contractors. The other thing is you can monitor progress as you go along. So, you monitor progress against what was planned. 00;09;45;25 - 00;10;13;01 And that way you're able to manage time along that project. You manage cost, you know, when you extend your time plans, it comes in extra extrapolate. So, management of the project items is made using the Primavera P6. And Lois, moving over to you. Can you share, specific projects where you've used, P6 to manage timelines, resources or budgets? 00;10;13;06 - 00;10;52;04 Okay. And as I've mentioned before, it was vital, fresh program. Vital was a project that was apparently pain changing and we had to put some good input, some efforts to be able to catch up with time. So about, P6 it's a software that involves a long-term planning, budgeting and even risk analysis when it comes to, the planning aspect itself and the scheduling you get to, you get to when your activities, what breakdown structure you sequence activities inside that. 00;10;52;08 - 00;11;15;20 Then in these activities you want to assign resources to them. Once you assign resources, you are able to track at any given specific time. Is the project actually running behi

    29 min

  6. FEB 4

    Unpacking the Database-AI Connection: Why It Matters

    In this episode host Lorna Juma speaks with Dr. Lawrence Nderu on Unpacking the Database-AI Connection and Why It Matters. If you’re an educator, student, or tech enthusiast curious about the backbone of artificial intelligence systems, this episode is your gateway to understanding the vital role of databases in artificial intelligence and machine learning.   -----------------------------------------------------------   Episode Transcript:   00;00;09;02 - 00;00;35;04 Welcome to the Oracle Academy Tech Chat. This podcast provides educators and students in-depth discussions with thought leaders around computer science, cloud technologies, and software design to help students on their journey to becoming industry ready technology leaders of the future. Let's get started. Welcome to the Oracle Academy Tech Chat, where we discuss how Oracle Academy prepares the next generation's Laplace. 00;00;35;06 - 00;01;08;10 I'm your host, Lorna Juma. In this episode, I am joined by Doctor Laurence Darrow, a lecturer and research fellow in the Department of Computing at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology. Today, we're uncovering how databases, power artificial intelligence and machine learning, two of the most transformative forces in the tech world. If you're an educator, student, and tech enthusiast curious about the backbone of AI systems, this episode is your gateway to understanding the vital role of databases in AI and machine learning. 00;01;08;12 - 00;01;35;11 To start off, Doctor Lawrence, thank you so much for joining us. Can you give me a bit about your background and the classes you teach? Yeah. Thank you so much for having me. I really think that this is a very important conversation and happy and, to work with you guys to promote the use of these solutions and these technologies for the purpose of making sure that, we have a generation that is well informed and ready for work. 00;01;35;13 - 00;02;06;07 So to start with, I am a lecturer and also the chairman, Department of Computing at the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology. I'm also the founder of Jacob Moffett, which is a digital innovation hub that is based at the University of Jomo Kenyatta in Gloucester. Work and culture. In technology. I currently I do teach units that relates to AI and machine learning and also applied machine learning. 00;02;06;10 - 00;02;34;01 I also do supervise the students at the level of BHB and Masters. While working on areas of AI and machine learning. And those are the areas that that that the working on. I also read research teams that are working on innovations and I Jacob, in terms of building solutions that are using AI as the basis for, solving some problems and also others that are using AI to improve the operations. 00;02;34;03 - 00;03;00;17 Thank you, doctor Larry Entwistle. Glad to have you join us as an expert to discuss this important topic. Now, could you break down the fundamental relationship between databases and AI? Why are robust databases critical for building effective AI models? Thank you. So the first thing is that the data is the food for AI. And we have had the same being said every now and then. 00;03;00;17 - 00;03;29;18 That data is the new oil. And I think that also means that we need these data to be data that is accessible in a way that is use that work. I mean, and efficient manner. So, it means that AI is being powered by data and whether this data is structured data or unstructured data. We need data to be know about is accessible and also accessible in an efficient manner. 00;03;29;20 - 00;04;01;18 So the connection really is the fact that traditionally when we dealt with the data, we were looking at it like say more or less data that was relational based databases. Now we know that data is found in many other formats. We have data, of course, in structured. We have data in semi-structured. We have data in unstructured formats. All these data needs to be stored in ways that it can be consumed, be consumed by AI, systems. 00;04;01;21 - 00;04;28;27 And that's where now the connection comes. Because the better the data, the better you are able to create models in the AI that are effective. And they are also able to answer very many questions that that one would want. So to answer that question is that the connection is clear, that we need, data to power AI systems, and we need systems that can be able to store these data in a way that that, that I can consume it in a better way. 00;04;28;27 - 00;04;54;06 And we have the pipeline. We need that pipeline that provides data and then feeds into the, AI models or AI systems so that they can be able to make decisions and improve our ability. And now, as an educator and researcher, how do you recommend teachers and institutions incorporate database hands on teaching into their AI and machine learning curricula? 00;04;54;09 - 00;05;25;13 What approaches or tools have you found most effective for engaging student in this critical area? Number one is that if I may just mention something about as a Jomo Kenyatta, we reviewed our curriculum and one of the things that we did, in the reading of the curriculum that is currently being used is that we are very keen to make sure that we retain and then and force the aspect of covering database systems. 00;05;25;16 - 00;05;57;22 So there is and you cover sections in database systems in detail, looking at how to design them to the extent of looking at the advanced concept in databases, which of course goes to the extent of talking about considering security and such aspect in databases. So, it is a very important component to when you are teaching databases, one has to consider, number one, the fact that these are the people who then go ahead and now come on. 00;05;57;24 - 00;06;26;28 I introduction to AI and also machine learning. And they will be consuming these, these databases. So what we have done is that we, able to provide this background and then when it comes to no coverage tools like Oracle databases, the country AI, which of course, I found very important because it uses AI in vector search, for data retrieval, analysis of AI driven applications. 00;06;26;28 - 00;06;52;14 It's a very well thought up idea in terms of trying to integrate advanced AI, capabilities directly to the database engine. The idea behind this is because we, we would want smart data handling capability to be ingrained in the data. We would want to have advanced analytics to be also, ingrained within these, these kind of databases. 00;06;52;17 - 00;07;20;04 And also if you think about known going to the industry, we would be the industries would work to get, insights from their data on what they can be able to do with that. So what I would say is that when you are now teaching and you look at, you have taught concept in databases, and now when you go to teaching things like machine learning or AI, you are able to show that compute the students or even the runners. 00;07;20;06 - 00;07;42;05 The connection between having a good foundation in databases and using various tools and understanding how to make use of, various, tools that are coming up. Like I mentioned, data restrict the I was at points that I needed, making the process of, being able to, to get insights from your data are very important. 00;07;42;10 - 00;08;11;12 So it means that these people, when they go in the industry, they have skills and practical skills that they can be able now to demonstrate in the industry that whatever they are, brand has value and they can and value to the businesses. So it is very relevant that as we teach, first of all, the thinking through about the curriculum, the way it is designed in such a way that it allows for students to do practical concept that leads them to be applicable to the industry. 00;08;11;15 - 00;08;52;00 It's very important and includes that exist within for or instructor for instructors that that are already online that that they can be able to use some of the courses that that are being designed for them, that they can be able to use the event for, programing, databases, that exist today at PL SQL. Like I mentioned one, we have a database programing with SQL itself to be able to give a foundation and then going to things like, artificial intelligence so that the concept in artificial intelligence, we don't just think that they can only be implemented in Python, we can implement them in Java, we can implement them in other things. 00;08;52;02 - 00;09;14;11 We just need to understand the concept. And then we are able to do that practically. That's that. That it empowers that person, empowers the students, that eventually we are able to get our, you know, our system, having done those practical’s. And now for students interested in pursuing a career in, I do think they should start by building a strong foundation in database skills. 00;09;14;14 - 00;09;39;08 How does database knowledge empower their journey in AI and machine learning? Well, I think that what I would say is, number one is that if you look at the Oracle Academy, which, is a tool that is really very valuable, to teach and also, demonstrate some of the tools that also exist and also provision of software tools, cloud and also software tools. 00;09;39;10 - 00;10;00;18 And we also have BigQuery. But you can download content that you can download. And it also provides assessment that you can use in class. The idea is that you don't have to use it the way it is. You can take it and then you add or even subtract the items that you want to do it. So it's content that is ready and you can use it as it is. 00;10;00;18 - 00;10;34;23 Or you can be to, custom it the way you would want. It allows for, researchers to be able to focus on being able to improve and having something that we can start with. So, there is a point that exists, especially the library. The EDI, and power, even

    16 min

  7. JAN 22

    How do AI and Data work together?

    In this episode host Tyra Peirce speaks with Scott Stroz, MySQL evangelist about how Data and AI work together.   -----------------------------------------------------------   Episode Transcript:   00;00;09;02 - 00;00;34;16 Welcome to the Oracle Academy Tech Chat. This podcast provides educators and students in-depth discussions with thought leaders around computer science, cloud technologies, and software design to help students on their journey to becoming industry ready technology leaders of the future. Let's get started. Welcome to Oracle Academy Tech Chat, where we discuss how Oracle Academy helps prepare our next generation's workforce. 00;00;34;18 - 00;01;01;19 I'm your host, Tyra Peirce. In this episode, I speak with Oracle, my SQL developer advocate Scott Stroz, about how AI uses data, and the database skills students need to have as they work with AI. So, Scott, you're a returning guest for me. Can you give me a little bit about your background and role at Oracle? For those who may not have listened to our previous podcasts. 00;01;01;22 - 00;01;24;27 Sure. So, first and foremost, I consider myself a full stack developer and I've been a full stack developer for longer than the term full stack developer has actually been in existence. And in that time, the only technology in my stack that has remained constant is MySQL. I used it on my first job as a web developer, and I still use it today, and I've used it pretty much every day in between. 00;01;25;00 - 00;01;47;09 A lot of people, even people in the tech industry, they frequently ask, what does it mean that you're a developer advocate? And there's a lot of people I'm friends with and, I've met in developer relations, where we each kind of have like our own elevator pitch, like a quick, you know, 1 or 2 sit ins answer to basically get people to understand what it is that we do. 00;01;47;11 - 00;02;10;12 And the one that I've come up with is my job is to help developers be better at their jobs and I accomplish, or I hope I accomplish this in, different ways by producing content for developers through blog posts or, videos or podcasts such as this. I also, speak at conferences and I do a guest lectures for colleges and schools. 00;02;10;15 - 00;02;29;26 You are such a wonderful resource. And I we work together quite a bit, and I, I think it's good because I think that a lot of times developers don't understand what they're getting into or the different ways that they can develop and change codes. And I love that. I've got an expert that we can call on, and especially about this new topic. 00;02;29;28 - 00;03;00;18 So, kind of segue into that new topic. How does a I use data to learn SQL? It's a kind of a complicated answer, but it's also probably simpler than some people might think. With the recent release of Heat Wave, which is an AI solution in, Heat Wave that's available on Oracle Cloud, I've started playing around a little bit more than I had been, but it hasn't been with like the front end where I asked, I can I chat by questions, and it would give me answers. 00;03;00;21 - 00;03;22;07 It's been more feeding data into an AI engine, which in this case was heat wave Gen I. And while I was tinkering, I came to the realization that AI is not some black magic that just can pull answers out of thin air when you ask the question. It's just all based on math, and it's not even a new kind of math. 00;03;22;07 - 00;03;41;28 The math has actually been around for a long time, and I gotta say, I was a little a little disappointed. I was kind of hoping for some black magic, but for a genuine AI solution to be able to find pertinent data. So, if you ask a question, I put a chat bot the way it needs to find the answers. 00;03;41;28 - 00;04;14;16 And the first thing we need to do is we need to make sure that we get what are called embeddings of the source data. And this is basically what we use to feed in AI. And if we want it to say get embeddings for a collection of PDFs in any solution, we can actually use heat wave AI to run a stored procedure that will fetch the documents out of a bucket, a storage bucket in Oracle Cloud, and then it breaks down each document into a series of tokens. 00;04;14;18 - 00;04;43;24 Now, in the AI world, a token is a small series of a small set of characters. It can be a single word. It can be multiple words, or sometimes it can actually just be a small part of a longer word. And then using some mathematical algorithms, these tokens are converted into what we call a vector. And a vector is nothing more than an array of hexadecimal data, hexadecimal values that represent that token. 00;04;43;27 - 00;05;11;01 And this is our embedding. And those are stored typically in a database. There are other systems. This isn't just unique. The heat wave Gemini, other Gemini systems have a very similar process for ingesting the source data. And one of the most popular uses of AI solutions is what's called a retrieval augmented generation, or RAC, or what we would know as like an AI chat bot. 00;05;11;07 - 00;05;33;29 So, you open up a chat window when you start asking questions, and the AI spits back answers based off of the source data, and it's using the way it gets the answers to the questions is it actually takes the question. And using those same algorithms that you used with the source data, it actually gets embeddings for the question itself. 00;05;34;01 - 00;06;04;13 And then using some built in database functions. And in the case of heatwave and AI uses, a function that determines how far the tokens in the question are from the tokens in the source data. And again, that's some mathematical algorithm that I haven't even begun to try and understand. And with heat wave genAI, when you ask the questions, there's actually another stored procedure you can run to actually run like a chat bot. 00;06;04;25 - 00;06;41;06 And it will take the embeddings that matched in the source data and send that to the large language model that resides in the database. Or Liam is what people more commonly known as that. And it takes those that information those embeddings that matched and it generates a more human sounding response to the question. I've noticed when I've gone through and I've asked, and I a question like you can still tell it's a computer when they respond, but they are getting better and better and better, and the information coming back is excellent. 00;06;41;09 - 00;07;15;05 And it is really, really good information. They still don't have the human and the human inflection, the human tone. And you can tell when you're right, but it's getting really good. And so, then on to my next question. How can I use data to improve performance? So, because the entire process, which you know, from ingesting the data to actually retrieving relevant data from the embeddings, is based on math, the results can actually be incredibly accurate. 00;07;15;05 - 00;07;37;29 Like you just said, it's it gets better and better almost every day, and AI systems can process large amounts of data and make that the data and available. That tends to be more accurate than if you did like a database, like search, in a SQL query, or even a full text search in a database, or even better than what you get in some search engines. 00;07;38;02 - 00;08;13;02 Why does the quality of data impact the results AI provides? Well, it's funny that even in a new technology like AI in old adage is still true. And that is garbage in, garbage out. And all this really means is if you input bad or inaccurate data, your results are not going to be accurate. When you feed data into an AI system, you need to make sure that it's high quality and it's accurate because if it's not, then any results you get are not going to be high quality and they're not going to be accurate. 00;08;13;04 - 00;08;34;24 What are some of the skills that database professionals should have when they work with AI? Something a lot of people may not be aware of is that every AI solution, whether it's a chat bot or something else, it uses some kind of storage, usually a database, on the back end to store the embeddings for the data. 00;08;34;27 - 00;09;04;09 And while there's nothing particularly special or different about how we store vector data compared to other data types such as strings or dates, it's something that database professionals need to keep in mind when ingesting that data. Can I back up here? Let's go back to the. While there's nothing particularly different or special about how this data is stored compared to other data such as strings and dates, there is one thing database professionals need to keep in mind when ingesting this data. 00;09;04;12 - 00;09;31;18 Embeddings can take up a lot of space. So, for example, I was working on a demo for Heat Wave AI, and I used a PDF that was just a few megabytes in size, and it generated over 55,000 rows of embeddings. Now, the process of creating and retrieving embeddings can also be resource intensive. 00;09;31;21 - 00;09;53;02 So, there might not be special skills needed to store and retrieve the embeddings in the AI data. But we need to make sure that the system has enough resources so that the CPU and Ram is adequate, as well as having storage space. So those are probably the three things that database administrators or people who work in databases need to concentrate on. 00;09;53;02 - 00;10;11;29 More than anything else when working with the AI system. So, Scott, one final question then if you could give one piece of advice to faculty, your students, what would it be? All right, so I'm going to cheat here. I'm going to give two pieces of advice. So, the first piece of advice will be to learn as much as you can about AI. 00;10;12;01 - 00;10;32;22 AI is everywhere, probably even in places it doesn't belong. And while I think the fad is going to die down, I also think AI is here to stay. There won't be a si

    13 min
  8. How do you find your voice as a woman in tech?

    JAN 7

    How do you find your voice as a woman in tech?

    In this episode host Tyra Peirce speaks with Win Chang, Director Cloud Engineering, Susan Poser, NACI Director of Partner Engagement, and Susan Miller, Sr. Director, Global Product Security about working as a women in tech and how women can find their voice.   --------------------------------------------------------- Episode Transcript: 00;00;09;02 - 00;00;34;25 Welcome to the Oracle Academy Tech Chat. This podcast provides educators and students in-depth discussions with thought leaders around computer science, cloud technologies, and software design to help students on their journey to becoming industry ready technology leaders of the future. Let's get started. Welcome to Oracle Academy Tech Chat, where we discuss how Oracle Academy helps prepare our next generation's workforce. 00;00;34;27 - 00;01;01;00 I'm your host, Tyra Peirce. In this episode, I speak with Win Chang, director, cloud engineering, Susan Poser, director of partner engagement. And Susan Miller, senior director, Global Product Security, about working as a woman in tech and how women can find their voice. A little bit about my guests. Susan Miller graduated at Santa Clara University with a bachelor's in computer science and started her career as a software engineer. 00;01;01;02 - 00;01;26;26 She quickly obtained a master's in computer science and artificial intelligence and an MBA. She then moved into technical program management, overseeing program managers, release engineers, doc writers labs, and then security was added on. Now Susan is in a corporate oversight role for security assurance for products and services across all Oracle. Susan Poser has held a variety of roles during her 40-year career. 00;01;26;29 - 00;01;55;14 Susan has two Bachelors of Science, one in business and another in journalism, and then earned her MBA and finance from San Diego State University. She has held roles in finance, accounting, marketing, business operations, solution engineering, culture and employee engagement and now partner ecosystem, all for high tech companies Unisys, Teradata and Oracle. Outside of Oracle, Susan is the board chair for Athena, a global women's advisory organization. 00;01;55;17 - 00;02;25;09 When Chang majored in computer science with a minor in business at University of Houston, she started her career in software development and has held numerous roles, including technical support, education marketing, pre-sales manager, Cloud Acceleration Director and VP of Customer Experience. She is currently the Solution Engineering Director for Higher Education. She is the founder of Oracle Professional Asian Leadership and Employee Resource Group focused on raising culture awareness and providing leadership development. 00;02;25;11 - 00;02;46;07 She is also on the board for Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation, an organization committed to protect the historic site and celebrate immigrant contribution that define the strength of the United States. Thank you, Susan, Susan and Win, for joining me today. So, my first question to all of you, can you give me a bit about your background and your role at Oracle? 00;02;46;11 - 00;03;20;13 Susan Miller, do you want to go ahead and start? Yeah, sure. Thank you, chair, and thanks for having us today. I'm a senior director of global product security. I get the chance to work with all the security leaders across all our Oracle divisions, and I get to ensure that teams are adhering to the security assurance standards. So, one of my strengths then is to the ability to share best practices from other divisions and allow all at Oracle to learn from the best of the best, and then that eases their adoption and the flow of information across all the divisions. 00;03;20;15 - 00;03;45;09 Winner Susan Poser, do either of you want to jump in? Sure, I can jump in. This is Susan Poser, and I pretty much worked on the sales side of my whole career at Oracle, starting in pre-sales and then value selling to employee programs for resellers. So, when my last position was eliminated, the leader of the partner organization and the sales team asked me to join his team to help transform our culture to be more partner friendly, partner forward. 00;03;45;11 - 00;04;12;23 So now I work very closely with our sales and operations teams, as well as our sales leaders, to embed partner content, and processes into our business as usual so that our sellers will embrace and leverage our partners more as we move forward in this cloud world. And finally, when what about you as a cloud engineering director, I managed to be a cloud architect and support our sales team for higher education. 00;04;12;25 - 00;04;48;14 We cover the entire territory of the United States. Our role is to provide technical assistance to the field sales team. And a typical day for me would be participating on, calls with my direct reports, delivering presentations at a conference or, participating in customer meetings and also assisting our, customers. One of the best parts of this job, this is to be able to talk to our customers and share how or our Oracle solutions can provide and solve their most important problems. 00;04;48;16 - 00;05;08;27 I love all the diverse background that all of you wonderful women come from, and all of the different, paths you took to get to where you're at. So, leading on to my next question. Can you share a proud moment or a major accomplishment from your career so far? And this time? Susan Poser, I'd like to start with you. 00;05;08;29 - 00;05;25;20 I've had a few, but one that had the biggest impact to Oracle as well as, I think to our customers, is with my role and our value selling team, which was called Oracle Insight. A matter of fact, that's how I met win was we had done, an engagement with our customer and that she had worked with. 00;05;25;22 - 00;05;46;24 But when you think of, our value selling team or Oracle Insight, it's, you think about, like, management consultants. We hired a lot of excuse Allen McKinsey types of folks, and we would go in and work with our customers to understand how, understand what their priorities were and how technology could help enable some of their, you know, 3-to-5-year goals. 00;05;46;27 - 00;06;17;19 I was responsible for the systems and the processes and the internal and external communications, as well as the marketing. We were the longest running sales program at Oracle, and we scaled from nine people when we started the program to over 500, impacting billions of dollars in revenue. And, you know, one of the key things that enabled us to do that was because of the knowledge management, the processes and the systems that I had put together that allowed us to scale and make this impact for both Oracle and our global customers. 00;06;17;21 - 00;06;55;09 And then Susan Miller, what about you? Well, with the onset of the and quick adoption of I machine learning, that's the reason to be able to participate in many executive forums representing security and besides ensuring regulatory and privacy coverage, we're also making sure that security assurance is paramount. So, I've been able to gain adoption now of new process flows, new guidelines, practices, and I've now expanded our interactions with data scientists and other security architects and of course, others corporate oversight groups as well. 00;06;55;11 - 00;07;16;02 It's been successful, and I'm very proud of it. I can't even imagine with how AI is coming to the forefront, especially within Oracle and in the tech industry. I think that is so amazing. And then when finally, over to you again. So, when I was the key account director for a large health care company, we grew our Oracle footprint by over 1,500%. 00;07;16;05 - 00;07;45;23 And that was done by a combination of team collaboration and developing this deep, trusted customer relationship. We earned the Presidential Award for Account Management three years in a row, and it was a defining, time for me, to see how our customers, succeeded with Oracle products and solution. And then secondly, I just wanted to add that being the founder of the Oracle Professional Asian Leadership, has been a real highlight for me. 00;07;45;23 - 00;08;14;11 Today. We have over 700, members globally, and that is been something that I'm very proud about. Well, and you should be. That was the second time Win, and I engaged was with Opal and it was one of the fastest growing employee resource groups in Oracle. So, she should be very proud of that. Absolutely. I think when you and I met back when you covered that healthcare company years ago with, Java one for kids, I think that that's when we first came into contact all those many years ago. 00;08;14;14 - 00;08;34;14 You're right. So next question. How were you able to find your voice and to advocate for yourself as a woman in tech? And when this time I'm actually going to start with you. That's a great question. And I have to say that earlier in my career, I really struggled with trying to find my voice. I didn't have a mentor. 00;08;34;15 - 00;09;02;27 Matter of fact, I probably didn't even know what a mentor was. And, once I found my advocates, that made a big difference. I have to say that my I created this personal board of directors that actually two of my personal board of directors were on this call. Susan. So, they are just amazing. And, I'd say that to this personal board of directors is kind of like a baseball team where you have all different types of coaches. 00;09;03;00 - 00;09;28;18 You know, like a first base coach or a third base coach. So, I'm assembled my own board of directors, and they've been a game changer. I leverage these resources, but I have difficult tasks or proactively ask them for advice, what I needed. And I think that, really helps me to keep my head. You know, I used to think that if I just kept my head down and did hard work and everybody would know what I'm doing. 00;09

    39 min
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About

Oracle Academy, Oracle's global philanthropic education program brings you Oracle Academy Tech Chat where we discuss how Oracle Academy helps prepare the next generation’s work force. In this podcast Tyra Crockett, Senior Manager Oracle Academy North America, interviews experts across the Oracle ecosystem about their experience and advice for educators and their students.

Information

  • Creator
    Oracle Corporation
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2025
  • Episodes
    33
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Oracle Corporation 2023
  • Show Website
    Oracle Academy Tech Chat